The No. 13 LSU baseball team fell behind early in its series-opening 6-1 loss against No. 2 Texas A&M in College Station on Thursday.
The loss was the third straight opening loss to a weekend series for the Tigers (15-6, 1-3 Southeastern Conference).
The Aggies (20-2, 3-1 SEC) started strong early, after a two-hit first inning brought in a run.
The Aggies scored a second run in the second inning off a fielder’s choice to take a 2-0 lead.
Junior pitcher Jared Poche’ pitched five innings and 102 total pitches for LSU, while getting the Tigers out of several tight situations.
“I thought [junior pitcher] Jared Poche’ really battled, as he always does, and he kept us in the game,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri in a press release. “Unfortunately, we didn’t take advantage of some of the scoring opportunities that we had and Texas A&M was ultimately able to extend their lead against our bullpen.”
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Poche’ loaded the bases, but managed to end the inning with a fly ball to right field from Aggie right fielder Nick Banks, stranding three runners on base.
The Tigers took advantage of the situation in the top of the sixth.
Junior outfielder Jake Fraley tripled on the leadoff at bat and freshman Antoine Duplantis singled to bring in LSU’s first run of the night.
The Aggies ended the Tigers’ comeback in the seventh, however.
After an RBI single brought Texas A&M’s lead back to two runs, the Tigers loaded the bases for the Aggies with one out.
LSU, then, walked one batter to give the Aggies a three-run edge.
LSU was unable to revive its fortunes in the eighth after all three of the Tigers grounded out. The Aggies meanwhile continued to pile on with two runs in the bottom of the tenth.
“Our pitching, they pitched like they should tonight,” said Texas A&M sophomore leftfielder J.B. Moss in a postgame interview with the SEC Network. “Anytime, the pitching staff can keep it to one or two runs, we start to feel really good about what we can do offensively.”
The Tigers threw 169 pitches while the Aggies threw only 128 pitches. Texas A&M also batted 10-for-29, while LSU hit a mere 7-for-32 on the night.
The Tigers will face the Aggies again at 8 p.m. on Friday.
“We competed extremely hard, but we have to play better,” Mainieri said. “There were a few key moments in the game where we fell short, and that proved to be the difference.”