By Bill Franques, LSU Senior Associate Communications Director
LSU sophomore left-hander Kade Anderson fired 7.0 scoreless innings Saturday night, and centerfielder Chris Stanfield drove in three runs as top-ranked LSU posted a 12-0 win over Dallas Baptist in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
LSU (45-14) advances to the regional championship round at 8 p.m. CT Sunday, when the Tigers will face either Dallas Baptist (41-16) or Little Rock (25-33). DBU and Little Rock will meet in an elimination game at 2 p.m. CT Sunday.
“It was a good night for our team,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “I thought we played outstanding baseball tonight. Obviously it starts and ends on the mound. And Kade, as Kade has been all year, was the best pitcher on the planet tonight. And executed at a high level. Defense continued to support him, another game of zero in the error column.”
LSU, which defeated Little Rock, 7-0, on Friday to open the regional, has recorded back-to-back shutouts in NCAA Tournament games for just the second time in its history.
The first time occurred on May 31 and June 1, 2015, when the Tigers logged back-to-back 2-0 shutouts over UNC Wilmington in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
Anderson (9-1) limited DBU Saturday night to just four hits in 7.0 scoreless frames with two walks and 11 strikeouts. He has 156 strikeouts this season and is now tied for sixth place on LSU’s single-season strikeouts list with right-hander Russ Springer (1988) and left-hander Eddie Yarnall (1996).
Stanfield was 3-for-4 at the plate with his first home of the season and three RBI, pacing LSU’s 10-hit output.
DBU starting pitcher Micah Bucknam (6-2) was charged with the loss, as he surrendered six runs – three earned – on four hits in 2.2 innings with two walks and two strikeouts.
The Tigers grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when designated hitter Ethan Frey lined a two-run single, and Stanfield’s solo shot in the second extended the margin to 3-0.
“Offensively I thought we did a lot of things well,” Johnson said. “Starting in the first inning, two outs, nobody on, Danny (Dickinson) walks, Jake (Brown) gets hit with a pitch, and then Ethan, two-strike hard and low hits the ball the other way, very professional hitter-like to get us going. Later, a really good at-bat by Chris; good at-bats all night by Chris.”
“This whole week I’ve been working hard on getting back to using the whole field and really just staying with that mindset,” Stanfield said. “So today they were working me away. And Coach Johnson told me before the AB, look away.
“I was really just trusting it, letting the ball get deep. And I was able to put a good swing on it. Thankful it was able to fly out of here.”
LSU struck for three runs in the third when catcher Luis Hernandez sacrificed a run in from third base, and Stanfield and leftfielder Derek Curiel delivered RBI singles.
The Tigers added a run in the fifth on Stanfield’s RBI groundout, and they extended the lead to 9-0 in the sixth on Hernandez’s RBI single and a steal of home by shortstop Steven Milam.
Frey scored a run in the eighth when he tripled and then raced home when centerfielder DBU Nathan Humphreys bobbled the ball in the outfield. The Tigers produced two more runs in the inning on pinch hitter Ashton Larson’s sacrifice fly and a wild pitch that scored pinch hitter Cade Arrambide from third base.