Saturday’s game between LSU and Sacramento State was set to be all about pitching. With Star pitcher Alex Lange starting and a bullpen that LSU still wants to test out, defense was going to be the most intriguing part. After a relatively easy first inning, Lange hit a little bit of a snag in the second. After getting to easy outs, he gave up a walk to Sacramento State’s Gunner Pollman, who eventually came around to score on a double. A side from that one blemish, his early innings were relatively quiet. With five strike outs on 57 pitches, he gave up three hits and was able to get himself out of a couple of jams. LSU’s offense, although it got some hits, was unable to put anything together during that early stretch. It came together in the third, where a one out Kramer Robertson triple was followed by a walk, single, double and another triple to give the Tigers four runs. That ended the day for Sacramento States’ Kukuk, who threw 70 pitches in only three innings.
 Although that big lead gave Lange a cushion, things weren’t easy. He started off the next inning by giving up a homerun to Sacramento States Vinny Esposito, which was followed by a double by Gunner Pollman. Pollman eventually came around to score on a base hit, which made it 4-3 Tigers. In this point of the game, it seemed as though he was struggling with a tight strike zone that was called by Home Plate Umpire Ed Newsom. Lange would later say that although there were some close calls, things like that are not what you can, “hang your hat on.”  He followed up his rough fourth inning with a fifth where he struck out three batters. He was by no means pitching a bad game, but when he wasn’t completely shutting down batters, he was getting hit, which lead to his issues. Hunter Newman took over in sixth, ending Langes day with 6 hits, 3 runs and 9 strikeouts on 91 pitches.
            Both teams’ bullpens held tough for the next couple of innings, with neither offense scoring in the fifth and sixth inning. LSU’s Caleb Gilbert came in for Riley Smith after he got a couple men on. Gilbert would end the jam and go on to pitch the rest of the game for LSU. He faced one other tough jam in the eighth, where he escaped by striking out two and getting a man out at home on a bunt. In the ninth, he was back in to close it out. He wouldn’t be able to as Sacramento State would quickly score off of a string of hits and an error which injured shortstop Cole Freeman on a bad hop. After another single, the Hornets took the lead. Gilbert was able to take care of the rest of the inning, although the damage was already done. He would later say that he didn’t feel tired in the ninth. The Tigers would be unable to score in the ninth, losing to Sacramento State 5-4.
            Aside from the ninth, LSU’s bullpen was fantastic. It’s obvious that LSU wanted to challenge the young freshman Gilbert. He performed beautifully in an intense eighth inning, but extending him into the ninth might have been too much.  Alex Lange pitched well but wasn’t as consistently dominant as you would expect. He struggled a little bit with his control and said himself that he felt like the team was fighting from behind from the beginning. He also claimed full responsibility for the loss. LSU’s pitching staff is definitely the story of this game, but it shouldn’t be as bleak as some will say. Although he struggled at times, Lange still had nine strike outs. Newman dominated for the one inning he was in, showing that he could be a reliable middle man for future use. Gilbert, although he will get saddled with the loss, pitched well in two of the three innings he pitched. He got out of a really tough spot in the ninth and put his team in a position to win, which is a lot for a freshman.
 Offensively, there was some good and some bad. Duplantis had a monster game with four hits, one of those being an RBI, while Fraley continued to struggle. The center fielder has been a slight weak spot in a part of the order that the Tigers need production from.  He wasn’t the only problem, as the team all together left 9 men on base, batting 4-17 when someone was on base. According to Coach Paul Mainieri, those stats are not the product of a young team but the product of, “a guy not coming through in the clutch for us.” LSU still has a chance to win the series with the 1 pm game on Sunday. Their record is now 4-2 and they still have a relatively mediocre nonconference slate ahead of them. That should give them enough time to put together a consistent offense before SEC play and test out more parts of its rotation and bullpen.