By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
New LSU starting pitcher Cooper Moore, a transfer from Kansas, made a splash debut for the Tigers on Saturday.
Moore, who was 7-3 for the Jayhawks last season as a sophomore, struck out a career high 11 batters, mainly on a dastardly changeup, and held Milwaukee to one run on four hits through six innings with zero walks for a 5-3 win at Alex Box Stadium.
“He’s really good,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “He’s got exceptional pitch-ability. He has a lot of ways to get you out. We’ve been seeing this from Cooper since October. He was our best performing pitcher in the fall, so it was not a surprise to us that he had this type of outing today. Cooper has great self-belief, and I think those guys that have that are special. And we really need that. He pitches like he needs to win, and we certainly saw that today.”
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Milwaukee’s only run came in the top of the fourth when Bradyn Horn homered to left field off Moore to cut LSU’s lead to 2-1, where the score remained until the eighth inning. Steven Milam hit a two-run double and Cade Arrambide stroked an RBI double for a 5-1 lead in the eighth.
“Steven was being Steven – ‘Mr. Clutch,’” Johnson said. “Time and time again, we never have a doubt he’s going to do what he needs to do in those moments. And he delivered with a big two-run double.”
Senior Grant Fontenot came on in the ninth as the Tigers’ sixth pitcher after Milwaukee cut it to 5-3 to get the last out and earn the first save of his career.
The Tigers (2-0) took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on a Jake Brown RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Derek Curiel.
LSU closes the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. on SEC Network+. Sophomore William Schmidt will start for the Tigers.
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