LSU Takes Series Opener From Baseball

COLUMBIA, Mo. – LSU’s Gage Jump struck out 14 batters in a complete-game 12-1 victory over University of Missouri baseball Friday evening in the opening contest of the two clubs’ three-game Southeastern Conference series at Taylor Stadium.

Jump (3-1) limited Mizzou to three hits over the seven-inning contest, racking up a career high for strikeouts while walking just one hitter. The left-hander fanned 10 of the final 13 hitters he faced and struck out the side in four different innings.

The LSU offense staked Jump to a sizable lead by scoring 11 times over the first four innings. After plating the game’s first run with a two-out rally in the first inning, the defending national champions employed the long ball to extend their lead. Brady Neal, who reached base safely in three of his four trips to the plate, led off the second with a solo shot to right, before Steven Milan followed suit the following frame with his first home run of the season to open the third.

Milan’s shot to right kicked off a six-run rally for the Tigers (24-15, 4-12 SEC), who won for just the fourth time in 16 SEC contests. Mizzou starter Logan Lunceford (1-3) issued back-to-back walks, before Hayden Travinski belted a three-run homer to right-center that doubled the LSU lead to 6-0. Michael Braswell III and Paxton Kling capped the rally with RBI doubles, extending the margin to eight runs.

Mizzou (17-22, 5-11 SEC) notched its lone run of the night in the home half of the third, capitalizing on a one-out walk to Tucker Moore when Brock Daniels moved the runner into scoring position with a sacrifice and Jeric Curtis put the Tigers on the board with a two-out single to center.

But LSU answered with three more runs in the fourth, and Jump seized control from that point, striking out the side in the fourth, fifth and seventh frames to put an exclamation point on the victory.

Ashton Larson led LSU’s 13-hit attack with a 3-for-3 night at the plate, while Travinski drove in four runs. The Tigers registered eight extra-base hits in the contest, including four home runs.

TIGER NOTEBOOK

• Victor Quinn struck out a career-high three batters in 2.0 innings of relief.
• Daniels extended his career-best hitting streak to seven games with his first-inning single.
• Curtis increased his hit streak to four games, joining Trevor Austin and Jackson Lovich as the only Tigers with 30 or more hits this season.
• With his third-inning walk that led to Mizzou’s only run on the night, Moore has now reached safely in four-straight games, scoring in each of those contests.
• Drew Culbertson saw his career-best six-game hitting streak come to a close with an 0-for-2 performance.
• MU drops to 3-19 all-time against LSU.
• Mizzou fell to 7-4 in the month of April and 10-9 at Taylor Stadium in 2024.

UP NEXT
Mizzou and LSU continue their series Saturday (April 20) with a 4 p.m. (CDT) contest, which has been designated as the Tigers’ annual Bark in the Park Day. Mizzou single-game tickets are on sale now via phone at 1-800-CAT-PAWS or by visiting MUTigers.com/Tickets.

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