LSU Baseball Hit Early, Can't Recover as No. 1 Arkansas Wins 17-10, Clinches Series

Razorbacks clinch first series in Baton Rouge since 2004

Arkansas hadn't won a series in Baton Rouge since 2004 and on Saturday it played like a team very well aware of the implications. The Razorbacks jumped on LSU starter AJ Labas early and it only got worse as the afternoon progressed as Arkansas won game two 17-10 and the series in dominant fashion.

In two games, LSU (25-17, 6-14) has been outscored 24-10. For a starter like Labas, location is everything as he doesn't have overpowering stuff to begin with. The junior has been great this season when his offspeed pitches are working in sync with his location but he left far too much over the plate and it led to five first inning runs for No. 1 Arkansas. 

The first inning blunder from Labas was a difficult pill to swallow but the LSU offense came out much more aggressive and found opportunities to slowly work off the early 5-0 deficit. After scraping together one run in the second, the real door opened in the third when Alex Milazzo, Tre' Morgan and Dylan Crews were able to earn back-to-back hits and a walk that set the Tigers up for success.

While one run was able to come across in the inning, a soft fly ball to the shallow outfield from Gavin Dugas was tracked down and Crews was thrown out retreating to first after taking too big of a tag, ending the possible threat. 

LSU just couldn't keep the score realistically within reach as Labas would allow four straight hits to begin the fifth, ending his afternoon and Blake Money would allow a two-run homer before a single out was recorded, extending the Razorbacks lead to 11-2. In total, seven runs were scored on seven hits to basically put the game to rest as Arkansas was drilling every pitch thrown over the plate from Labas and Money. 

The Tigers offense was able to gather momentum towards the end of the game by scoring six runs in the seventh inning to cut a 16-2 Arkansas lead to 16-9. Even more impressive, it was a run created by mostly pinch hitters as Braden Doughty, Collier Cranford and Drew Bianco all made contributions in the breakout inning. 

Centerfielder Giovanni DiGiacomo also had an extremely productive outing at the plate, going 4-for-5 with two RBI. 

The Tigers will be back at approximately 6:30 p.m. looking to avoid the sweep.