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SEC Tournament: LSU stays hot, pulls away from Kentucky for run-rule win
By Andrew Olson
Published:
LSU is one of the hottest teams in college baseball right now. The 11-seed Tigers extended their winning streak Wednesday by defeating 3-seed Kentucky 11-0 in the SEC Tournament. The game was shortened to 8 innings due to the conference’s run rule.
LSU hit 2 grand slams in Wednesday’s game. The first came from Jared Jones to extend a 2-0 lead to 6-0 in the 7th inning.
BEAR BOMB FOR BREAKFAST@bearjones_3 | SECN pic.twitter.com/VDlXJddqy0
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) May 22, 2024
In the 8th inning, Tommy White put the game into run-rule territory with an opposite-field slam to make it 11-0.
Lunchtime Lift Off @tommywhite44 | SECN pic.twitter.com/eSiNXnubUh
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) May 22, 2024
On the mound, Luke Holman led the way with a superb outing. Holman tossed 6 scoreless innings without a hit, striking out 7 to just 2 walks and 1 hit batsman. He threw 100 pitches, including 63 for strikes, facing 22 batters.
Gavin Guidry completed the shutout, logging 35 pitches (22 strikes) over the final 2 innings.
TIGERS WIN! TIGERS WIN! pic.twitter.com/xnYLgFXT28
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) May 22, 2024
The SEC Tournament is in the double-elimination stage. LSU sits in the winner’s bracket, while Kentucky will face elimination in the loser’s bracket. The South Carolina-Arkansas will decide who plays LSU (winner) and Kentucky (loser) on Thursday.
LSU getting hot at the right time
It wasn’t too long ago that LSU was not projected to make the NCAA Tournament field of 64. A lot has changed in the last few days.
The Tigers did not sweep an SEC opponent until the final weekend against Ole Miss. Taking all 3 from the Rebels gave LSU 13 SEC wins, meaning the Tigers went 10-5 down the stretch in conference play after starting 3-12.
Meeting the 13-win threshold put LSU squarely in the NCAA Tournament picture. Now, the Tigers are undoubtedly in the field of 64.
With Wednesday’s win, LSU is now 38-20 overall with the No. 21 RPI in the nation. The way LSU is playing, the Tigers may just take the automatic bid for the SEC Tournament winner.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
