Hoosiers Split Saturday Doubleheader at No. 11 LSU

Saturday, February 15

Baton Rouge, LA

2:00 PM

Indiana University

0-2

LSU

2-0

Indiana

LSU

Hoosiers Split Saturday Doubleheader at No. 11 LSU

2/15/2020 10:41:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game 1 Box Score (PDF)Game 2 Box Score (PDF)Watch | Highlights

By Jared Rigdon
IUHoosiers.com

BATON ROUGE, La. – Braydon Tucker only pitched in five games during his freshman campaign last season. He pitched in just over six innings and didn't record a decision.

After IU lost the entire weekend rotation from last year's squad, IU head coach Jeff Mercer turned to the sophomore Tucker to replace Andrew Saalfrank as the third pitcher in the rotation.

On Saturday night in the final game of a three-game set, Tucker turned in a performance showcasing his vast improvement in a 7-2 win over No. 11 LSU.

"He did a really good job tonight," Mercer said. "You think about him waiting all day and he came out and really, really pitched."

Mercer wanted his team to experience postseason style atmospheres early in the season and a weekend trip to Baton Rouge to face SEC powerhouse LSU provided a young IU team just that.

IU dropped the first two games of the weekend but got the chance to earn an RPI-boosting win on Saturday night. IU has built a foundation around patience at the plate and consistently chipped away at LSU's pitching staff all weekend to pick off runs.

Grant Richardson continued his torrid start on Saturday night with an RBI sac-fly in the top of the third inning. On the weekend, the sophomore center fielder went 6-for-12 and had five RBI's.

IU lost a lot of offensive production to the draft last season but the trio of Richardson, junior third baseman Cole Barr and junior outfielder Elijah Dunham picked up right where they left off last season.

"Grant has always been a talented player and as he's grown throughout the course of the last year through experience, he's become much more a tactician of the game," Mercer said. "He's controlled his emotions, discipline and made himself into a really terrific player."

IU steadily built a lead Saturday night with another sac-fly from junior utilityman Drew Ashley and an RBI-double from Richardson.

It was enough to give Tucker a comfortable lead on the mound and he did the rest. In his first career college start, Tucker stymied the LSU lineup to the tune of six innings pitched while allowing just one run and striking out one.

Richardson capped off a tremendous weekend with a two-run homerun in the top of the ninth inning to put the game away.

Opening up the weekend against a top-15 team in LSU is one of the toughest tasks to ask for a team, but IU was able to bounce back after two losses to salvage a much-needed win for its NCAA Tournament resume.

The first month of the season is always a period to figure things out for teams. Despite taking losses, sophomore pitcher Gabe Bierman and junior pitcher Tommy Sommer proved their value to the front end of the IU rotation.

IU worked in a multitude of position players into the lineup for quality at-bats and found success playing its brand of baseball.

It also found out that it's sophomore class, spearheaded by Tucker, Richardson and Bierman will be crucial in IU's quest to defend its Big Ten title crown.

For all the latest on Indiana University baseball, be sure to follow the team at @IndianaBase on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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