LSU dropped the ball in a shocking loss against Northwestern State. The game started with a 30-minute delay on the first pitch and added another hour and a half of weather delays.
Although not the best the Tigers had been, the start of the game was delivering solid plays that would hold off the Northwestern State Demons and keep LSU in the lead after Derek Curiel and Josh Pearson each hit a single home run.
After the drawn-out weather delay, the Tigers resumed the top of the third with two runners on base, and what would happen next left fans and coaches baffled. The Demons scored six runs in one inning, digging LSU into an early hole.
“It was not good across the board, pitching, defense, offense, coaching the whole thing,” said Tigers head coach Jay Johnson. “We have to confront failure and not let it affect how we play this weekend, cause I mean, it just wasn’t very good baseball.”
After that, the game just kept falling apart. LSU made three errors, two of which were made by Jared Jones, all on plays that should have been second nature to them. The Tigers’ pitching staff could not find the zone and gave up nine hits to the Demons throughout the game.
At the end of a rough third inning, Johnson tapped into his bullpen, using seven pitchers. Each one hoped to find the zone to strike out three batters, but that was not the case; sloppy mistakes drew out the top of the innings, allowing them to continue scoring.
It all came down to the bullpen’s lackluster performance from the third inning onward. A team so well known for its back-half rallies was now giving up hits left and right. The Demons knew every pitch and were ready with a retaliation hit.
In a last-ditch effort at the top of the seventh inning, Johnson brought in true freshman Dylan Thompson. He gave up one final hit, which led to the final straw being snapped and the Demons scoring another run.
Northwestern State’s pitching staff found the zone and knew how to strike out the LSU batters, while the Tigers were forced to keep swinging. The Demons dominated LSU 13-3 to beat the Tigers for the first time since 2021.
LSU must fix its mistakes before it hosts No. 6 Tennessee in a three-game series this weekend. Game 1 will begin on Friday at 6:30 p.m. CDT.
