No. 1 LSU stared its first SEC series loss of the season in the face Friday afternoon, one that likely would’ve produced a new No. 1 team to beat in the conference.
Through the first 16 innings of the series, No. 6 South Carolina had outscored the Tigers 20-8 and entered the final stretch of game two with a seemingly insurmountable four-run lead.
But with the bases loaded in the eighth, Gavin Dugas took on the weight of the entire series and delivered a devastating grand slam to tie it at seven heading into the ninth. From there, Cade Beloso and freshman pitcher Gavin Guidry put the finishing touches on their miraculous, series-evening victory.
Celebrations were brief and distracted, as fans awaited the announced fate of the final game. The weather notably picked up towards the end of Friday’s contest, causing Plan B for the series finale to be put into question.
Initially, game three had been scheduled for Saturday. Then, it was announced that it would be moved up to Friday, making the last two games a doubleheader. And with the continued downpour in Columbia following LSU’s game two victory, it was tentatively moved back to Saturday.
With the forecast for Saturday’s weather remaining dire and the NCAA rulebook requiring conference series to take place in a three-day span, it was pretty much guaranteed that the series would be cancelled. The anticipated announcement would come the following morning.
That leaves the world of college baseball with multiple unanswered questions.
Who would have won the series had the finale not been canceled? Which team has the edge at this point in the season? Will this impact next week’s rankings despite it ending in a draw?
We can only speculate on those for now.
You can never count out this LSU squad when it comes to pulling off the improbable, evident based on its previous win. But considering the condition of its bullpen and what the Gamecocks had managed to do to it through two games, projections pointed in their direction when it came to who would take the series.
Chase Shores and Nate Ackenhausen are still out with injuries, each of which currently hold an ERA under 2.00. One of its best relievers in Garrett Edwards was added to that list after exiting game two with an elbow injury.
Couple that with the Tigers delving deep into their bullpen through the first two games and they didn’t have many available pitchers remaining. Head coach Jay Johnson mentioned Christian Little, Thatcher Hurd, Bryce Collins and Riley Cooper as available pitchers for the finale. Blake Money was likely available as well.
Four of those pitchers have ERAs over 5.00, with Little being the only one to have one under that at 3.63.
Being that the Gamecocks managed multiple earned runs off Paul Skenes, Edwards and Ty Floyd, it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that they could’ve had a field day with that proposed lineup. Not to mention that they were consistently earning free bases, with the LSU pitching staff issuing 16 walks and hitting seven batters to go along with a wild pitch and three errors from the defense.
On the other side of the field, the Tigers were mostly stagnant as well.
They earned one run through the first six innings of each game and Jordan Thompson, Gavin Dugas and Cade Beloso combined for all but one of their RBIs. South Carolina held Dylan Crews, Tre Morgan, Jared Jones and others at bay through much of the series, with Crews being struck out the same number of times he got on base.
That’s not to say the Gamecocks were all-out guaranteed to dethrone the Tigers or hinder their considerable offense for a third straight game, with the South Carolina bullpen also being in a rough spot. Noah Hall was out with injury and most of its other more involved pitchers were exhausted through the first two games.
They did have more available pitchers with ERAs lower than 3.50, containing one of the deepest bullpens in the country based on overall ERA. But against LSU’s lineup, it typically takes one spark to create an explosion and even the slightest drop in proficiency could’ve spelled doom for them.
I would have given South Carolina the edge based on the facts listed above but we’ll never truly know who ultimately would’ve won the series.
Either way, I wouldn’t say the cancellation was best-case scenario. Each team earned the chance to claim the series with their respective victories and being overly critical of either squad losing wouldn’t have made much sense.
A series loss for LSU wouldn’t have been the end of the world by any means, especially with the number of injuries it currently has. Nobody said winning the SEC was going to be easy, and the Gamecocks proved that they’re about it in terms of competing with the conference’s best.
