AJ Labas' Career Performance Ruined as No. 11 LSU Offense No-Hit in 1-0 Loss to No. 22 Oklahoma

After two phenomenal pitching efforts from LSU sophomore AJ Labas and Oklahoma starter Dane Acker, it was a shame one had to go home with a loss.

Yet after seven innings of no-hit baseball from both pitchers, an eighth inning solo homerun from Oklahoma catcher Justin Mitchell was enough to give the No. 22 ranked Sooners the 1-0 victory over the No. 11 Tigers.

Labas would go eight innings and allow just the one run on just the one hit with seven strikeouts while Acker would go the distance, striking out 11 LSU batters and handing the Tigers their first nine-inning no-hitter in program history.

One glaring weakness of this LSU offense that's become evident this weekend is its propensity to strikeout. Entering Sunday's weekend finale against the Sooners, the Tigers had struck out 23 times in the previous two outings.

Acker probably gave a sly smile when seeing that statistic and it showed against the Tigers. Acker struck out nine LSU batters in the first five innings but what benefited in one of the great pitching performances in recent memory.

What kept a struggling LSU offense in the game until the end was a near equally impressive outing put on by the sophomore Labas.

Labas was as dominant as Acker in the early innings of Sunday's top-15 matchup, retiring 12 of the first 13 batters he faced. Oklahoma went three up, three down in four of the first five innings against Labas.

The pitching duel between Labas and Acker was a sight to behold as Labas went the first five innings allowing just a single baserunner and no hits with six strikeouts. After a one out third inning walk, Labas would retire the next 16 batters he faced.

But for every zero Labas would put up, Acker would respond with one of his own until the ill-fated eighth inning homerun from Mitchell.

Acker's performance on the mound continued to perplex the LSU offense as he retired nine straight batters from the sixth through the eighth inning to keep his no hitter alive.

Junior Devin Fontenot would replace Labas in the ninth and after a leadoff double, would retire the side and give the LSU offense one last shot at Acker.

The Tigers would get hard hit balls from both Zack Mathis and Alex Milazzo but both were tracked down by Oklahoma fielders, completing the stunning no-hitter.

LSU (7-5) is back in action on Tuesday and Wednesday with midweek games against Southeastern and Grambling with both games starting at 6:30 p.m.