History shows it’s still early for LSU baseball

Paul Mainieri
Photo credit USA Today Sports

This was supposed to be the softer part of the LSU baseball schedule starting with Missouri last weekend and heading into the series against Florida.  For the LSU baseball Tigers it’s been anything but soft, in fact it’s been down right harsh for Paul Mainieri’s squad. LSU lost three straight SEC games and four straight counting the mid-week game against ULL.

The injury bug took a big bite out of LSU last weekend; losing Chris Reid, Zach Watson and Zack Hess.  Reid and Watson tried to give it a go last night in the 16-9 beating at the hands of Florida, but were ineffective and removed from the game.  Hess has a chance to pitch this weekend for a couple of innings out of the bullpen coming off a groin injury.  Injuries are part of the game, but LSU has been decimated by injury this season.  Four position players have missed time, seven pitchers have missed time because of injuries as well.

I’m not making excuses for Paul Mainieiri and the Tigers, but you have to consider those factors, if you are jumping ship on LSU.  Gripes about not living up to expectations are warranted, but then again the expectations in Baton Rouge are always sky high whether warranted or not.  The Tigers came into the season ranked #1 in the country, and have fallen down to #15 with puzzling mid-week losses coupled with some head scratching SEC defeats.

#LSU baseball has to get it going and get it going fast or do they? 2017 Tigers didn't win more than five in a row until May 11th when they ripped off 17 straight. Streak ended in Omaha on June 19th. Yep still kind of early. I'd say it's mid afternoon for the Tigers.

— Kristian Garic (@KristianGaric) April 19, 2019

Back in March I said relax, don’t panic, it’s still early.  We are well into April at this point, and you know what?  It’s still early to a degree.  How is that possible?  How can I say that?  Ladies and gentlemen I present exhibit “A"... the 2017 LSU Tigers didn’t win more than five games in a row all season until May 11th, when they started a 17 game winning streak, that didn’t end until June 19th in the College World Series. That team went on to the CWS final.  I think we would all take that!

Baseball is a funny, odd and downright cruel sport.  I’m not going to get worked into a frenzy or start panicking about LSU baseball until it’s time to.  Now is not the time!  You can jump off the ship if you want, however, there are no life preservers to rescue you when the ship is righted and sailing right along in May. 

Now, LSU needs to pick up the urgency a bit.  It’s getting late soon.  May is just around the corner, so if the Tigers started getting hot right now, that would be fine with me.  The Tigers have some issues, that much is clear.  The issues are fixable!  I’ve seen baseball teams look awful for nearly half the season and all of a sudden nobody can beat them for the rest of the season. 

It’s baseball!  Stop taking the football approach!  I’d say it’s not close to midnight, more like midafternoon for LSU baseball.