How It Happened: LSU Baseball Takes Down Kent State 10-7 in Strong Offensive Showing

BATON ROUGE, La. – The top-ranked LSU baseball squad blasted four home runs, including junior right fielder Jake Brown’s two dingers to lift the Tigers over the Kent State Golden Flashes, 10-7, Monday night at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

With the victory, LSU collected its fourth-straight win, improving its record to 4-0 overall. With the loss, Kent State dropped to 3-1 on the season. The Golden Flashes came into the matchup off of a series sweep of Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond.

LSU returns to action on Wednesday, February 18, as it takes on the Nicholls Colonels at home. The contest will be streamed on SEC Network + at 1 p.m. CT. The game will be available to listen in on with the LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates.

“It was a great win for our team, one of the best wins of the early season in college baseball,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “We’re happy to get through these four games with four wins. I was really pleased with the team tonight, I really think that offensively we were very good.”

Brown was 3-for-5 on the night with two solo homers and two RBIs. The effort also marked the third two-homer game of his career; the first came on May 10, 2025, versus Arkansas in Alex Box Stadium and the second came in the third game against Milwaukee during this season’s Opening Weekend.

Brown became the first LSU player to hit two homers in back-to-back games since Jared Jones accomplished the feat on March 11 and 12, 2023, versus Samford in Alex Box Stadium.

LSU freshman reliever Ethan Plog (1-0) earned the first win of his career, tossing 1.0 innings and allowing no runs on no hits with two strikeouts and one walk. Johnson used seven different arms, which began with junior Jaden Noot who tossed the first three innings. Noot allowed three runs on three hits and tallied four punchouts in his outing.

Following Noot, a combination of Plog and sophomores Deven Sheerin and Mavrick Rizy threw three innings of scoreless baseball. After junior DJ Primeaux and senior Grant Fontenot gave up four earned runs, LSU’s Gavin Guidry closed the game with 2.1 innings pitched in his second. Guidry picked up his first save of the season, tallying five strikeouts during his outing without allowing a run or hit.

“We really like our bullpen, and the offense scoring early tonight really helped,” Johnson said. “I feel like Gavin is the best closer in the country, and what’s remarkable is that we won the 2025 National Championship last season while he was out with an injury. We are very grateful he’s back on the mound, obviously.”

Brown got the Tigers on the board first with a 403-foot dinger to right-center field. Brown, who has been scorching hot offensively to start the season, launched his third homer of the season in the bottom of the first.

Holding the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, freshman designated hitter Mason Braun belted a three-run opposite field homer down the left field line to extend LSU’s lead to four runs. Fifth-year senior second baseman Seth Dardar and senior left fielder Tanner Reaves both reached prior to Braun with a walk and bunt single, respectively, and scored on the freshman’s first career bomb.

Kent State right fielder Sawyer Solitaria responded in the top of the third with his own three-run homer to bring the Golden Flashes’ deficit within one. KSU’s first two hitters of the inning reached on a single to center and a four-pitch walk. LSU escaped the frame with a 4-3 advantage.

LSU Tigers Baseball: Cade Arrambide. — Courtesy of LSU Tigers Baseball.

Brown was able to add some cushion to LSU’s lead again with his fourth dinger of the season in the bottom half of the third. He sent his second homer of the contest to dead center, smacking the batter’s eye in center field to give LSU the 5-3 lead. Each home run for the Sulphur native has come in the past two days, as he had two against Milwaukee in the Sunday finale.

LSU’s offense continued to add on with two outs in the inning, putting up two more runs courtesy of two singles and a two-run double.

Sophomore catcher Cade Arrambide expanded the Tigers’ total with an RBI single that scored junior shortstop Steven Milam, giving LSU the 8-3 edge. In the bottom of the fifth, sophomore center fielder Derek Curiel tacked on another run courtesy of a wild pitch to make it 9-3.

Senior first baseman Zach Yorke joined in on the home run party in the sixth, recording his second of the season as it landed in the right field Diamond Deck. After six innings, LSU led 10-3.

KSU second baseman Brody Williams struck for the Golden Flashes in the seventh frame, scoring three teammates on a bases-clearing double down the left field line, making it a 10-6 lead for LSU. Center fielder Micah Rienstra-Kirac brought Williams home on an RBI single through the left side.

The Tigers moved into the seventh inning stretch leading 10-7 and were able to maintain that advantage throughout the remainder of the game.

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