Where would this LSU team be without right fielder Jake Brown? Brown has emerged as the Tigers best player and one of the top hitters in college baseball.
In another high scoring game in Nashville, Brown hit his team-leading 11th home run and drove in six runs as the Tigers outslugged Vanderbilt 16-9 to avoid a weekend sweep to start SEC play.
Brown’s big day: LSU jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second inning, but Vanderbilt came back to tie the game in the sixth inning, and it had the feeling that the Tigers would blow another game, like they did in the series opener.
But Brown launched a three-run home run in the seventh inning to give LSU a 10-6 lead.
The Commodores got back within two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. But Brown delivered again in the eighth inning, he drove in two runs with a single.
Brown also made a diving catch in the seventh inning to end Vanderbilt’s rally in the seventh inning.
Milam in the leadoff: All three games against Vanderbilt had LSU shortstop Steven Milam batting lead-off and it seemed to work. Milam had five hits and scored seven times. He also drove in the go-ahead run on Sunday. If LSU can find guys who can hit behind Milam, Brown and Derek Cureil then the offense can really get cooking.
William Schmidt leaves early: The wind was howling out, so keeping the ball in the ballpark was a challenge. Schmidt gave up two solo home runs, but still struck out six, before leaving in the fifth inning with back tightness. After the game Coach Jay Johnson didn’t think it was serious.
Bullpen was good enough: It was not a clean performance by the bullpen, but it was good enough. Mavrick Rizy allowed two runs in two-thirds of an inning as he had to enter after Schmidt left.
Santiago Garcia allowed one run in one inning. Deven Sherrin got the win, despite allowing three runs in 2.1 innings.
LSU limited the walks. After walking ten hitters on Saturday, and 11 on Friday, LSU only walked five on Sunday.
Up Next: Weather delayed LSU’s return to Baton Rouge until Monday. But they will have plenty of time at home the next two weeks. The Tigers host Grambling on Tuesday, Oklahoma for a three-game series that starts Thursday and LSU will host Kentucky the following weekend.
The Sooners took two of three from Texas A&M to open up SEC play.