Colorado-native Kevin Gausman continues to pitch his way into strong Golden Spikes Award finalist contention with the way he is striking out batters this season. Already armed with two 11-punchout games this season, Gausman broke that career high on Friday night with 12 strikeouts against the No. 3 Arkansas Razorbacks in a 10-6 LSU Tigers victory.
Gausman allowed two hits and a walk over the first two innings of the game before he ran into trouble in the third, ending LSU's 2-0 lead. He struck out Jacob Morris to start the inning and then looked to have the second out on a swinging whiff by Tim Carver, but his fifth strikeout turn into a wild pitch. A single, a fly out and a double later, the Razorbacks had tied the game at two. A two-run triple and a wild pitch put the other three runs on the board, but the inning ended on his sixth strikeout of the game.
The Tigers answered back with eight runs over the next three innings: three in the third, one in the fourth and four in the fifth. Gausman, for his part, didn't allow another hit for the next 3⅔ innings. He struck out six over the following three innings, including three in the fourth.
Gausman is now 5-0 in seven starts with 62 strikeouts in 47⅔ innings pitched.
For more on this game: LSU's game recap.
For updates, stay tuned to SB Nation Denver. For more Rockies coverage, head over to Purple Row. And for more on Major League Baseball prospects, visit Minor League Ball.