Jake Brown's bat and William Schmidt's arm secured a 3-0 LSU Tigers win over the Dartmouth Big Green on Sunday afternoon.
The LSU Tigers have seen a bit of a reversal of fortunes this weekend as the offense has taken a dip, with the pitching staff carrying the load. Sunday's matchup with the Dartmouth Big Green saw the Tigers take a 2-0 victory.
LSU improves to 11-1 on the year as things look good with SEC play approaching in just under two weeks. Being able to win games without much hitting is usually a great sign for the chances later this season. The talent is there on offense; they just need to put together better at-bats. They were dominant for the first few weeks.
Tigers head coach Jay Johnson was very critical of his offense after their slow start to the weekend, and it never really improved. LSU scored just two earned runs in this game, both off the bat of Jake Brown, and picked up just three hits off the starting pitcher.
Brown has looked like one of the country's best players so far, picking up his fifth homer in this game. He almost had another, but it curved foul at the last second. His second hit was an eighth-inning double that drove home Derek Curiel.
The big story of this game for the Tigers, choosing to focus on the positive, is the massive performance it got out of sophomore hurler William Schmidt. He's been the third weekend starter this season, but it wouldn't be a shock to see him earlier in the rotation if his performance continues.
Schmidt posted 7.1 innings of work with four hits allowed, no walks and nine strikeouts. His ERA is down to 1.65 on the year.
The Catholic High School graduate came to LSU with expectations of developing into an ace. He could have been a first-round pick out of high school, but decided to go to college. So far this year, he's looking like that ace. He'll certainly be someone to watch as the year goes along.
There was a bit of traffic in the eighth inning after Schmidt plunked his last batter and Dax Dathe did the same to the only hitter he saw. Maverick Rizy came in and picked up two strikeouts to get the Tigers out of the inning unscathed. Jaden Noot logged the save.
LSU will play one more game on Monday against the Northeastern Huskies in this four-game weekend series. There is just one more weekend series to go before conference play begins against the Vanderbilt Commodores on March 13.