The LSU baseball team was 5-0 and coming off a shutout performance by sophomore pitcher Kevin Gausman as it entered Saturday’s game against Appalachian State. It looked as if the Tigers were poised for yet another dominating weekend at Alex Box Stadium.
The winning trend didn’t continue, as the Mountaineers silenced the usually rowdy LSU fans over the next two days, allowing just one run in 5-0 and 11-1 victories.
Losing the weekend series to Appalachian State should be a huge wake-up call for Paul Mainieri’s team, even at this early juncture in the season.
There was simply no fight from LSU on Saturday and Sunday. Appalachian State outscored the Tigers over the last two games, 16-1, and LSU didn’t even score a run until an RBI triple by junior outfielder Arby Fields in the ninth inning Sunday.
Both losses are not good signs moving forward for LSU.
Centerfielder JaCoby Jones has been less than stellar at the plate early in the season, hitting a similar cool .150 thus far. The situation in the outfield is far less than concrete with left fielder Jackson Slaid not living up to the high praise Coach Mainieri gave him before the season started.
Skeptics of the LSU baseball team pointed to the lack of power hitting as something that might hold the Tigers back despite the stellar starting pitching. In the first seven games, only seniors Grant Dozar and Beau Didier have dingers.
It’s going to be extremely difficult to compete in the Southeastern Conference if the Tigers aren’t getting any run production from Mason Katz, Raph Rhymes and Jones in the middle of the lineup.
Tyler Hanover doesn’t have an RBI yet on the year or a high enough batting average to be a legitimate leadoff hitter.
The one bright spot from the weekend was Gausman.  On Friday night, the Centennial, Colo., native extended his scoreless inning streak to 12 after he blanked Mountaineer batters in seven innings of work.
Sophomore hurler Ryan Eades also had a stellar night in the second game, only allowing one run during the battle. LSU lost the game despite Eades’ performance due to — you guessed it — a lack of run support.
With insufficient run support and fielding mistakes, don’t be surprised to see Mainieri make some significant changes against Grambling State tonight. Mainieri has never been shy about making bold decisions, like in 2009 when he made the controversial move of inserting true freshman Austin Nola into the lineup at shortstop.
Freshman utility infielder Jared Foster has the second-highest batting average on the team, and he should get more time at DH. Also, with Jones and Slaid struggling in the outfield, Chris Sciambra and Fields should get looks in both center and left field.
Sunday starter Kirk McCune struggled and only managed three innings of work after an impressive freshman campaign. He will have to bounce back from the lackluster performance in order to keep his place in the rotation.
The competition the Tigers face in this week’s games against Grambling State and McNeese State and a weekend series against Dartmouth will still make it hard to gauge how well LSU really plays until SEC games begin.  
No real challenges lurk for the Tigers until a trip to Auburn to begin the SEC slate.
While there’s no denying the dominance of the starting pitching, if the Tigers plan on scoring five runs and plan on winning series in one of the best baseball conferences in the nation, it’ll be a long season.
Micah Bedard is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Houma. Follow him on Twitter @DardDog.
 
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Contact Micah Bedard at [email protected]