For a few weeks, the LSU baseball team looked unstoppable. 
The Tigers cruised through the final week of the regular season, starting with a 27-0, rain-shortened drubbing of midweek opponent Northwestern State. LSU built on that momentum in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, winning four straight games – two of which were ended under the 10-run mercy rule – en route to the league title and the No. 8 national seed. 
After winning their first two regional games, the Tigers were one victory away from a third-straight super regional appearance. But LSU couldn’t hang on to a late four-run lead, and Houston rallied for a pair of victories that eliminated the Tigers (46-16-1, 17-11-1 SEC). 
“It’s always disappointing for the season to come to an end and not achieve your goals you had for the team,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri on Thursday.
But LSU wasn’t always a shoo-in for a trip to the College World Series. After racing out to a 16-2 non-conference start, the Tigers struggled to produce runs and trudged to a 3-5-1 record through the first leg of SEC play. LSU’s low point came during the final week of March when it lost a 3-2, 11-inning midweek contest against Tulane before getting swept at Florida. 
Just when the season seemed to be falling apart, the Tigers ripped off seven straight wins, including a weekend sweep of then-No. 9 Mississippi State. LSU won its next two weekend series before hitting another bump in the road.
The Tigers scored fewer than three runs per game during the following two weekend series, losing a pair of games at Texas A&M and splitting a rain-shortened series at Alabama. But that’s when they erupted for a late-season surge and outscored their next seven opponents 85-8 to earn a spot in the SEC Tournament championship game against Florida.
LSU and the Gators were locked in a scoreless game until senior designated hitter Sean McMullen’s two-run homer in the 8th inning lifted the Tigers to their 11th conference title. 
But the low-scoring affair with Florida signaled a downward trend in the Tigers’ offensive production. LSU’s hits and runs decreased with each regional game, but a shaky bullpen ultimately cost the Tigers a super-regional berth.
After pulling off a comeback to beat Southeastern Louisiana and riding junior right-hander Aaron Nola’s arm past Houston, LSU needed to beat Houston just one more time to capture the regional title. That seemed like a sure thing with the Tigers holding a four-run lead in the 8th inning. 
But senior right-hander Kurt McCune allowed the first four Cougars to reach base, and Houston came through with some clutch hitting to tie the game and force extra innings. Mainieri stood by his decision to insert McCune for junior lefty Kyle Bouman, who allowed only two hits through six shutout innings.
“[Pitching coach] Alan Dunn and myself were hoping to get five good innings out of him, and we got six great innings,” Mainieri said. “Had we left him in for another inning, there was no chance he would have pitched and gone past seven innings.”
Mainieri said he only second-guessed himself about letting McCune pitch the 8th inning instead of closer Joe Broussard, who had pitched an inning the night before. McCune threw two hitless innings in the SEC championship, so                                                      Mainieri decided to ride the hot hand.
“The last thing I thought was possible was that [Houston] would score four runs in the top of the 8th inning,” Mainieri said. “I thought even if they scored one or two off of Kurt, we could still go to the 9th inning with Joe Broussard getting the ball to relieve and get three outs.”
Broussard ended up pitching three innings but gave up the winning run in the top of the 11th. 
LSU seemed poised to exact revenge in the elimination game, scoring two runs in the opening frame to put Houston in an early hole. But the Cougars responded with two runs of their own, and the Tigers never regained momentum. 
Houston jumped on relievers Parker Bugg and Brady Domangue for a seven-run third inning, and junior right-hander Jared Robinson shut down LSU’s bats as the Tigers’ season ended with a 12-2 defeat.
“We were great for 10 games and seven innings,” Mainieri said. “Especially those last few months, since the first of April, I think we played tremendous baseball. Everybody was confident, everybody was loose, and we had a team that could get to Omaha and win the national championship. And so when the season comes to a screeching halt, it’s obviously very disappointing.”