The baseball team did not waste any time sealing its series victory in the first two games against the University of Alabama-Birmingham this past weekend.
It was Sunday’s loss though that concerned coach Smoke Laval.
“Even if we won it doesn’t make any difference,” Laval said. “That doesn’t change how many hits were hit hard [Sunday]. Fly balls to center field — those are outs. I would have rather gotten beat 10-9 and had fourteen hits and seven line drives.”
After attacking the Blazers in a 12-6 victory Friday night and 10-3 win on Saturday, LSU (11-3) came out Sunday lacking the same energy as the two previous games. The Tigers allowed UAB to slip by them 4-3 in game three to conclude the series.
“It’s bittersweet because we won the series, but we ended in a loss,” said junior left-hander Greg Smith, who recorded the loss Sunday. “So we ended on a bad note, but we have to get ready for [the next game] and just forget about it.”
In its first two victories this past weekend, LSU combined for 19 hits. However, combined hits were limited to just eight in Sunday’s contest.
“It doesn’t make a difference who we’re playing. If we don’t start hitting we’re going to get beat again,” Laval said. “We made a step in the first two games, but not [Sunday]. We took one step forward and two back — it should be the other way around.”
Game one of the series was led by senior outfielder Nick Stavinoha who blasted a homerun to left field which proved to be all LSU needed to clinch the win.
Senior left-hander Lane Mestepey started the matchup, but only lasted 5.2 innings after giving up three earned runs on seven hits.
“Mestepey wasn’t at the top of his game, but he battled and tried to fix himself up for later on in the game or even next weekend when he pitches,” Laval said in a press release. “He didn’t give in, and he made them earn everything they got.”
Despite Mestepey’s troubles, the LSU offense assisted in clinching the win for the team as well as for Mestepey, who is now 3-1 on the season. The win advances Mestepey to 32 career wins placing him 3rd in all-time career victories.
Saturday’s game was one of the best starts for sophomore Clay Dirks. The left-hander is the only weekend starter to remain undefeated on the season. Dirks (4-0) recorded a career high seven strikeouts while only giving up one hit in the seventh inning.
Reliever Chris Cahill gave up three runs in two innings of work, but the Tigers already had done their damage at the plate notching seven runs — which proved to be enough to clinch the victory as well.
Sunday concluded the series and also concluded LSU’s home-game winning streak that stood at 15.
Left-hander Greg Smith recorded his first loss on the season after giving up 4 runs in 5.2 innings of work — only two were earned.
“Smith got himself in trouble with a few walks that scored and the one error scored,” Laval said. “He really didn’t pitch bad. He had eight strikeouts and only gave up a few hits. That’s not real bad. He was in control of the game, but I don’t know what I’m going to get [out of the hitters].”
The offense only put up 8 runs in the 4-3 loss. Seniors Clay Harris and Ryan Patterson both went 2 for 4, but their best efforts were not matched by the rest of the Tiger lineup.
We didn’t play like we can play,” said senior designated hitter Blake Gill. “If you play here it’s not acceptable so we need to figure out what’s going wrong and fix it — come out and play harder and make sure these things don’t happen again.”
Second-ranked LSU returns to Alex Box Stadium Tuesday night to take on No. 1 Tulane.
“We have to come out and work hard. If we play the way we can, we should be able to beat anyone in the country,” Gill said. We realize we’re not that good unless we try to be. We’re definitely going to have to focus a lot harder.