Anthony Eyanson Strikes Out 12 as LSU Beats Bama 4-3

A Good Friday indeed

Behind a season-best 115 pitches and 12 strikeouts from Anthony Eyanson, LSU (34-6, 12-5) claimed the series from Alabama (30-10, 8-9) with a 4-3 win in game two Friday night at Alex Box Stadium.

Eyanson improved to 6-1 on the year, while Bama’s Riley Quick took the loss.

Like they did last night, Alabama scored in the first inning. Slow starts have been somewhat of a theme for Eyanson this season, and Friday was no different. Bama made Eyanson work in the first inning, sending eight batters to the plate and making Eyanson throw 33 pitches in the frame.

Eyanson gave up hits to the first two batters of the game and Kade Snell, who homered twice in Thursday’s game, picked up his fourth RBI of the series with a run-scoring groundout to give the Tide a 1-0 lead. Eyanson would walk a pair to load the bases, but was able to limit the damage to just one run and struck out Garrett Staton to end the inning.

That’s around the time Eyanson locked in, and he proceeded to strike out the next four batters he faced en route to a 12-K performance. Eyanson wasn’t perfect, as he walked five and his strikes to balls ratio was hovering around 50/50 (62 strikes versus 53 balls), but there’s not a single program in the country who would say no to their No. 2 starter allowing one run over six innings.

While Eyanson settled in, the Tiger bats took a couple of innings to get going but they put up a pair of runs in both the third and fourth innings.

Daniel Dickinson tied the game at 1 with a single to third base that scored Chris Stanfield. Dickinson, back to his usual No. 2 spot in the lineup after batting cleanup last night, went 3-4 at the plate with that game-tying RBI in the first, and also drew a walk. Stanfield also reached base four times, going a perfect 4-4 at the plate with a double and scored a pair of runs.

Dickinson came home to give LSU a 2-1 lead later in third by way of a Bear Jones RBI double. It might have been Bear’s only hit of the night (1-5 with a pair of strikeouts) but he made it count and gave LSU a lead they wouldn’t surrender.

An inning later Derek Curiel doubled LSU’s run total from two to four with a two-run single that scored Stanfield and Michael Braswell. Curiel, it should be noted, has now reached base in all 40 games that LSU has played this season.

The fourth inning ended up being massive for both teams because in the top of the frame, Alabama had loaded the bases for the second time on the night. Eyanson issued a leadoff walk and allowed a single immediately after to put two on with nobody out. Bama’s Brady Neal laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position, but Eyanson got the second out by striking out Brennan Norton, Alabama loaded the bases when Eyanson walked leadoff hitter Bryce Fowler, but Eyanson was able to strike out Justin Lebron, the likely 1.1 pick in the 2026 draft, with a breaking ball.

Eyanson handed the ball to Zac Cowan in the seventh with a 4-1 lead, and Cowan finally looked human coming out of the pen. He got the 9-out save—his sixth save of 2025—but Cowan gave up four hits, including a pair of doubles, and allowed two runsL one in the seventh, and one in the ninth. Cowan allowed a base runner in all three innings he pitched, but he did what you expect a closer to do: hold onto the lead.

LSU’s taken care of business by winning the series, and tomorrow they’ll try to finish off the sweep. Chase Shores will take the mound for LSU with first pitch scheduled for 5:00 P.M. and Saturday’s game will be televised on SEC Network.