This isn’t the way Paul Mainieri and the LSU baseball team wanted to kick off Southeastern Conference play in 2016.
After an ugly 6-0 loss in game one of today’s doubleheader against Alabama, the Tigers (13-5, 0-2 SEC) fell, 4-3 in game two as the Crimson Tide (13-5, 2-0 SEC) clinched the series, the first one the Tigers have lost this season.
Mainieri shuffled his weekend rotation as sophomore Alex Lange got the start in game one. He was scheduled to start Friday night’s game before it was postponed until today due to inclement weather.
Lange continued his recent struggles with a stat line of six and two third innings pitched, four earned runs allowed, ten hits allowed and four strike outs.
Jared Poche didn’t have his best performance in game two, but didn’t struggle as hard as Lange. The junior gave up four hits and one earned run while striking out three batters and hitting two of them.
Saturday’s doubleheader was also a tale of missed opportunities for LSU on the offensive end, as the Tigers went two for seventeen with runners in scoring position in the two games combined.
Freshman infielder Cobie Vance got Alabama on the board first in game two with an RBI single into left field. The Tide tacked on one more run in the inning, although it was unearned and the result of the base runners advancing during a groundout.
Junior catcher Will Haynie smacked one over the left field wall in the bottom of the fourth to increase Alabama’s lead to 3-0. Junior pitcher Russell Reynolds replaced Poche in the fifth inning and kept the Tigers in it, along with junior Parker Bugg, who also pitched late for LSU.
However, the Tigers’ bats just couldn’t come alive throughout the entire day, at least when it mattered.
“They’re young kids, and they’re learning,” said Mainieri of his team. “This is how, sometimes, it happens. You have to make mistakes to get better sometimes. Today was a tough day for us. We had opportunities all day long in both games. We just didn’t get a lot of clutch hits.”
Antoine Duplantis was one of the very few bright spots on the day for the LSU. The freshman outfielder extended his hitting streak to 18 games, the third longest hitting streak for an LSU freshman since 1997.
Freshman catcher Jordan Romero got the Tigers on the board for the first time in the series with an RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the sixth. Before Romero’s pinch hit, LSU was in a 0-12 drought with runners in scoring position in the two games combined.
Freshman Bryce Jordan singled into left field to start the bottom of the eighth inning, which could’ve started a late LSU rally. However, he was thrown out at second after trying to stretch the hit into a double, one of many preventable mistakes made by LSU throughout the double header.
“When you have players who haven’t played in these types of environments that much, they have to make mistakes to learn, to grow,” Mainieri said. “And we did. We ran ourselves out of some innings. Sometimes you have to fail (in order to) learn those things.”
The Tigers made the comeback bid harder on themselves in the top of the ninth, when freshman outfielder Keith Holcombe singled into left field with two outs to stretch Alabama’s lead to three runs. However, LSU still made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth as sophomore outfielder Beau Jordan got a two-out RBI base hit to cut the deficit to two.
Duplantis scored from third during the ensuing at bat on a wild pitch, sending Jordan to second base and the scarce remaining crowd at Alex Box Stadium into a temporary frenzy as the tying run was in scoring position.
But it was short lived, as sophomore catcher Michael Papierski fouled out near third base, and the Tide hung on to sweep the doubleheader. This is the first time Alabama has won a series in Baton Rouge since 1996.
It was the first time LSU lost any series against the Crimson Tide since 2011, when Alabama took one in Tuscaloosa. The Tigers will try to avoid the sweep tomorrow during game three of the series, which is scheduled for 1 P.M.
LSU has a young team this season, and several of its players made their SEC debut today. However, Mainieri said growing pains are no excuse if you play baseball for the Tigers.
“We’re not trying to learn things,” Mainieri said. “We’re trying to win games. We didn’t win these two games today, and now you can choose to feel sorry for yourself and lose your confidence, or you can learn from today and come back tomorrow with confidence and enthusiasm and go out there and let it rip again. I think our kids will choose to do the latter. You can always learn, but we’re not trying to learn. We’re trying to win, and sometimes making those mistakes can prevent you from winning.”