Martin leads LSU to 9-1 victory

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Feb 28, 2008 - Page: 2C

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Left-handed pitcher Blake Martin made sure his first start for the LSU baseball team would be a memorable one Wednesday night.

Martin, a transfer who played his first two seasons at Birmingham Southern, pitched five strong innings in leading the Tigers to an easy 9-1 victory over Mississippi Valley State before 936 fans in Alex Box Stadium.

A junior from Boaz, Ala., Martin allowed just two hits and no runs in his first starting assignment for LSU (4-1). He struck out nine and walked just one before four relievers followed him to the mound to finish off Mississippi Valley (4-2).

All told, it was a solid night for LSU’s pitchers. They combined to allow just five hits with 13 strikeouts and just one walk, with Martin setting the tone by striking out the side in the top of the first inning.

He went on to retire the first eight Mississippi Valley batters before center fielder Joel Gafford singled in the third inning. Martin fanned at least one hitter in each of his five innings of work and finished by striking out the final two MVSU batters he faced.

“It was a good time, about all you could ask for,” said Martin, who also recorded his first win for the Tigers. “We put up nine runs and the defense played error-free. All I had to do was throw strikes.”

That was something Martin, who threw 82 pitches with 50 strikes, had been thinking about since Saturday. In his LSU debut, he gave up two hits and three earned runs in just 12/3 innings of a 5-4 win over Indiana.

“I didn’t do as well as I would have hoped, so I worked hard for today,” Martin said. “I went out and pounded the strike zone and it worked out real well. I tried to get ahead in the count early and use my off-speed stuff.”

LSU coach Paul Mainieri proudly noted it was the second solid start from a Tiger left-hander in as many nights as junior-college transfer Ryan Verdugo threw five innings of one-hit ball in a 6-1 victory over Southern on Tuesday.

“That was an outstanding performance by another left-handed pitcher,” said Mainieri. “I thought Blake was great. He struck out a lot of batters, and once again, he set the tone for the game.”

While Martin provided the pitching, he got plenty of help from his teammates. LSU pounded out nine hits after being held to one single in the first 22/3 innings by MVSU right-hander Scott Reid (0-2). Reid gave up seven hits and eight runs in 51/3 innings.

Left fielder Leon Landry, center fielder Jared Mitchell and second baseman Ryan Schimpf had two hits each. Third baseman Matt Clark also had a two-run single in the sixth inning.

“We came out a little slow, but coach Mainieri fired us up and we started putting the ball in play,” said Landry, who belted a run-scoring single in the Tigers’ four-run fifth. “Coach huddled us up and put a spark into us, and we ran with it. We figured out what we were doing wrong at the plate.”