Six games into Southeastern Conference play, the No. 10 LSU baseball team can feel good about its starting pitching, especially after a series against No. 2 Texas A&M.
Coupled with 17 strikeouts, Tiger starting pitchers gave up just six earned runs on 16 hits in 17.1 innings on the mound.
But the Tigers (16-7, 2-4 SEC) can’t win conference series if they don’t score enough runs, especially when the opportunities are aplenty against upper-echelon competition.
LSU found that out the hard way against the Aggies (21-3, 4-2 SEC), falling 3-1 in the rubber match at Blue Bell Park in College Station, Texas.
“It was another very competitive, close game with Texas A&M, which seems to happen every time we play them,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri in a news release. “Our pitchers did a tremendous job against a veteran lineup with a lot of firepower; unfortunately, we couldn’t get our offense going on a consistent basis and we missed some scoring opportunities.
Despite stealing Game 2, 3-2, from Texas A&M behind an 11-strikeout outing from sophomore right-hander Alex Lange, the Tigers accumulated just five total runs in the series, batted 3-for-29 with runners in scoring position and left 26 men on base through three games.
The Tigers actually outhit the Aggies on Saturday and committed one less error, but the offense recorded a 3-for-18 clip with runners on base, including an 0-for-6 clip in scoring opportunities, and left nine men on base.
After retiring the side in order in the first and second innings, including an eight-pitch top of the first, LSU starting lefty John Valek III stranded a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the third. In the process, Valek picked up his first and only strikeout of the game.
With just 32 pitches to his name through three innings, Valek retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced, but Aggie third baseman Boomer White sparked the Texas A&M with one out in the fourth. White singled into left field, swiped second base and later scored on catcher Michael Barash’s RBI single to take a 1-0 lead.
Valek, though, induced a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame and minimize the damage.
Much like Valek, Aggie starting pitcher Kyle Simonds mostly cruised through his first four innings after wiggling out of a jam in the top of the first.
LSU had runners on the corners and one out with sophomore left fielder Beau Jordan at the plate, but Beau popped out. Then, Simonds executed a third-to-first fake on a pickoff, drawing junior shortstop Kramer Robertson off third base, and Robertson was thrown out at the plate.
Simonds then stranded an LSU runner at first base in the second inning and at second base in the in the fourth, but sophomore first baseman Greg Deichmann evened the score in a large way with one out in the top of the fifth.
Deichmann belted a solo shot over the right-field wall, which was his third of the season. But LSU wouldn’t get anything else off Simonds in the frame, as he struck out junior third baseman Cole Freeman and forced Robertson to pop out.
Texas A&M responded immediately in the bottom half of the inning, receiving production from a player who had recently been moved down in the lineup.
Right fielder Nick Banks, who was 0-for-8 with five strikeouts through the first two games of the series, mashed a solo home run on the first pitch he saw from Valek.
Center fielder Nick Choruby followed Banks with a single and advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt and a fielder’s choice. But Valek generated a groundout to keep the the Tiger deficit at one run.
Again, in the top of the sixth, LSU had runners on first and second with less than two outs, but an infield fly out by freshman Brody Wofford and a soft ground out by sophomore first baseman Bryce Jordan gave Simonds another harmless inning.
Valek kept the Aggie from capitalizing with runners on in the the sixth, which was his last inning on the mound. He finished his quality start with just two earned runs allowed on six hits while walking just one, his third base on balls of his LSU career.
The Tigers’ recurring offensive problem reared its head in the seventh, as Freeman and Robertson stood at first and second base, respectively, with two outs in the frame. With reliever Brigham Hill replacing Simonds, junior center fielder Jake Fraley drove a 1-0 offering right at Banks in right field, stranding another in scoring position.
In total, LSU was 2-of-10 at the plate with two outs Saturday and 5-for-31 on the series.
After pitching a 1.1 innings in relief of Lange on Friday, junior right-hander Hunter Newman came in for Valek and retired Texas A&M in order in the bottom of the seventh.
However, Newman’s flawless inning was meaningless as LSU failed to plate a run with runners at first and third and two outs in the eighth. The Aggies then padded their lead in the bottom half of the inning off of first baseman Hunter Melton’s two-out RBI triple.
Following the insurance run, Texas A&M closer Ryan Hendrix, who got the final out of the eighth, worked around a leadoff walk to earn the save.
“Overall, I’m proud of the way our young guys competed in a very tough road environment,” Mainieri said in the new release. “And I feel like we can learn a lot from the experience and continue to build confidence from this point forward.”