LSU holds off Milwaukee to stay unbeaten
Published 10:34 pm Saturday, February 14, 2026
By Scooter Hobbs
American Press
LSU looked to have broken open a close game with three runs in the eighth inning against Milwaukee Saturday.
But the Tigers still had to squirming to do before holding on for a 5-3 victory over the Panthers in the second game of the season opening series for the defending national champions.
Steven Milam doubled home Jake Brown and Derek Curiel and Cade Arrambide added an RBI double for a 5-1 LSU lead in the eigth inning.
“Steven was just being Steven,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “Mr. Clutch. Time and time again, we never have a doubt he’s going to do what he needs to do in these moments. And he delivered big time.”
But Milwaukee eventually outhit the Tigers 9-8 and made it interesting in the ninth with a pair of runs on four hits in the final inning and had the tying run on before Grant Fontenot got the final out.
The story, however, was starting pitcher Cooper Moore (1-0), a transfer from Kansas who had a career-high 11 strike outs in his LSU debut.
He and five other LSU pitchers combined for 17 strike outs for the second time in as many games.
“He has a lot of ways to get you out,” Walker said of Moore, who allowed four hits in six innings, including a solo home run in the fourth for the only run he allowed.
“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 are special. He pitches like he needs to win, and we certainly needed that today.”
LSU’s other two runs came in the third inning on a sacrifice flu by Curiel, followed by an RBI single by Brown.
The two teams will finish the weekend series Sunday at 1 p.m., with sophomore William Schmidt pitching for LSU.