For the second time in the past three seasons LSU baseball found its regional hopes coming down to a winner-take-all showdown.
Unfortunately for Tigers fans, the result was familiar in a 4-3 loss to North Carolina in 10 innings. And the cause of that disappointing loss? As Mike Detillier explained on SportsTalk, it was the same issue that plagued LSU throughout a feast-or-famine 2023 season.
"That had been part of this team," Detillier told Charlie Long on WWL Radio. "They got hot with the bats late, but we’ve seen this sort of scenario throughout the regular season, where you got pretty good pitching at times, but the bats just weren’t there for you. Last night was a perfect example of that."
Listen to the full conversation from SportsTalk in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
Those inopportune cold snaps from the offense were commonplace throughout a 3-12 start to the SEC season that forced a white-knuckle finish by the Tigers to even get into the NCAA Tournament. But we saw offensive explosions throughout a strong finish that went all the way to the SEC Tournament title game.
LSU had its issues in the opener against Wofford but belted four solo home runs to sneak a walkoff win in their opener. They had to overcome a 5-0 first inning deficit to win the rematch, which they did easily. That was followed by an 8-4 win against UNC to force Monday's game. That winner-take-all matchup started dangerously for the Tigers with Sam Dutton chased after three consecutive singles and no outs to begin the game. In fact the Heels loaded the bases in each of the first two innings but only plated two runs.
The Tigers managed to scratch across one run in each of the first 3 innings, but that's where it ended. From that point on it was a pitcher's duel, with the Tigers managing just one more hit over their final 7 innings. They held the lead though, because veteran Will Hellmers arrived in the second inning to pitch out of a game, then went on to dazzle for 5.2 innings of shutout baseball, allowing just two hits. Nate Ackenhausen closed out the 8th inning and the Tigers turned to ace Gage Jump, who was unable to close the deal and ultimately surrendered the winning run after an untimely drop in the outfield.
"Will Hellmers, the performance that he had. There’s no word other than heroic, right?" Long said. "I mean, the senior comes in … he was phenomenal. He kept LSU in the game but LSU’s offense couldn’t take advantage.”
It was a disappointing result for LSU, but another that shows they are a program in a very good place. The Tigers' three seasons under Jay Johnson have been close losses in the final day of two regionals and a run to a College World Series championship. The result this week after such a difficult season feels like the floor of what we can expect for this program under his leadership.
"It was going to be tough for this team to get back to Omaha," Detillier continued, "but they gave it one heck of a ride, one whirl of a ride."
The next steps for LSU will be assessing the departures and finding necessary replacement through the transfer portal. There will be significant losses, including star third baseman Tommy White likely headed into the MLB draft, but Johnson has proven more than capable of succeeding in the transfer portal race. The Tigers will also benefit from playing four freshmen often throughout the season, with those players available to step into bigger and bigger roles going forward.
"It goes back to the merry go round, it doesn’t stop for you to jump on, and so the key now is what are they going to have to look for for next season through the portal," Detillier said, "because now that has become the interlock across the board all across college football and baseball to seal up spots here.”
