Luke Holman Leads No. 2 LSU Over Xavier in Dominant 4-0 Victory
BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU right-hander Luke Holman fired six shutout innings Friday night to lead the second-ranked Tigers to a 4-0 win over Xavier in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
LSU improved to 13-1 on the year with its eighth straight win, while Xavier dropped to 7-7. The shutout was LSU’s second this season and its first since a 2-0 win over Central Arkansas on February 17.
LSU and Xavier meet in Game 2 of the series at 5 p.m. CT Saturday in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field. The game will be broadcast on affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network, and it will be streamed on SEC Network +.
Holman (4-0) did not allow a hit over six scoreless innings while recording two walks and 10 strikeouts in a 97-pitch outing. He has a 0.00 ERA this season through 24.0 innings with four walks, 40 strikeouts and a .103 opponent batting average.
“Luke’s a great pitcher, he’s one of the best pitchers in the country,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “We’re very thankful he’s here, and I think everybody is starting to see what we knew when we brought him here. He’s a true ace and a true Friday starter.”
Relievers Christian Little and Griffin Herring combined to blank the Musketeers over the final 3.0 innings, recording a total of five strikeouts while allowing three hits.
Herring earned his first save of the season by working the final 1.1 innings and allowing no hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
“Really proud of Christian and Griffin tonight,” Johnson said. “The story of the night is our pitching staff and the shutout, and I really like what all three pitchers did whenever they got into a jam. Christian made an excellent pitch to induce a double play ball in the seventh, and that’s the sharpest Griffin has looked all year, and that’s really great to see.”
Xavier starting pitcher Luke Hoskins (2-2) was charged with the loss, as he allowed four runs on seven hits in 7.0 innings with two walks and five strikeouts.
The Tigers struck for two runs in the first inning on an RBI double by catcher Brady Neal and a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Hayden Travinski.
LSU extended its lead to 4-0 in the second inning as shortstop Michael Braswell III smashed an RBI triple, and second baseman Steven Milam lined a run-scoring double.