Tonight I’m going to work smarter and not harder and do one sweeping generalization of LSU athletic’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day across multiple sports. Let’s start from the most damning loss to least.
Women’s Basketball: South Carolina 83, LSU 77
Stop me when you’ve heard this one before: South Carolina beat LSU in women’s basketball. For the 19th (!!!!!) consecutive meeting, Dawn Staley got the better of LSU and this time it came in the semifinal round of the women’s SEC Tournament.
LSU had a 40-36 lead at halftime, but gave up 47 second half points to the Gamecocks. MiLaysia Fulwiley led LSU with 24 points off the bench, while Jada Richard had 17.
It’s hard to call LSU-South Carolina a rivalry when only one team wins. The Tigers haven’t beaten the Gamecocks since 2012. Maybe the 20th time will be the charm?
Kim Mulkey’s Tigers now turn their eyes toward the ultimate prize: the NCAA Tournament. The bracket will be revealed next Sunday and the Tigers will be one of the top-16 overall seeds meaning they’ll be hosting first and second round games in the PMAC.
Baseball: Sacramento State 5, LSU 4
Woof.
Not even 24 hours after LSU erupted for six home runs and 15 runs, the engine that is the Tiger offense blew out as the Hornets even the series.
LSU was held scoreless for the first seven innings of the game, and a eighth inning grand slam by Cameron Sewell proved to be the backbreaker.
Cooper Moore had his worst outing as a Tiger: 4.2 innings with one run off four hits, three walks and four strikeouts. The 4.2 innings were the shortest outing of Moore’s season, and coming into Saturday he had only handed out two walks all year.
But one run given up by your No. 2 starter wasn’t the problem, the offense no-showed once again and I’m not alone in wondering where on earth the bats have gone since getting back from Jacksonville.
It’s not like LSU was devoid of baserunners: the Tigers drew 11 walks and got hit by two other pitches. That’s 13 free passes given out by Sacramento State pitching, but LSU was only able to produce three hits. Cade Arrambide singled in the second inning, and LSU wouldn’t get another base hit until Zach Yorke’s ground rule double in the eighth inning.
Daniel Harden hit a pinch-hit home run to lead off the ninth. LSU then got the tying run in scoring position and had the winning run on first, but Yorke struck out and Seth Dardar flew out to centerfield to end the game.
Softball: Tennessee 11, LSU 6
Softball’s kinda falling by the wayside on this here website because…well it’s the same ole, same ole with the Beth Torina’s Tigers lately, which is to say LSU gets off to a good pre-conference start and then they end up being pretty mediocre once SEC games start.
This year’s a little bit different (read “worse”) because LSU’s already taken some lumps even before SEC games started, and now the Tigers have officially dropped it’s opening conference series. They were shutout 5-0 yesterday in Knoxville, and today the Tigers blew a 4-0 first inning lead.
Men’s Basketball: Texas A&M 94, LSU 91 (3 OT)
Bringing up the rear is Matt McMahon’s squad, as the men’s team lost a heartbreaker to A&M in triple overtime. “Bringing up the rear” is also where the team finishes in the SEC regular season…again. Yes, for the second time in Matt McMahon’s tenure the Tigers finished last in the SEC. Last year LSU finished 15th and the year before that the Tigers had a decent 9-9 season and made it to the NIT.
Barring an absolutely insane run next week in Nashville, LSU will miss a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament and you just have to wonder when is enough enough with Matt McMahon?
So anyway, that was LSU’s Saturday. How was yours?
