LSU baseball was shut out by Ole Miss 2-0 in the SEC Tournament semifinals, preventing the Tigers from reaching their second straight conference finals.
LSU didn’t score for the final 15 innings of its time in Hoover, Alabama; after the Tigers notched a two-run home run in the third inning of the quarterfinals, they were shut out from then on.
“Obviously Ole Miss has a formula that works good. We hadn’t seen them and I was immediately impressed by them,” head coach Jay Johnson said. “ We have things we need to attack better, and we will attack those things in our control and keep moving forward.”
On the mound for the Tigers in his first start since SEC play began was sophomore pitcher Jaden Noot who delivered four innings, seven strikeouts and only two walks. After that, he was replaced by fellow sophomore Chase Shores in the fifth.
To start this matchup, Ole Miss first baseman Will Furniss knocked a home run on his first pitch in the box out of the park, putting one run up on the board. This left the Tigers to play catch-up, unlike yesterday’s matchup against the Aggies, in which LSU led from the first inning on.
The Tigers took to the field, needing to execute effectively in order to shut down the Rebels and see another day in Hoover. With only two hits and no runs through four innings, the bats were shutting down again.
“It’s baseball. There are gonna be highs and lows, but we have to be tougher mentally,” junior first baseman Jared Jones said. “We just weren’t able to do that, and we’ll be better and know what to do moving forward.”
In a desperate search for runs on the board, the scene in the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium was not pretty. The Tigers were still trailing the Rebels going into the sixth, and the crowd had little energy.
LSU avoided a chance for Ole Miss to add to the lead in the sixth inning. With two runners on base, a full count and two outs, Austin Fawley knocked the ball directly into Stevan Milam’s glove, who tossed the ball to Jared Jones to shut down the possibility of loaded bases.
Through the top of the seventh, it had been 13 innings since LSU had scored, between the two games they played in Hoover.
This game once again came down to another pitcher’s duel, as the LSU pitchers tried to give the team a fighting chance to catch up in a back-half rally after a truly underwhelming performance.
LSU’s bats have struggled on the road this season, and that held true in this game. The contact LSU was able to get would knock the ball right into the glove of Ole Miss with no chance of getting to base.
Although the LSU pitchers had been delivering the performance needed to shut down the Rebels, it could only do so much when the offense wasn’t there to deliver.
With no runs on the board going into the ninth inning, it was one last chance for the Tigers to come out victorious. They needed only two runs to tie the game or three runs to take home a win.
In a last-ditch effort for the Tiger offense to tie the game, senior Josh Pearson was sent to the box with two outs with Ethan Frey on first base. The LSU crowd came alive again, chanting out louder than ever before.
Unfortunately, the Tigers’ efforts were just not enough. With a full count and two outs, Josh Pearson took one last crack at the bat, and it flew out to center field, ending the game.
LSU is now out of the tournament and will head back to Baton Rouge to prepare for the NCAA regionals next week, which will presumably be hosted at home in Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers will find out their seeding in the NCAA Tournament Monday at 11 a.m.
