SUNDAY’S GAME: Texas 6, LSU 2

Good pitching lived up to the cliché and beat the Southeastern Conference’s top hitting team Sunday as Texas stymied LSU 6-2 to take the weekend series two games to one.

LSU, which came into the weekend batting .345, managed only seven hits in the rubber game — none after closing the gap to 5-2 in the sixth inning.

Texas’ Rugar Riojas (5-1), making his first start as a Longhorn, struck out six Tigers in his 5 1/3 innings.

Longhorn lefthander Dylan Volantis got his second save in as many games by throwing the final 3 1/3 innings, holding LSU scoreless and striking out five of the 10 batters he faced.

“Texas pitched well today,”  said LSU coach Jay Johnson, who was ejected for arguing a checked-swing call in the bottom of the eighth. “We’ve been elite this season with two-strike hitting, but they beat us in that today. They did a better job with two strikes and that was the difference in game.”

The Tigers (22-3, 4-2 SEC) and sure to drop from its previous No. 2 ranking, lost consecutive games for the first time this season after having their 17-game winning streak broken in an 11-7 loss Saturday night.

No. 8 Texas (19-3, 5-1) is in a four-way tie for first place in the SEC with Georgia, Arkansas and Tennessee. LSU is one of five teams a game back at 4-2.

LSU starter Chase Shores struggled while giving up five runs in 4 innings. He walked only two — they both scored — but always seemed to be working behind in the count.

He gave up five runs on seven hits, including a 2-run homer to Max Belyeu in the fourth that put the Longhorns up 5-0.

Belyeu also had an RBI ground out in the second and drove in a run from first with a triple in the sixth.

LSU reliever Casan Evans was more effective while striking out five Longhorns in 3 2/3 innings.

The only run Evans allowed came after a slow ground hit the third base bag for a single. LSU could have erased the runner but Jake Brown at first base couldn’t handle the relay throw on a double-play opportunity.

Ethan Mendoza then scored from when leftfielder Derek Curiel dove for Belyeu’s line drive and it got past him and rolled to the wall for a triple.

LSU trailed 5-0 before getting both its runs in the sixth, one on Brown’s RBI single and the other when Steven Milam scored from third when Brown deliberately got in a rundown between first and second before being tagged out on a steal attempt.

LSU is back in action Tuesday at home against UL-Lafayette and hosts Mississippi State in a Thursday-Saturday series.