BATON ROUGE — Opening Day at Alex Box Stadium was greeted by a light mist and haze hovering over the diamond at first pitch.

LSU baseball seemed to be playing through a haze of its own, opening the 2024 season Friday afternoon after coming off capturing the program's seventh College World Series championship last June.

VMI led the Tigers 6-5 going to the sixth, scoring five of its runs with two outs and off miscues from LSU pitchers Thatcher Hurd and Justin Loer. LSU struck first off a three-run homer from sophomore Jared Jones in the second and regained the lead in the third, 5-4, off a stand-up two-run double from Paxton Kling.

The Tigers woke up in the sixth, scoring five runs to put VMI away, 11-8, for the season-opening victory.

How LSU baseball overcame slow start on Opening Day

Hurd was chased after 2 ⅔ innings, giving up four earned runs on five hits. Loer gave up the lead with an unearned run that the Keydets eventually scored off a throwing error he made over the first.

While LSU (1-0) had its pitching woes on Opening Day, allowing eight runs off 11 hits, VMI had it worse as it fell apart in the sixth. Three Keydet pitchers beaned five LSU batters in the bottom of the sixth. Tommy White and Hayden Travinski were hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded, each earning RBIs that retook the lead for LSU, 7-6.

White, LSU's star hitter, went hitless (0-for-4) with an RBI and run to open the season.

Key sequence for LSU in win over VMI

White batted with the bases loaded in the second but struck out looking to leave three on base. His next attempt proved more fruitful, despite not swinging the bat again. He was hit on the first offering.

Three batters later, Mac Bingham punctuated the big sixth frame with a two-run double down the left field line. Bingham finished the game 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run.

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The Tigers had been 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position prior to opening up the game in the sixth. Turning that trend around was paramount as LSU finished 3-for-11 in that category for the game.

Man of the game: Hayden Travinski

Batting cleanup as the designated hitter, Travinski got his 2024 season started off nicely. The junior went 3-for-4 with four runs scored and two RBIs. He crushed a solo homer in the eighth to stretch the Tigers' lead to 11-8.

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU baseball overcomes sluggish start to win season opener over VMI