Junior closer Hunter Newman jogged back on to the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning in a win or go home game against Coastal Carolina.
The game had all the makings of another LSU rally that fans had become accustomed to the past month. A dramatic game-tying score that included a gutsy play by junior centerfielder Jake Fraley, where he collided and flipped over the man covering first.
Newman was sent out save the Tigers’ season, but instead he watched it end when Coastal Carolina junior shortstop Michael Paez hit a chopper that was too high for freshman third baseman Chris Reid.
Moments later, Coastal Carolina sprinted and dogpiled on the field after beating the No. 8 national seed and crushing the hopes of a young LSU team.
“It’s obviously a very painful thing for a season to come to an end,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said after losing 4-3 against the Chanticleers.
Painful losses to end a season is something Mainieri has been through before in his three-plus decades, but it’s something his young team had yet to experience. Though this team experienced many low points this season, it hadn’t experienced a loss at this level.
Playing in the rugged Southeastern Conference prepared LSU for the NCAA Tournament, but it didn’t prepare them to play against a team like Coastal Carolina that was determined to get to Omaha.
“They outplayed us; they just were hungrier than we were this weekend,” Mainieri said. “They get to get the trip to Omaha and we get to put the bats away.”
This season could’ve been a rebuilding year. Mainieri and his staff coached and strategized this youthful team as much as they could.
But there’s one thing you can’t teach — experience. The Tigers will have plenty of it next year.
While it’s never good to dwell anything and many of these young players probably won’t forget the feeling of watching another team celebrate going to the College World Series, inexperience was eventually going to catch up to LSU.
The Tigers ran into a team that was just as, if not more talented, and more experienced, eight players in the LSU lineup played division baseball for the first time.
Next season the defensive and fundamental issues that plagued LSU most of the season and against Coastal Carolina could be fixed with a year of playing baseball under their belts.
Even though the Tigers had their fare share of come-from-behind victories, they’ll know how hard and grueling it can be to play from behind next season.
When the returning LSU players lace up their cleats for next season, they’ll remember everything they went through this season, especially the stinging loss to Coastal Carolina.
“But you take it and you deal with it and you move on,” Mainieri said. “I feel for these kids. I feel for our fans. Feel for everybody. It’s just a tough thing. But we’ll rise again.”