Following two rough losses to the bottom team in the SEC East, some were unsure why Kentucky ranked No. 1 in RPI.
It had been one of the more consistent teams in the country when it came to taking on decent teams, but it hadn’t yet proven itself against one of the best.
In game one against the Tigers, Kentucky looked flat on both sides of the field. Though its bats got going late in the game, that took place after LSU took a 14-1 lead through the first three innings, a lead which proved more than insurmountable.
It ultimately lost 16-6 in eight innings, with the activated run rule adding fuel to the doubt forming around the team. And through the first four innings of game two, it seemed like much of the same.
At the bottom of the fourth, LSU increased its lead to four with three combined RBIs from Dylan Crews and Tommy White. Prior to this game, it had only blown a lead of that magnitude once this season in its lone loss to Texas A&M.
On the pitching end, the Tiger outfield bailed Ty Floyd out early before he started putting things together in the third. He had given up two runs in the second inning but outside of that, was one out away from getting through the fifth with Kentucky’s run total still at two.
That one out proved much more elusive than expected.
After walking Hunter Gilliam to give the Wildcats two on base, Floyd would get into a zero-ball, two-strike situation with a very realistic chance at ending the inning unscathed. Then Kentucky’s Devin Burkes hit a single through the left side, which allowed their guy on second base to score.
The Tigers would opt to send in freshman Griffin Herring to relieve Floyd there, a decision not many questioned at the time. Herring had pitched incredibly well over his last few outings, with Johnson progressively upping his pitch count in preparation for making him a starter.
Even when a fielding error loaded the bases for the Wildcats, most believed Herring would get them out of it. He had previously gotten LSU out of an identical situation in game two against South Carolina a week earlier, when he entered the game after Garrett Edwards injured his elbow.
But Kentucky’s Nolan McCarthy managed a hit amidst a 3-2 count, sending a pop fly right fielder Brayden Jobert’s way. He misjudged where it was going to land and missed the catch, a catastrophe which effectively tied the game.
“Yeah, it should be caught,” head coach Jay Johnson said when asked about the miss. “I mean Brayden [Jobert] will tell you that. It was a good effort to get over there, he just overran it. You catch that ball and I’d like to think it’s a lot different game.”
McCarthy would earn his own run on the next play to give Kentucky a 7-6 lead. Then, Herring finished the inning.
Though his second inning on the mound would go well, his third would be a nightmare. His first three pitches of the seventh inning were a hit batter, error and another hit batter and from there, the freshman would give up five runs in a half spanning over 20 minutes.
“We’re a little limited and we’re trying to win every battle, but we’re also trying to win the war,” Johnson said on the decision to leave Herring in. “He’s got to throw more pitches. He’s one of our best guys.”
At that point, LSU entered the bottom of the seventh down six with an improbable deficit to overcome and little room for error. Like the LSU lead in game one, it would prove insurmountable.
Johnson gave his offense credit for its performance, which ultimately obtained ten runs against some of Kentucky’s best relievers. He stated that everything that went wrong in tonight’s outing came on the defensive side of the ball.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow when you’re getting to relievers that all have a 1.00 ERA and putting runs up on them,” Johnson said when comparing the defense to the offense. “Got to be better defensively, a little bit better from the mound and that should be enough to win right there.”
There were good signs on the defensive end, like Javen Coleman warming up on the sideline and Blake Money having a strong performance through the last two and a half innings. But there’s still plenty of concerns and plenty of mystery surrounding bullpen in particular.
Assuming the weather holds up, we should get one more opportunity to gauge where it’s at this weekend. It should be an exciting game as well, considering the series is tied.
