Since the Southeastern Conference Tournament expanded to 12 teams in 2013, the 11-seed has never advanced to the championship round.
LSU was clearly not your average 11-seed.
In this year’s loaded SEC, expected to soon be the first conference ever to have 11 teams invited to the NCAA Tournament, the 11-seed is no slouch. Even so, LSU is a special case.
The reigning national champions and the preseason betting favorite to repeat due to returning most of the major pieces, LSU has never had a talent issue.
Putting it together had been the problem. A poor start to SEC play made known LSU’s issues with consistency, but a hot stretch run had led the Tigers right to the precipice of being SEC champions.
“We’ve been playing playoff baseball for the past, I don’t know, five or six weeks,” catcher Alex Milazzo said.
In Sunday’s championship match against No. 1 Tennessee, LSU came short of reaching that distinction by a score of 4-3.
The Tigers found offense hard to come by, a rare sight for them in Hoover: in their other four games, they never scored fewer than nine runs.
In the bottom of the ninth, LSU put together a last-gasp rally with two runs but ultimately couldn’t close the gap.
After senior pitcher Nate Ackenhausen was pulled midway through the third inning of a dominant showing, with LSU opting to save his arm for more consequential games down the road, his replacement gave up a three-run home run that put Tennessee in front for good.
It marked the end of a historic SEC Tournament run for LSU and made the Volunteers the SEC regular season and tournament champions.
“Very proud of our team this week,” head coach Jay Johnson said. “Accomplished a lot. Four wins in the toughest league and toughest tournament in baseball.”
LSU’s road to the championship
The Tigers arrived in Hoover knowing they needed to take care of business: their two ace starting pitchers, Gage Jump and Luke Holman, had been preparing to start in the first two games for weeks.
They held it down for the Tigers, with seven strikeouts each and just one combined run allowed in wins over Georgia and Kentucky.
Those two matches were likely the most important of the week, as LSU’s chances of qualifying for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament seemed up in the air at the time.
After those two wins, LSU’s spot was all but guaranteed, and the rest of the SEC Tournament was just gravy: inconsequential.
LSU did not treat it that way.
Instead, the Tigers never let up in consecutive wins over South Carolina that each called for thrilling comebacks.
On Thursday, LSU needed four runs in the final two innings to top the Gamecocks, capped off by Michael Braswell III’s game-winning RBI single against his former team.
Saturday’s rematch in the semifinals brought more drama as LSU stormed back from an 8-0 deficit and sent the game to extra innings in the bottom of the 9th.
After a controversial call at the plate as South Carolina attempted to steal home gave the Gamecocks a one-run lead and resulted in Johnson’s ejection, LSU turned their outrage into something positive: a walk-off two-run home run by Steven Milam.
What did we learn about LSU during the SEC Tournament?
On paper, LSU’s SEC Tournament run may not mean much; perhaps LSU will see its seeding improve to a two-seed or will draw a more favorable regional in the NCAA Tournament, but that remains to be seen.
However, LSU has found valuable momentum. The team on the field this week was a completely different team than the one that limped through the early part of the SEC schedule.
LSU has also re-established its reputation as a team that embraces big moments. Last year en route to their national championship win, the Tigers stepped up time and time again when faced with long odds.
They did the same in the SEC Tournament, particularly in the two games against South Carolina.
“There was no panic,” Milazzo said.
On a less positive note, the Tigers still have questions about their pitching besides their two top starters and second team All-SEC reliever Griffin Herring.
When Jump and Holman take the mound, LSU can beat anyone. The team has struggled to find another starter it feels confident in, and the bullpen has been equally hit or miss aside from Herring.
The 10 and 11-run outings allowed against South Carolina are prime examples of that.
LSU’s offense seems more than up to the challenge of making up the difference based on its output in Hoover. Still, LSU will have to be strategic about its use of Jump and Holman knowing those two give the team its best chances of winning.
