The first 49 games of the LSU baseball season have been a proverbial roller coaster ride.The season has been full of winning and losing streaks in rapid succession.The Tigers (34-15, 12-12) started their national title defense with 12 wins — their best start since 1997.They promptly followed the start with a series loss at home to Kansas.The Jayhawks took two of three games to stun LSU a week before the start of Southeastern Conference play.”It’s a bitter feeling to lose a series at home like this, but there’s no shame because Kansas just outplayed us,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said following the series-deciding loss. “We just have to take that and see where we need to improve and get better — and we will.”The losses wouldn’t faze the Tigers that much.They bounced back by winning 13 of their next 15 games. In the run, LSU won its first three SEC series.In their conference-opening series, the Tigers took two games from Arkansas — the team currently leading the SEC West.”I thought this was a very significant win for our team,” Mainieri said after the series. “To come back and win this series against an excellent Arkansas team says a lot about the character of our players. They were challenged this weekend, and they responded in a very positive manner.”The next weekend series featured a matchup against Tennessee.The Volunteers were the only team to win a conference series in 2009 against the Tigers.LSU exacted its revenge with a sweep on the road in Knoxville, Tenn.”I’m proud of our players for earning three tough wins,” Mainieri said after the streak. “Sweeps in the SEC at home or on the road are rare, and I’m pleased we were able to get the victories. We still have some areas in which we need to improve, but we demonstrated the poise necessary to win the games.”The Tigers swept Georgia at home in their next series.All looked to be going well for the Tigers, but they soon endured their first of two losing streaks this season.The Tigers dropped their next two contests on April 10-11 when Auburn beat them 11-7 and 6-5.It was the first time LSU lost a conference series since April 2009 and the first time the Tigers did not win on Sunday in 11 SEC road series.”We won all five series last year plus Tennessee this year, which we swept, which means we won on Sunday,” Mainieri said. “In 2008, even in the two series that we lost at Florida and Ole Miss, we lost the first two games, but won on Sunday. This was the first time in a long time where we had to board transportation back to Baton Rouge without having won on Sunday.”LSU responded to the two-game streak with a six-game winning stretch.In that stretch, the Tigers beat Tulane once, Northwestern State twice and swept Alabama in a three-game series.”No one thought we were going to have a three-game losing streak,” LSU right fielder Mikie Mahtook said following the contest against Tulane. “We knew we were going to win this game. It was just something we had to do. We knew we had to do it and come out with a win, and we played really well tonight.”After riding high for six games, the Tigers entered a historical skid.LSU lost its next seven games — the longest such streak since 1982.In those seven games, LSU was swept in two conferences series.The Tigers’ streak started against Ole Miss and culminated with three losses on the road against Florida.LSU stopped its skid Tuesday night with a win against Southeastern Louisiana.”It feels great to get a win. I almost feel like we should have had a dogpile at the end of the game,” Mainieri said after the streak was broken. “I’m so happy for our players; they’ve continued to work hard during this tough stretch, and I thought they gave a great effort tonight. We had several key hits, and we turned a couple of double plays in crucial situations. It was a very important victory for our team.”LSU will head to Kentucky next weekend and finish its regular season at home May 22 against Mississippi State.–Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]
Baseball: Tigers have up and down season
May 8, 2010