LSU coach Paul Mainieri wasn’t satisfied with his team’s offensive performance in a 6-4 victory against Michigan on Saturday, and Sunday was more of the same.
This time, it resulted in a loss.
Mainieri had hoped an early-morning practice before the Sunday contest with Notre Dame would cure the Tigers’ hitting woes, but that wasn’t the case as No. 13 LSU (13-3) stumbled to a 7-1 defeat at the hands of the Fighting Irish (7-5), snapping an eight-game winning streak. LSU only managed eight hits, one more than they managed against Michigan, but with far less run production.
“We had a few balls that we hit hard, but I don’t think we had a lot of great swings,” Mainieri said. “When we did hit a ball hard, it seemed it was right at somebody. But it was just a very poor offensive day for us tougher.”
It was the opposite story for LSU starting pitcher Kurt McCune. After cruising through the first two innings and retiring all six batters he faced, Notre Dame jumped all over him in the third. McCune surrendered three runs in the inning on four hits.
McCune exited the game after allowing back-to-back hits to open the fourth inning. Both of those runners eventually scored, inflating McCune’s ERA to 5.40 in 16.2 innings of work this season.
McCune could be in danger of losing his spot in the weekend rotation once Southeastern Conference play begins Friday. Freshman Aaron Nola, who threw eight scoreless innings against Tulane last Tuesday, will start for LSU today when the team faces Notre Dame at 6:30 p.m.
Nola has started and earned the win in two mid-week games this season, in addition to some work out of the bullpen. He has a 2.00 ERA in 18 innings of work.
Mainieri said he had hoped to use Nola in relief Sunday, but McCune’s struggles on the mound forced him to reassess his starting rotation.
“It’s going to have to wait until after [Monday] night to figure out what we’re going to do,” Mainieri said. “We just have to get McCune straightened out. Whether he’s starting on the weekend for us, or pitching in some other capacity, he’s still going to be an important pitcher
to us.”
 
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Contact Hunter Panoagua at [email protected]