Tigers offense no-shows and lets a series win slip away late
LSU’s trip to College Station was awfully disappointing as the Tigers let a series win against the Aggies slip away late. Friday’s game got rained out so the two played a doubleheader on Saturday. LSU split Saturday’s double header, losing the opener 3-1 but holding on to win the nightcap 2-1. On Sunday LSU was four outs away from escaping with a win, but ended up losing that one late 6-4.
Doubleheader Game 1
As we’ve seen far too often lately, the LSU offense was spinning its wheels in a tough 3-1 loss. LSU certainly had its chances late, but the Tigers couldn’t get the critical hit when they needed it most.
Trailing by two, LSU stranded a combined five runners in the final two innings. Ethan Frey flew out with the bases loaded in the eighth, and Jared Jones had the tying run in scoring position in the ninth but struck out swinging. The Tigers were 0-5 with runners in scoring position and 2-14 with runners on base.
The LSU bats wasted what was an otherwise excellent outing by Kade Anderson who struck out a dozen over six innings. Anderson wasn’t perfect—three hits, and three walks—but one run from your ace over six innings should have been more than enough for LSU.
Doubleheader Game 2
Anthony Eyanson had an epic complete-game 14 strikeout outing in game two. Eyanson only allowed three hits and issued just one free pass in what was by far his best outing as a Tiger.
“Everybody saw tonight that Anthony is one of the best pitchers in the country,” Johnson said. “This is a great environment, a hostile environment, but Anthony is a competitor. There was no way I was taking him out of that game. He dominated the pitch count throughout the outing. He’s a great pitcher, but he’s also an elite competitor, and that’s what makes him special.”
Offense may have been hard to come by Saturday night, but Ethan Frey had no such problems. Frey accounted for half of LSU’s six hits, going 3-4 and put LSU on the board in the sixth inning with an RBI double. Frey later came home for LSU’s second run of the game when Josh Pearson executed a bunt single to perfection.
A&M responded quickly in the home half of the sixth when Ben Royo led off the inning with a solo home run to make it a 2-1 ball game, but Eyanson wouldn’t yield. He gave up a one-out single in the ninth to put the tying run aboard, but struck out the final two batters of the game to split the doubleheader.
Sunday
Texas A&M used a four-spot in the eighth inning to rally back and claim the series 6-4 on Sunday. Zac Cowan gave up the go-ahead three-run home run to Caden Sorrell to sink LSU.
LSU’s offense was really frustrating as the Tigers failed to get the leadoff man on in all nine innings. Luis Hernandez was the lone bright spot offensively for LSU, going 2-3 at the plate with a double and a two-run home run in the sixth. Hernandez drove in three of LSU’s four runs.
All things considered, the much maligned LSU bullpen did its job Sunday. Casan Evans got a second straight Sunday start and while he wasn’t nearly as dominant as he was last weekend against Tennessee, he only allowed one run in 3.1 innings. He wasn’t particularly efficient (93 pitches) but considering it was his second ever start and it was on the road in one of the toughest environments in the country, only giving up one run wasn’t too shabby.
In total, LSU ended up using seven pitches Sunday, most of whom were called on specifically for a lefty-lefty or righty-righty matchups. Case in point, DJ Primeaux and Cooper Williams were called on to face Jace LaViollete in the fourth and sixth innings respectively, and both at-bats ended in strikeouts.
Chase Shores came on in the sixth inning after Williams struck out LaViollette and while he hit the first batter he faced to load the bases, he then got a first-pitch fly out to end the inning.
Shores ended up retiring five consecutive before giving up a one-out double in the eighth. Shores threw a wild pitch to allow the runner to advance to third but was able to respond with a strikeout for the second out of the inning. That’s when Johnson went to the pen for Conner Ware and as the saying goes “that’s baseball.” Ware got LaViollette to hit a weak grounder to third that was just soft enough for him to beat the throw to first base and score the runner from third.
Johnson lifted Ware for Cowan and he too had some bad luck giving up a bloop single to right field. On a less windy day that ball hangs up long enough for Jake Brown to make the catch and end the inning, instead the ball dropped in safely. Three pitches later A&M’s 4-3 deficit is now a 6-4 lead and the Aggies went on to claim the series.
I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say this was a “devastating” series loss for LSU, but it sure doesn’t feel good letting this one slip away. The more sample size grows the more it seems that LSU is objectively a really good team, but maybe not a great one, and that feels especially true if they’re not playing inside Alex Box Stadium.
LSU scored seven runs this weekend and failed score in 24 of 27 innings across these three games. The Tiger pitching was more than good enough for LSU to at least win the series, and probably should have swept considering Anderson’s outing in Game One. But now the bats are starting to turn cold, and Jay Johnson’s clearly looking for a remedy with all the tinkering he’s been doing to the lineup lately.
At 38-11 overall and 15-9 in SEC play, LSU still is in decent shape to be a Top-8 seed for the NCAA Tournament, but the onus is on the Tigers to win its final two series. That’s easier said than done because this weekend Arkansas is coming to town and the Hogs are riding high after sweeping Texas in Fayetteville this week.