BATON ROUGE – It’s good to be the best.
Just ask the No. 1 LSU baseball. The Tigers (21-3, 4-2 SEC) continued their climb against No. 3 Arkansas, twice defeating the Razorbacks in a three-game set from Alex Box Stadium.
Arkansas (20-4, 4-2) won the first game and went 9-3 in 10 innings on Friday. But LSU responded Saturday with a 12-2 win in seven innings and a 14-5 win to earn the series win in the second game of a doubleheader.
Here are four takeaways from the Tigers’ second straight win during the SEC game.
The Dylan Crews series
There’s no doubt that Dylan Crews is really good at baseball.
But few could have predicted his success this season so far. In Game 3 of the series, Crews had a .532 batting average, a .660 baseline percentage, and a .974 batting percentage across 23 games.
He had also scored at least one in all but one game that season and entered the final game of the doubleheader on a 21-game hit streak.
That streak continued after his first at-bat when Crews hit a two-run home run in the first inning. It was his third home run of the series.
A Saturday shake
After Friday’s loss, LSU coach Jay Johnson shook up the Tigers’ starting lineup a bit.
Instead of Brayden Jobert or Paxton Kling in outfield, Johnson moved Tre Morgan back to outfield and placed Cade Beloso in the first base lineup.
The reorganization paid off for LSU as Beloso had a double and Tre Morgan made a nice catch in left field.
Johnson then changed the order again for Game 3, keeping Beloso in the lineup as the designated batsman but moving Morgan back to first base and putting Jobert on left field.
In any case, the line-up changes prevented the struggling Kling and Jared Jones from having more time as starters. Perhaps a break could help the two young players get back on track.
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Pitching problems for left-handers?
Arkansas’ plan at Hill Friday appeared intentional.
The Razorbacks threw back-to-back left-handed pitchers against LSU’s vaunted lineup, starting Hunter Hollan and following him with Hagen Smith.
Hollan dominated the Tigers in 5⅓ innings, allowing no runs and only three hits. Smith gave up three runs but still had eight strikeouts in 4⅔ innings of relief.
As Arkansas likely noted, this wasn’t the first time LSU struggled with left-handed pitching at the plate. The Tigers had just one hit in 4⅓ innings against Texas A&M left-hander Justin Lamkin last week and even struggled with Butler left-hander Cole Graverson on March 3, despite Graverson throwing no harder than 84 mph on his start.
LSU had three runs (two earned) and three hits from Arkansas left-hander Zack Morris in Game 3, but Morris entered the game with an ERA over eight. Regardless, the Tigers need to improve against left-handed pitching.
Thatcher Hurd steps back
For the second year in a row, Thatcher Hurd fought the Razorbacks in Game 3.
The UCLA transfer allowed four earned runs in just two innings and couldn’t escape the third inning. Control was again an issue for him as he walked five batters and hit another.
In his first two SEC starts, Hurd has conceded six earned runs in 5⅓ innings.
Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser and the USA TODAY Sports South region. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @KokiRiley.
This article originally appeared in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU Baseball: Dylan Crews Leads Tigers past Arkansas in Series Victory
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