The 2024 SEC Baseball Tournament got off to an eventful start as 11-seed LSU racked up 14 hits and starter Gage Jump held off 6-seed Georgia for a 9-1 victory in the first round at Hoover Metropolitan Complex in Hoover, Alabama.
The eight-run margin is the Tigers’ largest over the Bulldogs since March 17, 2017 when they beat UGA 22-9. LSU’s 14 hits were its most in an SEC Tournament game since 2017 (also had 14 in an 11-0 win over South Carolina).
Jump tossed an outstanding seven innings for LSU, recording a season-high 105 pitches while fanning seven and allowing just four hits and one walk. The Tigers kept the Bulldogs at bay as Griffin Herring worked through the final two frames, facing eight batters and allowing two hits and two walks with one strikeout.
The top of LSU’s lineup fired things up as Michael Braswell III and Tommy White both went 3-for-6 with one RBI. Braswell III scored twice and White scored one along with a shining defensive performance from the hot corner. Josh Pearson led in RBI, boasting three, on a 2-for-4 day with a walk. Steven Milam and Alex Milazzo also notched multi-hit days with two RBI apiece.
The Bulldogs leaned on their bullpen to little avail, using five different arms while giving up 14 hits and seven walks. Starter Jarvis Evans endured the loss after allowing three hits and two walks in just 0.1 innings. He faced just six batters before being pulled, tying for the fifth-fewest batters faced in a start in SEC Tournament history.
Christina Mracna threw the most frames from the bullpen, tossing four with five hits and one walk as well as five of the staff’s 10 strikeouts.
UGA’s bats were more quiet than usual, logging six hits and three walks as a team. The Bulldogs also failed to hit a home run for just the seventh time this season, snapping a 13-game multi-HR streak which was the longest streak by any DI school this season.
Charlie Condon’s hitting streak also came to an end at 24 games, marking his first game without a hit since April 2nd vs. Georgia State.
Up Next
LSU advances to the second round of the SEC tourney, facing off against 3-seed Kentucky on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. CT.
Georgia is eliminated from the tournament and now awaits NCAA Tournament selections.
