The scoreboard read 6-2 in the Tigers’ loss to No. 1 Tulane Tuesday night. The next column on the scoreboard told a different story though.
The column standing next to runs was hits accumulated in the game. In that comparison, LSU came out on top 12-10.
Those numbers showed that the Tigers had overcome the problem with their bats from the past weekend, but now the team had a new problem — timely hitting.
“Timely hitting — that’s everything,” said designated hitter Blake Gill. “It sounds stupid, but you want to get your hits with men on base. Even though we did hit the ball hard a few times with guys on base, it didn’t work out for us.”
LSU’s two runs came on Gill’s fifth inning home run, scoring senior left-fielder Ryan Patterson. It was the only time in the night that Tigers would touch the plate but not the only time they had opportunities. LSU left 13 runners on base.
“They made some good plays and their pitchers got it done when it counted,” Patterson said. “We just need to overcome that kind of stuff. When we have runners on base and in scoring position we just have to get it done. There is nothing else to say — 12 hits and two runs, you can’t win with that.”
After tackling the problem of hits, or lack thereof, the Tigers have to conquer a more difficult task that depends on more than physical capabilities said coach Smoke Laval.
“It’s the focus thing. That’s why I said this game is good for us,” Laval said. “It’s bad because we’re not where we need to be yet. We had 12 hits and no errors, but we’re not where we should be. The good thing is we wanted to see if we could focus for nine innings, and the only way you’re going do that is to play a ranked ball club. I don’t know how to teach that part of it.”
Clay Harris led LSU in hits coming into Tuesday night’s game. Harris went 1 for 4 on the night with a single.
“That’s baseball. Maybe we should focus a little more at the plate with guys on,” Harris said. “Only thing we can do is hit it hard. Hopefully the ball will start finding holes. You just got to hit it hard.”
LSU will host Arizona State and Western Illinois this weekend in hopes of snapping its two game losing streak as well as improving its offense.
“I just think we have to keep focusing whenever we have runners on base. You know we’ve been getting hits with guys in scoring position our whole lives, and that’s not going to change,” Patterson said. “It just didn’t happen for us one night, and we are going to build off this game with the at bats we’ve had and get after it this weekend.”