LSU’s final weekend series before SEC play couldn’t have ended on a more sour note as the Tigers (12-5) were listless for the second night in a row, losing the game—and the series—to Sacramento State 6-1.
It’s the worst pre-SEC start of the Jay Johnson era and the five losses, all to non-Power 4 teams, are the most since 2007. That team, Paul Mainieri’s first, not only missed the NCAA Tournament, but also missed the SEC Tournament.
“Sacramento State pitched and defended very, very well over the past
two days,” Jay Johnson said. “Their pitchers were around the plate, they mixed well, and their defense picked them up. Credit to them, but we need to play better.”
William Schmidt took the loss despite pitching pretty well. It wasn’t his finest effort, but 5.2 innings and eight strikeouts versus no walks should have been more than enough, especially from your Sunday starter. But the position players let down Schmidt, both in the field and at the plate.
LSU should have went into the bottom of the third inning in a scoreless tie. Instead, a misplayed ball went over Mason Braun’s head in left field, and a throwing error by Cade Arrambide gifted the Hornets two runs.
Just like in Saturday’s game, the Hornets held a 5-0 lead. Cooper Williams was the first one out of the pen to relieve Schmidt, who had just given up back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners, and Williams ended up plunking the one and only batter he would face. Gavin Guidry came on, walked in a run, and then gave up a two-run single.
A five-run deficit is steep but it isn’t insurmountable, and if there were ever a time to cut into a lead it would be with this lineup coming to the plate: Steven Milam, Jake Brown, and Derek Curiel. Instead, they went down in order 1-2-3 on a combined six pitches.
The same LSU bats that scored 15 runs off of 14 hits in Friday’s game, went a combined 4-35 with runners on, and 2-20 with runners in scoring position over the last two games of this series. Jay Johnson is known for tinkering with his lineup, but this time it feels different. It feels like he’s trying any and everything, but nothing’s working.
Baseball is a long season and teams are allowed to improve. But as it stands right here, LSU doesn’t really do a lot of things well. They have a good starting rotation, Jake Brown has been awesome, and Steven Milam and Derek Curiel are still plus-defenders. The bats, outside of Brown, don’t really threaten and there’s only three bullpen arms you feel good about: Ethan Plog, Devin Sheerin, and Guidry. And I can’t really explain it, but the team right now just looks lifeless.
But just because LSU is scuffling right now, doesn’t mean they’re doomed to go 10-20 in SEC games and miss Hoover. Heck, we saw the 2024 team get out to a 3-12 SEC start and they were a few outs away from hosting a Super Regional.
I guess what I’m saying is we shouldn’t panic but we ought to be concerned. I don’t need LSU to be peaking in March, but they’re not inspiring a lot of confidence right now. All will be forgotten if the Tigers go to Nashville and win the opening series.
