LSU baseball star Gavin Dugas leaves Thursday's game after suffering injury

The LSU Tigers have been throttling the Kentucky Wildcats for much of the night in their baseball contest on Thursday night. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they might have just lost one of their biggest stars. Slugger Gavin Dugas landed awkwardly on his shoulder after diving for a catch in the top of the seventh inning. He fully extended for the ball and came crashing to the ground, landing awkwardly on the shoulder. He was down on the field for a few minutes in pain, before walking off with the Tigers’ medical staff. Dugas left the game with the injury in the seventh inning.

If you want to see a clip of the play you can watch it below.

Gavin Dugas left the game after diving for the ball on this play. pic.twitter.com/l97Q1zv2p0

— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthewCFB) April 14, 2023

LSU appeared to be well in control of Thursday night’s game, as they led Kentucky 14-6.

Coming into Thursday night’s matchup, Dugas was second on the team in home runs (10) and third on the team in RBIs (32). He’s one of the best power hitters in all of college baseball and clearly, his presence would be missed if he has to miss time for the top-ranked Tigers.

LSU head coach Jay Johnson gives update on Dugas injury

Following the game, LSU head coach Jay Johnson said Dugas injured his shoulder, according to Koki Riley of The Daily Advertiser. More importantly, he said the team trainer was “positive” about it. And he also didn’t want to speculate on the injury.

LSU dominated Kentucky by a score of 16-6 on Thursday night as both teams agreed to a run-rule stoppage. The game ended in the eighth inning. Jordan Thompson blasted a grand slam and had four RBIs in the win. Bradyen Jobert did the same, blasting a grand slam, bringing in four RBIs. Cade Beloso chippped in for the Tigers as well, blasting a home run and racking up three RBIs.

LSU star pitcher Paul Skenes had a pretty nice showing on the mound, firing 13 strikeouts in six innings of work. He also allowed five runs in the winning effort. Skenes currently leads college baseball with 104 strikeouts this year.

He earned first team All-American honors during the 2021 and 2022 seasons with Air Force, before transferring to LSU this offseason. Skenes also won the 2022 John Olerud Award as the best two-way player in college baseball last year.

LSU will have two more games left in their series with Kentucky this weekend. The Tigers and Kentucky will tangle on Friday, April 14th and Saturday, April 15th. Friday night’s game is set for 6:30 PM CST and Saturday night’s game is slated for 1:00 PM CST.