On a cold, rainy night in Ruston, Louisiana, Jay Johnson looked up at the scoreboard flashing a 5-0 Louisiana Tech lead. Due to some poor defending and untimely pitching, LSU dug this hole in large part with their own play. With a headset on for an in-game interview, an announcer asked if the weather was affecting the team’s performance tonight.
“We’re just not playing very good right now,” Johnson said bluntly. “Has nothing to do with the weather.”
Despite pulling back four runs in innings four through six, more errors doomed any chance the team had of coming back. Louisiana Tech tacked on four more in the bottom of the six and made sure of LSU’s first loss of the season, by a score of 11-6.
LSU’s pitching gave up 12 hits, so they cannot be absolved of all blame. Will Hellmers and Grant Taylor each gave up a home run, contributing three of the Bulldogs’ runs. Riley Cooper, Javen Coleman and Eric Reyzelman each showed flashes of good pitching but were ultimately the biggest culprits in LSU’s pitching woes.
However, LSU’s defense was simply atrocious throughout the evening. Misplayed fly balls, inability to communicate or cover ground on slow balls on the infield and inexcusable throwing errors tanked any LSU chance of slowing Louisiana Tech’s offensive onslaught. The Tigers committed five errors on the evening, which limited their pitchers’ ability to get out of innings cleanly.
LSU’s offense struggled with their plate discipline at JC Love Field. They struck out 14 times on the evening and managed just 11 baserunners. Compared to just 13 strikeouts through three opening games, it’ll be another area of concern for Johnson and his staff to address ahead of the weekend. LSU’s top three in the order, Tre’ Morgan, Jacob Berry and Dylan Crews combined for an 0-13 night.
For a bright spot, Brayden Jobert continued his breakout start in an LSU uniform, smacking his third home run in four games. Gavin Dugas came up with a big hit in the sixth inning to drive home Jobert, and again in the eighth with a screaming double to the right center field wall. He had LSU’s best night at the plate, going 2-3 with two doubles.
LSU will host Southern and Towson this weekend in Alex Box. They will play one game against Towson Friday night at 6:30 p.m., one game against Southern Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. and one game against each on Sunday. They will play Towson at 12:00 p.m. and Southern at 5:00 p.m.
Johnson has already declared Blake Money as LSU’s Friday night starter after his stellar performance last weekend. It is likely Ma’Khail Hilliard will get the Saturday call again, but that is unconfirmed, as well as who LSU’s Sunday starter will be. Ty Floyd was the Sunday starter last weekend.