After dropping another series to No. 11 Auburn this weekend, No. 3 LSU baseball is left asking a tricky question: Can the Tigers play on the road?
The series loss at Plainsman Park is the second time LSU has stumbled in hostile territory this season. Two of its other three losses came against Texas in Austin earlier in SEC play.
While the Tigers sit at the top of the SEC standings, their road record, though challenging, presents an opportunity for growth and improvement.
LSU came into Auburn hoping to build off a promising weekend in Norman, where they took a series sweep from Oklahoma in a series that seemed like a turning point.
Solid pitching, timely hitting, and gritty defense fueled the Tigers past the Sooners. But if that performance was supposed to be the blueprint, it’s already crumbling.
Against Auburn, LSU’s offense couldn’t keep up with the Tigers from the Plains.
In Game 1, LSU lost the battle late after a hitting collapse. There were no runs until the seventh inning, and though the Tigers had a back-half rally, it still wasn’t enough to pull out a win. The second two games were not much better.
This trend isn’t new. The Tigers have struggled to find consistency in away games all season. During their first road series of the season, LSU had a powerful Friday night, winning 8-2 against the Longhorns. Quickly after that, the weekend took a turn for the worse. They had to use eight different pitchers and lost Game 2 by a score of 7-11.
Now, with another series loss in the books, the Tigers have a 5-5 record in actual road games, not exactly the kind of resume that builds confidence heading into the back half of SEC play.
The following weekend, LSU played Mississippi State at home field in Alex Box, where they had a second series sweep. Again, that is the “home turf” that the Tigers are used to, so travelling to Norman was another test of their skills.
So, what about Norman?
It’s hard to call the Oklahoma series anything but a success. After taking a series sweep with 15 runs for the Tigers over three days and only four for the Sooners, the game’s pitching, hitting and defense were near perfect.
Still, the Tigers’ inability to carry that momentum into Auburn has many wondering whether it was an anomaly rather than a breakthrough.
Oklahoma’s pitching staff doesn’t have the same firepower as some elite SEC teams that LSU will face, and the Tigers took advantage. But both Auburn and Texas raise the question of if this stacked batting order can consistently deliver against top-tier arms.
There’s still time for LSU to course-correct, but the pressure is on with the upcoming road series against South Carolina and Texas A&M in May, right before the SEC Championships.
The potential for growth and the looming question of whether LSU can learn from its mistakes and win on the road or whether Norman was just a lucky weekend creates an air of anticipation.
