The LSU baseball team had several chances to put away Kentucky on Friday, but the Tigers fell short in a prolonged affair.
After leading Friday’s contest through the first six innings, the No. 1 Tigers let a two-run slip from their grasp and stumbled against the visiting Wildcats, 5-4, in 12 innings at Alex Box Stadium.
It was LSU’s first one-run loss of the season and also the club’s second defeat in extra innings. 
“A team gets defined by those one-run games,” said LSU sophomore pitcher Jared Poche’. “We were on the wrong side of the table today.”
LSU outhit Kentucky, 13-10, in the near four-hour game, but Kentucky junior outfielder Ka’ai Tom delivered the game-winner in the top of the 12th. After starting 0-for-4 at the plate, Tom roped a two-run double down the right field line past LSU first baseman Chris Chinea, giving the Wildcats a lead they wouldn’t give up.
Despite scoring only one run in the previous nine innings, the Tigers still had a chance to tie the game in the final frame. With one out in the bottom of the 12th, LSU sophomore outfielder Jake Fraley hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field, driving home freshman infielder Grayson Byrd and moving junior outfielder Andrew Stevenson to third.
But with two away, senior outfielder Jared Foster swung at the first pitch he saw and grounded out to Kentucky shortstop Connor Heady, sending the Tigers into frustration and the Wildcats into celebration.
After suffering an extra-inning loss for the second time in three tries this season, LSU coach Paul Mainieri placed the Tigers’ latest setback solely on his shoulders.
“I’m going to take full responsibility for that one tonight,” Mainieri said. “There was a couple of moves I should have made that I didn’t.”
Despite racking up at least 13 hits for the fourth consecutive game, the Tigers (22-4, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) went cold at the plate when it mattered most. Only five of LSU’s 13 hits came with men on base, and only three were with runners in scoring position.
But there were several uncommon blunders for the Tigers on Friday.
Leading 1-0 in the bottom of the second, senior designated hitter Chris Sciambra doubled the Tigers’ advantage with a bomb to the warning track in right centerfield. It would have been a ground-rule double, but Sciambra passed senior second baseman Jared Foster as the two ran near first base, resulting in Sciambra being called out.
“It was just a weird and unfortunate play,” Sciambra said. “I’ve never seen that happen before.”
Oddness struck against for the Tigers in the 11th.
With two outs and the game tied 3-3, Kentucky junior pitcher Zack Strecker intentionally walked the bases loaded, bringing LSU senior infielder Conner Hale to the plate with a chance to win the game.
Hale then smoked an 0-1 pitch between between first and second, but the ball hit junior shortstop Alex Bregman in the ankle, which resulted in the third out of the inning.
But as much as it seemed like the baseball gods were against the Tigers, Sciambra said his team was still responsible for the outcome.
“It seemed like a bunch of breaks went against us [Friday], but that’s looking at it the wrong way,” Sciambra said. “We caused a lot of bad situations we were in. It wasn’t just the game of baseball that lost the game for us.”
The Tigers’ late-game meltdown erased an efficient performance from Poche’, who returned to form after the worst outing of his career against Arkansas on March 19. The southpaw retired the first 12 batters he faced and held the Wildcats scoreless through the first six innings.
But everything fell apart for Poche’ in the top of the seventh. The left-hander gave up three runs in a five-hit inning, and the Tigers never regained the momentum they had from their early 2-0 lead.
“After that, it just felt like we had a little bad luck,” Poche’ said. “The game kind of turned on us.”
LSU will resume its weekend series against the Wildcats at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Alex Box Stadium. LSU freshman Alex Lange (5-0, 1.42 ERA) with pitch against Kentucky Dustin Beggs (3-2, 3.44 ERA).
Mainieri said he expects his club to play differently than how it performed in Friday’s loss.
“We’re going to get better,” Mainieri said. “We’ll learn from this. The fundamentals of the game hurt us tonight, and we have to get back to the basics.”