Throughout its 10-game winning streak, the LSU baseball team continued to come up big offensively, scoring eight or more runs in seven of its 10 wins.
However, the Tigers never needed the offensive outbursts until Monday night’s regional final against Houston. But the bats that had won the Southeastern Conference tournament had suddenly been silenced, and LSU’s season came to a shocking conclusion.
“We scored two runs right off the bat. We just did not really do anything after that,” said sophomore shortstop Alex Bregman. “Houston did a good job. I do not think this game was a reflection of our season at all.”
LSU (46-16-1, 17-11-1 SEC) was silenced offensively after scoring two runs to start the game, and Houston (48-16, 14-9 American Athletic Conference) broke the game open with a seven-run 3rd inning to complete a 12-2 blowout win Monday night at Alex Box Stadium.
The loss marks the first time LSU has lost in a regional since 2010 and the first time at a regional it has hosted since 2005. The Tigers had to play the game only after blowing a four-run lead in the 8th inning to Houston the night before.
LSU got off to exactly the start its wanted in the 1st, as Bregman, freshman left fielder Jake Fraley and senior designated hitter Sean McMullen recorded singles to get an early 2-0 lead. But Houston responded in a similarly swift fashion to lead off the bottom of the first.
Freshman pitcher Alden Cartwright started the game with a hit batsman and a pair of walks, loading the bases before recording an out. Cartwright was taken out in favor of freshman reliever Parker Bugg, and the Cougars ultimately scored two runs to tie it in the 1st.
“I wasn’t set on taking out Alden early. The ball came out of his hand great to start,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “He then hit the guy on the next pitch. After that he seemed out of rhythm and he couldn’t make an adjustment. I didn’t think he would come back from that.”
The game remained quiet until the bottom of the third inning when the Cougars were able to load the bases with no outs again. Houston took a two-run lead off a fielder’s choice and another hit by pitch before Bugg was taken out in favor of junior Brady Domangue.
But things only unraveled further with Domangue on the mound, with the next five Houston batters reaching base as the lead climbed to seven runs. Domangue was replaced by senior Nate Fury and became the second LSU pitcher to fail to record an out.
Fury put an end to the 3rd quickly, but the damage had been done and LSU fans soon started heading to the exits.
“Going into the game, [pitching coach] Adam Dunn and I talked about just hanging in there,” Mainieri said. “It didn’t work out as we planned. It was as poorly of a pitched game as we had all year.”
After the 3rd, the star of the game became Houston reliever Jared Robinson. The junior, who had previously pitched almost seven innings Friday evening, kept the Tigers scoreless for the final five innings of the game.
Robinson, who was later named to the Baton Rouge All-Tournament team, said he took the game one pitch at a time and tried to institute his off-speed pitches more often.
As McMullen sat at the post-game press conference, he became overwhelmed with emotion as he realized his time at LSU had come to a close. For him, his teammates and his coaches, this wasn’t how they saw their season would end at all.
“We won 46 ball games, the SEC tournament Championship and we were a national seed,” Mainieri said. “We were 2-0 in this tournament and seemingly in the driver’s seat yesterday. Unfortunately we just didn’t get it done when we needed it to. When I think of the 2014 season, I’m not going to think about this game.”