Daniel Dickinson Homers Twice in LSU’s 7-0 Win Over Little Rock

Worth the wait

Stop me when you’ve heard this before: LSU’s big Friday night game got delayed by weather.

LSU and Little Rock eventually did get going Friday night, about five hours later than expected, with first pitch coming around 7:36 local time. Daniel Dickinson made sure to reward the patience of the Alex Box Stadium crowd, by homering twice and leading the Tigers to a 6-0 win in the the opening game of the Baton Rouge Regional.

After much theorizing and wondering if Kade Anderson, Anthony Eyanson, or someone else would get the start against a clearly overmatched Trojan team, Jay Johnson decided to hand the ball to Eyanson.

Eyanson pitched a gem, throwing 7.2 scoreless innings. Eyanson limited Little Rock to five hits, struck out seven—all with breaking balls—walked one, and hit one other batter. Little Rock didn’t get a leadoff runner on until the fifth inning, and Eyanson promptly erased it with a 6-4-3 double play two pitches later.

The only real bit of adversity Eyanson faced came in the sixth inning when he gave up back-to-back two-out singles. The first one was essentially a swinging bunt, and the second hit was a hard hit ball up the middle. LSU pitching coach Nate Yeskie made a mound visit and whatever they discussed paid off immediately as Eyanson got Ty Rhoades to ground out to first on the first pitch of the at bat.

While Eyanson mowed down Trojan batters, the avalanche that was LSU’s offense built up slowly but surely. Derek Curiel led off with a single up the middle, grabbed an extra 90 feet off of a wild pitch and was brought home by some great two-out hitting from Jake Brown.

The bottom second inning was virtually the same exact plot: Stanfield got on with one out, advanced to second off a wild pitch, and smart two-out hitting by Jared Jones brought him home to give LSU a 2-0 lead.

LSU wouldn’t score again until the fifth inning, but not for a lack of trying. The wind robbed Michael Braswell and Ethan Frey of solo homers, but Daniel Dickinson finally broke through in the fifth with a shot to left field to up LSU’s lead to 3-0.

The dam finally broke in the sixth inning when LSU put up a three-spot to double its lead to 6-0. A Derek Curiel double resulted in an RBI thanks to some aggressive base running by Stanfield, who was able to come home all the way from first.

Two batters later Dickinson went deep for the second time to give LSU a 6-0 lead.

LSU’s final run of the night came in the seventh and it was set up by a Steven Milam double. Milam, who was 1-2 with a double and drew two walks, came home thanks to an RBI single by Michael Braswell.

Eyanson’s night was over in the eighth after throwing 98 pitches. Johnson called on DJ Primeaux to sit down one batter, and Primeaux did his job. Johnson then turned to freshman Mavrick Rizy to close things out in the ninth inning and he performed as well as you could have hoped for: 10 total pitches, two strikeouts, and a grounder to end the game.

Aside from the five and a half-ish hour delay, Friday broke about as beautifully as Jay Johnson could have hoped. The bats feasted on a bad Little Rock pitching staff, Eyanson threw 7.2 scoreless innings, and you didn’t have to go to your top bullpen arms to close things out. Heck Primeaux and Rizy threw a combined 14 pitches so either one could give LSU something tomorrow if they had to have it, and they’d for sure be ready for Sunday. Friday could have been even more lopsided, but the LSU offense had about four or five home runs robbed by the wind.

But bemoaning some runs left on the table because of the wind is being greedy. The name of the game is survive and advance, and as long as you have one more run than the other guy that’s all that matters. Look no further than right next door in Mississippi as both Ole Miss and Southern Miss dropped their opening games and are facing elimination tomorrow. LSU took care of business tonight, and tomorrow they’ll have to do it again.

LSU will wait and see who wins between Dallas Baptist and Rhode Island in the 2 vs. 3 game, which should be starting any minute now. The loser of this game will play Little Rock in an elimination game.