Boy, it’s good to be back, isn’t it?
The defending national champion Tigers began their title defense with a resounding 15-5, eight-inning victory over Milwaukee on Friday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium, and LSU has now won 25 consecutive season openers.
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As a team, LSU had nine extra-base hits (six doubles and home runs by Zach Yorke, Seth Dardar and Cade Arrambide) while the Tiger pitching staff struck out 17. Yorke, the Grand Canyon transfer, gets credit for LSU’s first run of the season when he launched a solo shot in his first at-bat as a Tiger.
LSU’s second run came in a completely different way. Chris Stanfield, the leadoff hitter today, led off the third with a walk and was able to recover and score even though LSU didn’t get a single hit. Stanfield advanced to second on a hurdle, reached third on a wild pitch and scored on Steven Milam’s groundout.
Despite the lopsided score, Milwaukee made the Tigers win this one. The Panthers knocked out Casan Evans in the fourth inning and led LSU 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth.
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Evans’ first start on Friday had some good and bad points. For one, Evans struck out seven in just 3.1 innings, but also allowed six hits and four earned runs. Milwaukee tagged Evans for four runs in the top of the fourth, and the Panthers opened the frame by allowing five straight batters to reach base. Evans knocked down catcher Joey Spence, and then Milwaukee had three straight singles to get on the board. Tristan Ellis then followed with a two-run double to give Milwaukee a 3-2 lead. An RBI groundout by Dylan O’Connell pushed Milwaukee’s lead to 4-2 and that would be the end of Evans’ outing.
Cooper Williams was first out of the pen and pitched well, save for one crucial error. Williams allowed a leadoff home run to Milwaukee cleanup hitter Charlie Marion to increase the Panthers’ lead to 5-2. But aside from one bad pitch, Williams was impeccable: 2.2 innings of relief, just one hit allowed and five strikeouts.
Innings 1-5 were a completely different game than innings 6-8 on both sides. LSU only had three hits in the first five frames as Milwaukee’s pitching frustrated the Tigers, but Jay Johnson went to his bench in the sixth inning and found some offense.
Cade Arrambide led off the sixth with a line-drive double, and with one on and one out, Johnson called on Kansas State transfer/Louisiana native Seth Dardar to pinch hit. In his first at-bat for his hometown Tigers, Dardar went deep to right center field to bring the Tigers back within one run.
Working with new life in the seventh, Cooper Williams took the mound to start the seventh inning, but hit Milwaukee first baseman Grant Ross on a full count and, for the first time in more than a year, Johnson handed the ball to Gavin Guidry.
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Guidry was nothing short of excellent, striking out the first five batters he faced. Guidry allowed a two-out double in the eighth inning, but quickly erased it with a first-pitch fly ball in foul territory to Dardar, who now plays third base.
Dardar’s home run was the first of 13 unanswered runs scored by LSU. The Tigers would then hit six runs in the seventh, highlighted by Jake Brown’s RBI double to tie the game and Cade Arrambide’s three-run homer to left field to break a 5-5 tie. The second-year catcher had a great first day as the Tigers’ number one catcher: 3-for-4, a double, a home run, three RBIs, scored three runs and also drew a walk.
Derek Curiel was able to reach for an error and that error allowed the Tigers to drive in two more runs and increase LSU’s lead to 10-5.
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LSU finished the game in the eighth inning with five points. Yorke and Arrambide opened the home half of the eighth with consecutive walks, and then true freshman Omar Serna, earning his first AB as a Tiger, had a run-scoring double to give the Tigers an 11-5 lead.
Dardar drove in his third run of the night with an RBI groundout that scored Arrambide, while Serna was able to score on a wild pitch.
With a 13-5 lead, Jay Johnson dropped to his bench and let some other new faces make their LSU debuts. Freshman infielder Jack Ruckert singled to go up, John Pearson singled through the left side of the infield and JUCO transfer Daniel Harden took one as the team loaded the bases. Ruckert returned home after another wild pitch from Milwaukee, and then Steven Milam finished the game with a hit to right field that scored Pearson.
Tomorrow afternoon, LSU will attempt to take the 2026 inaugural series, with Cooper Williams set to make his LSU debut. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 pm and the game can be streamed on SEC Network+.