LSU baseball lost 12-7 to Southern Monday night after a poor all-around performance, leading to its fourth consecutive loss.
A once-again feckless offense and a lackluster bullpen cost LSU the game in what felt like a competition to lose. Southern all but asked LSU to score through walks, hit batters, errors and wild pitches. Despite this, the Tigers had just four hits on the night.
The Jaguars were 8-for-18 and scored eight of their 12 runs with two outs. Not being able to put the inning away was a consistent issue all night for the Tigers.
That started in the second inning, when Southern put up the first runs of the night.
After consecutive strikeouts, starter Kade Anderson allowed a walk, a single, then a three-run home run. Fortunately, he would get out of the inning right after.
The Tigers were handed two in the fourth inning. Two walks and an error loaded the bases with no outs. A Ben Nippolt flyout and Alex Milazzo sacrifice bunt scored two. LSU didn’t get a hit all inning.
After Sam Dutton was pulled in the fifth, delivering a strong 2.1 innings, the bullpen fell apart. Christian Little allowed a single and a walk before Justin Loer replaced him. Loer allowed a walk, a three-run double and a two-run home run. This brought the Jaguars to five on the inning, eight in the game.
LSU began to show some life in response. A Tommy White single and an error off a hit by Ashton Larson set the Tigers up for success with no outs. Hayden Travinski grounded out but scored White. Then, Brady Neal hit a two-run home run to shorten Southern’s lead to three.
Micah Bucknam replaced Loer in the sixth and quickly tallied two strikeouts. Immediately after, Southern singled twice and scored on an error by Michael Braswell.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Tigers plated one, thanks to a wild pitch, two walks and a hit-by-pitch.
LSU’s last run of the night came in the eighth. Mac Bingham was hit by a pitch and White singled to set up a Jared Jones sacrifice fly.
After finishing the eighth, former starter Thatcher Hurd was hoping to finish strong and set up LSU to catch up from trailing two runs in the ninth.
Instead, he allowed a single, hit a batter and walked another to load the bases with just one out. A second error from Braswell gave Southern its tenth run. Then, an overthrow from Neal scored two and stretched the lead to five.
To cap an embarrassing performance, LSU didn’t get a hit in the bottom of the ninth.
On the night, Southern walked 11, hit two batters, threw three wild pitches and had two errors. Looking at just half of the stat sheet, a loss would be more than likely. However, LSU had just four hits all night, and went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
Hitters fundamental to LSU’s offense did not produce. Bingham, Travinski and Jones went a combined 0-for-10.
The Tigers were praised for having one of the deepest bullpens in college baseball entering the season. Southern scored nine runs against them.
Allowing 11 hits, two home runs, six walks and three errors was too much to make up, though there were opportunities.
The few bright spots of the game included Neal, White and Dutton. The ever-reliable White went 2-for-3 with two walks, scoring twice. Neal was 1-for-2 with a home run, two runs batted in and three walks. Dutton threw 2.1 innings, struck out one and allowed no hits.
Despite a series sweep by Arkansas, LSU showed fight and talent against the top team in the country. Yet, after a humiliating loss, the Tigers find themselves at a new season low point, with a barrelful of questions.
While baseball is known for its unpredictability, good teams cannot win with unpredictable performances. LSU can’t afford to go into games unsure of if its bullpen will deliver, or if its offense can get hits.
Entering a home series against Vanderbilt, competitiveness will have to be apparent, and buttoned up play will be a must.