LSU run rules Samford again 13-1

LSU hammers three home runs, including a grand slam from Tommy White.

LSU humiliates Samford again 13-1 after smashing three homers over the wall at Alex Box Stadium Sunday morning. The Tigers swept Samford by winning all three games by run rule.

LSU improves its record to 15-1 while Samford drops its record to 6-9. LSU has won 10 straight games with seven of those games being run rules.

Freshman right fielder Paxton Kling had another great outing at the plate. Kling went 3-for-5 and blasted a three-run home run to end the game due to run-rule Samford. Kling is currently on a seven-game hitting streak.

Thatcher Hurd (2-0) picks up his second win of the season. In five innings pitched, Hurd allowed only one hit and recorded two walks and seven strikeouts.

“Thatcher was outstanding again,” said LSU head coach Jay Johnson. “He’s got great stuff, he has great poise. The highlight of the day was when he got in a little trouble in the fourth inning, but he re-composed himself and ended the inning with a strikeout. He has elite stuff, and when he’s an elite place mentally, he’s as good as they come.”

Relievers Gavin Guidry and Riley Cooper came in relief for Hurd. They both hurled pitches at the mound for two innings, allowing one hit and no runs.

Samford starter Will Lynch (0-2) was charged with his second loss of the season. In four innings pitched, Lynch recorded three hits, four earned runs, three hits and four strikeouts.

After the first two innings were scoreless, LSU would draw first blood. After Kling singled to get the first hit of the game, center fielder Dylan Crews hit a two-run homer over the right-center wall to give LSU a 2-0 lead. Crews’ home run was his fifth of the year and is currently on a 14-game hitting streak.

After LSU scored two runs in the fifth inning and Samford would score its first run of the game in the sixth inning, it looked like LSU would be in a close one for the next three innings. However, LSU’s power at the plate would be too much for the Bulldogs.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, third baseman Tommy White blasted a grand slam over the center field wall to give the Tigers an 8-1 lead. White’s grand slam was his fifth home run of the season. The last time an LSU batter hit a grand slam was last season against Vanderbilt on May 21, 2022, when Brayden Jobert hit a grand slam in the ninth inning during LSU’s 21-10 victory.

Later in the inning, designated hitter Jared Jones would hit an RBI single to left field, which sent shortstop Jordan Thompson to home plate. Pinch hitter Alex Milazzo would join the hitting fiesta as he smacked an RBI double to right-center field, sending Jones home to make the score 10-1.

With Milazzo on second base and second baseman Gavin Dugas on first base, Kling would hit a three-run home run to account for the final margin and effectively end the game due to LSU reaching the run rule in the seventh inning.