Northwestern State took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth inning and didn’t look back as the Tigers, now losers of four straight, are a team desperately looking for answers after a 5-2 loss.
A three-run fourth inning doomed LSU (21-12), who got a solid effort from freshman Ryan Eades. Eades was making his first career start.
“Eades looked good for three innings,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “I don’t know if he started to tire a little bit or what, but they ended up getting to him.”
Eades left a pitch up in the zone against Northwestern State right fielder Stephen Gandy, who promptly ripped the pitch down the left field line.
Freshman Spencer Ware — only three days removed from playing football in the spring game — slipped while running the ball down, allowing Demon first baseman Will Watson to score from first.
Clutch hitting was again the big problem for an LSU team that came into the game with a team .299 batting average.
The Demons, meanwhile, seemed to thrive in clutch situations.
“Their team comes into the game hitting .253, and their head coach comes telling me before the game that they can’t get a clutch hit, then they bang out three or four clutch hits tonight,” Mainieri said.
Four of Northwestern State’s five runs came with two outs.
If LSU was looking for reprieve from its recent struggles to knock in runners against a 10-22 Northwestern State team, they were sorely mistaken.
Sophomore designated hitter Raph Rhymes and junior third baseman Tyler Hanover opened the game with back-to-back walks, bringing junior slugger Mikie Mahtook to the dish with no outs.
But Mahtook and junior shortstop Austin Nola struck out, and Hanover was caught in a mixed-up double steal at first base by Northwestern State catcher Aaron Munoz to end the frame.
Demon starting pitcher Jacob Roark held LSU to two runs in five innings, but it was sophomore reliever Mason Melotakis who looked like a puppeteer with the LSU batters.
Melotakis — a left-hander facing an all right-handed lineup — retired 10 of the 13 batters he faced via strikeout.
Mainieri was miffed, saying the scouting report had Melotakis topping out at 90 miles an hour, but the radar guns showed 93.
“They bring in this left-hander out of the bullpen, and quite frankly he blew us away,” Mainieri said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. We could barely get a foul ball off of this kid.”
The usual run producers in the LSU lineup struggled against the Northwestern State pitching. Mahtook, Nola and sophomore outfielder Mason Katz combined to go 1-for-12 in the game with seven strikeouts.
The Tigers’ only offense came from Rhymes, who smacked a two-run home run to left field in the third inning, yanked a double to lead off the fifth inning and drew two walks.
Since ascending to the leadoff spot on March 30, Rhymes has collected 11 hits and five walks in 32 at-bats. But the homer and double were his first extra-base hits as the LSU leadoff hitter.
Only 3,366 fans attended LSU’s Tuesday night loss to yet another in-state opponent.
LSU returns to Alex Box Stadium tomorrow night to face Alcorn State with the first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
 
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Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]