If there ever was a perfect weekend to drop two of three to a Southeastern Conference team, this past Easter weekend might have been it.
LSU dropped two of its three games to Vanderbilt on the road but still maintained its one-half game lead on Auburn and one-game lead on Mississippi State.
In losing the series to the Commodores, LSU’s streak of winning nine consecutive SEC series came to a halt.
“We didn’t come out with as many wins as we wanted to this weekend,” said outfielder Ryan Patterson. “Still being in first place is a good feeling. We’ll pick it up, get it going and try to extend on that lead.”
After dropping a 4-2 contest Friday and a 5-4 extra inning game Saturday, the No. 7 Tigers (26-13-1, 12-5-1) rode another solid pitching performance from Sunday starter Nate Bumstead and a 17-hit output by the offense.
Bumstead improved to 6-1 with a 4.39 ERA on the season.
The day started out rough for Bumstead, who was spotted a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
“In the first inning, it was a rough going,” Bumstead said. “I come out, the leadoff guy gets on base, and they score one run. We started swinging the bats, scoring three in the third. From there the defense took over.”
Pitching coach Brady Wiederhold said the staff’s Achilles heel all weekend was giving up first-inning runs. He said against a team like Vanderbilt, who has solid pitching, it is detrimental to fall behind early.
“You take away the first inning Friday and the first inning Saturday, and we pitched well,” Wiederhold said. “Bumstead did the job we needed to have.”
The Tigers offense continued its Friday night struggles for the second straight week. LSU struggled with Ole Miss pitching two Fridays ago, scoring just two runs against Rebels pitching before busting out with double-digit run totals in the Saturday and Sunday games.
LSU could only collect six hits against Vandy in each of the first two games of the series. The Tigers were handcuffed Friday night by lefthander Jeremy Sowers, a first-round Major League Draft Pick in 2001(20th overall), who held LSU to two runs in 7 1/3 innings.
“I really think their Friday and Saturday night guys threw well,” Patterson said. “They are pretty good. We finally got it going on Sunday. We figured something out and got it going.”
The Tigers take on Southeastern Louisiana tomorrow at 6:30 in Alex Box Stadium before hosting SEC East foe Tennessee this weekend in a pivotal conference series.
Briefly…
Tigers Friday starter Brian Wilson underwent “Tommy John” surgery on his throwing (right) elbow Thursday morning. The baseball program has applied for a medical redshirt for the New Hampshire native.