COLLEGE STATION, Texas – LSU freshman Jared Jones’ long ball cleared the fence in left field for his first home run of Southeastern Conference play on Saturday. That scored three runs in the sixth inning to extend the Tigers' lead to four.
Jones was 3-for-4 and drove in seven RBIs to help the Tigers beat Texas A&M 12-7 and capture a Southeastern Conference series win over the Aggies on Saturday at Blue Bell Park.
“I saw a lot of offspeed pitches today and that pitch was a fastball and I was just waiting for a good pitch to hit,” Jones said.
The Tigers’ (18-1, 2-0) patience at the plate allowed them to chase Aggies (13-6, 0-2) left-hander Troy Lansing from the game after 2⅔ innings pitched.
While two bases-loaded situations in the second and third didn’t translate to runs, the Tigers drained 33 pitches out of Lansing in the second inning to wear him down. In the third inning, Lansing managed to force a pair of groundouts before walking Tommy White and hitting Gavin Dugas with a pitch. His day ended with six walks, four strikeouts but no earned runs. He threw 76 pitches.
“Wansing is tough – he’s pitched really good the last two weeks and I was talking to our staff like, ‘Man, this guy’s arm is a different challenge than we’ve faced,’ and I thought we did an exceptional job,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “I think we did a good job of not allowing him to dictate the tempo of the events or we controlled the count the entire game.”
Meanwhile, Texas A&M took the early lead on LSU starter Ty Floyd. Through Floyd’s 3⅓ innings pitched, he gave up four hits and three earned runs, struck out three and walked two in 18 batters faced.
A&M left-hander Evan Aschenbeck came on in the third inning with a 2-0 count on White. Aschenbeck walked White before Jones lined a hard ball that Aggies shortstop Hunter Haas snagged to strand all three runners.
“We were definitely doing something right: we had runners on every single time,” White said. “Just the wrong times, Jared lined out, we were so close and we were ready to keep going and finally opened it up on two-out singles.”
LSU batted around in the fourth inning as it tattooed Aschenbeck and left-hander Matt Dillard with six runs on six hits for a 6-4 lead. Four of those hits off of Dillard came with two outs tallied. That set the tone for the rest of the game offensively.
"Two-out hitting — that's a big deal with how you win games and tough games against good teams with good arms," Johnson said. "And to put those four at-bats in a row together and cash in like that I think was the difference in getting us started and then we carried it the rest of the day."
The Aggies added a fifth run in the bottom of the fourth before Jones’ three-run homer in the sixth made it a 9-5 LSU lead.
The top three of LSU’s lineup: Paxton Kling, Tre’ Morgan and Dylan Crews went 1 for 14 in the game, drawing four walks. Crews was the one hit of the three, extending his hitting streak to 17 games. But it was a day for the other guys to shine.
“Watching guys like Dylan Crews, Tre’ Morgan and Tommy White do their thing just instills confidence in me that I can go up there and do the same thing, whether that’s seeing pitches and balls or putting a good swing on a good pitch,” Jones said.
Garrett Edwards relieved Floyd in the fourth, working 3⅓ innings, giving up his first earned run in four appearances, striking out five and walking three. Left-hander Riley Cooper and right-hander Blake Money finished the game on the mound for LSU.
White’s RBI single in the sixth put the Tigers in the double digits, then Jones added a two-run RBI single in the seventh for a total of seven RBIs. White finished the day going 3 for 5 for three RBIs.
“I’m just trying to narrow down the strike zone,” White said. “I think last year and in the fall and stuff, I was thinking too big, chased and got myself out. So, I’m looking to drive a pitch that I can drive.”
The Aggies' final run was scored on a sac fly in the bottom of the ninth inning.
LSU will go for the three-game sweep at 1 p.m. Sunday.