Heading into the regular season finale against top ranked Florida, the objective was simple for No. 10 LSU.
 

Win and the Tigers (39-17, 19-11 Southeastern Conference) earn themselves a bye in the SEC tournament and the No. 4 seed. Lose and drop to the No. 5 seed in the conference and play on Tuesday.
 

Unfortunately for LSU, the latter happened, as the Tigers lost 6-2 after seven innings.
 

Regardless, LSU coach Paul Mainieri isn’t letting his team hold its head down, especially after winning two games against the number one team in the country.
 

“We didn’t play poorly,” Mainieri said. “We just came up a little bit short today. It’s one of those situations where you gotta take a step back, be proud ourselves that we won the series.”
 

The Gators (44-11, 19-10 SEC) came out aggressive looking to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Tigers.
 

Mainieri gave the ball to freshman pitcher Caleb Gilbert hoping he would lead the Tigers to a victory. After giving up two runs in the top of the first, Gilbert found his rhythm and at one point retired 10 straight batters.
 

Gilbert’s (4-3) offspeed pitches and sliders confused the Gators, which helped his success for most of the game.
 

“I was starting off with a lot of changeups,” Gilbert said. “Dumping in some sliders for strike and respecting everything more from a hitters standpoint and it really got me in a groove.”  
 

The Gators eventually figured the 6-foot-2 hurler and chased him out of the game in the top of the fifth. Junior pitcher Russell Reynolds inherited a bases loaded jam, and wasn’t able to get out of it.
 

Florida scored four runs, stretching its lead to 6-1, which put the game out of reach.
 

LSU’s offense had success against Florida sophomore pitcher Alex Faedo, collecting seven hits against the hurler.
 

But LSU wasn’t able to turn those hits into runs. The Tigers were only 2-for-11 with runners on and left a total of nine runners on base.
 

“All we talk about is winning your at-bat and getting it to the next guy,” LSU sophomore first baseman Greg Deichmann said. “That’s what we were able to do in the first two games. This last one we weren’t able to get a few of those key runs across.”
 

The focus for LSU will now turn to the SEC tournament, where a good showing in Hoover could put the Tigers in position for a national seed, which is what they’re aiming for.
 

With the regular season over, the postseason begins on Tuesday at 8 p.m. for the Tigers. LSU will take on No. 12 seed Tennessee, who they swept May 15. If LSU can get past Tennessee, they could face Florida again in the second round of the SEC tournament.

“We’re going to go out there with our horse, Alex Lange,” LSU junior shortstop Kramer Robertson said. “It’s going to be challenge, but it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a different atmosphere, it’s fun to play in Hoover at night.”