It’s becoming crunch time in Baton Rouge as LSU baseball nears the coveted Selection Sunday, but first, the Tigers must take on Texas A&M for one of the last weekends in Alex Box Stadium.
Entering the weekend, LSU is 6-9 in conference play, having won only two conference series. The Tigers were swept by Ole Miss in their previous conference match-up, so there will be some tough challenges as they face the Aggies, and the biggest one will be finishing each game.
“We’ve probably had more comeback wins this year than most of my years coaching, but it’s because we’ve played so not good to put ourselves in that position,” LSU head coach Jay Johnson said after Tuesday’s win over Northwestern State. “That’s not how this thing is going to go or should go, and it’s gone for too long.”
The Bayou Bengals have had some hot offensive moments this season, but the Aggies will be their biggest challenge yet. Texas A&M has had a heavy offense to the point where games look like a home run derby.
However, LSU has shown the potential to match this energy. In Game 3 versus the Rebels, LSU hit three home runs to score seven in the same inning after being no-hit for the previous six.
The challenge for the Tigers will be doing it consistently. Texas A&M has 27 victories on the season, and 16 of those games have tallied double-digit runs. Outside of that group, the Aggies have also added a double-digit game that resulted in a loss.
“We’re playing a juggernaut offense this weekend, and a team playing with a lot of confidence,” Johnson said postgame. “We’re not winning unless we play good, so we need to play good.”
On the other hand, LSU has 22 wins with 13 being of the double-digit variety. The Tigers have two losses in the double-digit category, which shifts the focus to the defensive side of the ball rather than the offensive side.
The difference-maker for this series will be pitching, which has been one of the few assets the Bayou Bengals have brought to the table in an unexpected fashion. LSU came into the season with three established weekend starters, which is already ahead of most schools, but Saturday starter Cooper Moore has been out with an injury in recent weeks.
Johnson said that before the Ole Miss series, Moore could be expected back for the Texas A&M series, so there is a chance the pitching will be the best it’s been in weeks.
Comparatively, the Tigers outweigh all three Aggie starters in terms of earned run average. The closest of the two ERAs is the traditional Sunday starter comparison of LSU’s William Schmidt and Texas A&M’s Aiden Sims.
Schmidt boasts a 3.22 ERA, and Sims brings in a 3.56 ERA. The other two matchups are separated by at least a point, and with Moore out for the last few weeks, there is a chance his return could be on Sunday, giving him an extra day of rest.
Outside of pitching, the Aggies bring another advantage: a cleaner defense in the 2026 season. LSU has almost one-and-a-half times more errors as a team than Texas A&M. The Aggies have made 20 errors, and the Tigers have made 47.
The defense lost LSU’s Game 1 versus Ole Miss on Friday, so it will be a critical part of this series. Both of these teams are swinging and throwing well, so the difference maker will be on the defending side of the ball.
Texas A&M brings in a .794 win percentage for the season and a .643 in conference play, while LSU enters with a .595 and .400, respectively. The team that plays cleaner late will come out on top in this series.
Baseball is a funny game, and anything can happen at any time. Numbers don’t mean everything in this sport.
The Tigers’ bid to the postseason will hinge on this series, as it is one of the final regular-season series at Alex Box Stadium, and will begin on Friday at 6 p.m. CT.
