No. 1 LSU blanks Aggies in series opener at Olsen Field 9-0

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - The No. 15 Texas A&M Aggies dropped its SEC opener on Friday night at Olsen Field on Blue Bell Park, 9-0, to No. 1 LSU.

The Tigers (17-1, 1-0 SEC) staked themselves to a 4-0 lead through the first three frames and got a brilliant start from ace Paul Skenes to win their 12th game in a row. Skenes won his fifth game in five starts for LSU, striking out 11 Aggies (13-5, 0-1 SEC) in 6.1 shutout innings without walking a batter.

Texas A&M starter Nathan Dettmer logged 6.0 innings as well, striking out five, but fell to 1-2 on the year with the loss. Christian Little picked up his second save of the year for LSU by retiring the final four batters of the game.

The Aggies’ put together threats in both the first and sixth innings, but stranded runners in scoring position. The final threat came in the eighth with a pair of walks to Max Kaufer and Hunter Haas put multiple runners on the bases for the first time in the game against reliever Nate Ackenhausen, but Little came in to end the rally and the Tigers responded with five runs in the top of the ninth to put the game away.

TOP AGGIE PERFORMERS

Hunter Haas – 1-for-3, 2B, BB

Shane Sdao – 2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K

GAME SUMMARY

T1| LSU 2, TAMU 0

With an out, back-to-back singles hit by Tre’ Morgan and Dylan Crews but the Tigers on the corners. Gavin Dugas hit a sacrifice fly to plate Morgan and advance Crews to third. Josh Pearson singled up the middle to bring Crews home.

T3| LSU 4, TAMU 0

With no outs, Morgan singled and Crews doubled. On a wild pitch Morgan scored and Crews advanced to third. Tommy white singled through the left side plating Crews.

T9| LSU 9, TAMU 0

With no outs, bases loaded on a Paxton Kling double, Morgan hit-by-pitch and a Crews walk. White singled to score two and to put LSU on the corners. Gavin Dugas was hit by a pitch to reload the bases and Josh Pearson walked allowing Crews to walk home. Jared Jones hit a sacrifice fly to plate pinch runner Nippolt and Alex Milazzo came in as a pinch hitter, grounding out to short stop and score the last Tiger of the night.

UP NEXT

Texas A&M returns to Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park tomorrow in attempt to knot the series with LSU, Saturday at 2 p.m.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES

Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle

On the 12th Man…

“I thought we fought with them, but four runs can seem like 10. Let’s just see how we respond tomorrow. I do want to comment – the crowd was awesome. I mean the crowd was absolutely awesome and it means a lot to have that many people show up on a cold night during spring break. Hopefully, we’ll pay it back tomorrow.”

On SEC play…

“The message to the team is that we have a lot of new players that haven’t been around this conference, haven’t been around this league or level of play. You’re going to take body blows and you’ve got to be a team that’s able to give them back. From what I’ve seen on TV and the rankings, this league is on a whole other level this year.”

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