Much like the LSU Baseball team, I’m showing up to Sunday a little later than you would have hoped.
The Tigers (22-15, 6-9) lost a game they really needed to have against Ole Miss (26-11, 8-7) to complete the humiliating weekend sweep 8-7 Sunday at Swayze Field. The Tigers very nearly pulled off a second consecutive improbable Sunday comeback, but they couldn’t quite get it done.
Quite literally all of LSU’s offensive production came in the seventh inning. LSU didn’t get a base runner aboard until
the fourth inning when Cade Arrambide drew a walk, and Brayden Simpson was hit by a pitch in the sixth. Then, inexplicably, LSU erupted for seven runs and eight hits all in the seventh inning.
The rally started when Derek Curiel, Arrambide, and Jake Brown launched three consecutive solo home runs to make it a 7-3 ball game. LSU would then tack on four more runs, all with two outs, to tie the game.
But because this LSU team is…well, this LSU team, the momentum was immediately given back in the home half of the inning. Hayden Federico led off the bottom of the seventh with a two-base error, and came around to score off a Brayden Randle single to left field.
Remember how I said literally all of LSU’s offense came in the seventh? That proved to be a real big problem, and the Tigers went down in order in both the eighth and ninth innings. Walker Hooks came into close out the game for Ole Miss in the ninth and struck out the side to end the game.
“We got dominated for the first six innings, you can’t lose sight of that,” Jay Johnson said. “Rabe is a good pitcher and we couldn’t do anything with him. We did come back from late deficit on Sunday, which we’ve done before, but we didn’t make the plays we needed to win the game.”
This LSU team is not very good, and they are certainly not good enough to only compete for the final three or four innings of a game. What’s more, we’re officially halfway through SEC play, and LSU is in 14th place ahead of only South Carolina and Missouri. To quote Bill Parcells “you are what your record says you are” and right now LSU is a bottom feeder team in the SEC, and I’m not so sure they’ll be playing any baseball beyond Hoover.
But that’s also what we said two seasons ago when LSU was in an even worse position. The 2024 Tigers were 3-12 at the halfway point, but they found their groove. They got hot in Hoover, made it to the SEC Tournament championship game, and was an out away from upsetting a national seeded North Carolina team in Chapel Hill. Can this 2026 team do something similar? I’ve got my doubts, as I’m sure most of you do, but that’s why they play the game.
LSU’s next chance to get out of this hole they’ve dug for themselves will be Tuesday night against Northwestern, and the Tigers will stay at home this weekend for a massive series against Texas A&M.
