The No. 1 LSU baseball team dropped Game 1 on Thursday night against Southeastern Conference foe Arkansas, 5-1, attempting to get its pitchers going from the start.
LSU (19-3, 2-2 SEC) sophomore pitcher Jared Poche’ (5-1) dropped his first start of the season, struggling in his 3.2 innings pitched. The Razorbacks (11-9, 1-3 SEC) abused Poche’ on the mound, roping 10 hits off him while allowing five runs on 79 pitches.
The Razorbacks jumped on Poche’ right away, taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning on two hits. Arkansas designated hitter Luke Bonfield drove home the run with runners on second and third with a fielder’s choice groundout back to Poche’.
Poche’ let up another run in the second before imploding in the fourth. Arkansas drove home three runs in the bottom frame on five hits. Arkansas left fielder Joe Serrano got the rally started with a single through the right side, scoring the runner on second on an error by sophomore left fielder Jake Fraley.
The Razorbacks racked up two more RBI singles to extend their lead to 5-0 and chase Poche’ off the mound for freshman pitcher Austin Bain. Poche’ came into tonight’s contest with a 2.32 ERA with an opponents’ batting average of only .217 on 25 hits.
Despite Poche’s struggles, Bain pitched lights out in an attempt to keep the Tigers in the game. Bain went 3.1 innings while allowing only one hit with four strikeouts. Bain contributed to the Razorbacks’ 13 stranded baserunners in the game and shut down the team for only one more hit on the game after Poche’s 10 to start.
After LSU had a poor hitting performance against in-state foe Southern on Tuesday, Arkansas pitcher Dominic Taccolini shut the Tigers down. Taccolini went six innings, allowing only one run on six hits.
The Tigers tallied seven hits in the game with five runners left on base. LSU went 1-for-9 with runners on base and 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
The only bright spot for the Tigers came on a solo shot by junior shortstop Alex Bregman in the sixth inning to cut the Razorbacks’ lead to 5-1.
LSU’s biggest chance to plate runs came in the fifth inning, when the Tigers were faced with a bases loaded situation with one out. But sophomore infielder Danny Zardon grounded into a double play to leave the Tigers scoreless.
The Tigers will trot out freshman pitcher Alex Lange for Game 2 of the series in hopes of forcing rubber match in Game 3 on Saturday.
Lange is coming off of his best performance as a Tiger after going eight innings while striking out 13 batters against Ole Miss for SEC Freshman of the Week recognition. First pitch Friday is slated for 8 p.m. at Baum Stadium.
You can reach Jack Chascin on Twitter @Chascin_TDR.