Frustrating! Unnerving! Disturbing! All three words describe LSU baseball after being swept by Tennessee. The Tigers quickly plummeted from 12th ranked to unranked in the early sunrise of the season.
LSU is just 1 and 5 in conference play for the first time since 2011. LSU missed a college world series appearance that season. That could be a harsh reality for this years’s edition of LSU baseball. If you've read or listened to anything I've said about LSU baseball, it's typically positive. It's hard to be positive about this team at this juncture. With that said, there are still 24 SEC games to be played.
The problem as I see it for LSU is two fold. The LSU baseball Tigers are feast or famine offensively, and the same can be said about their pitching. In particular out of the bullpen in relief. The starting trio of Landon Marceaux, Jaden Hill and AJ Labas aren't the problem. Marceaux pitched well in a 3-1 loss to the Volunteers Friday. Labas tossed 7 innings Sunday yielding just 2 runs. It's hard to expect a college pitcher to keep a team under three runs and lose the game. The offense has to support the starting pitcher with production. The Tigers offense left 25 runners on base against Tennessee. That's mind blowing. To make things worse, LSU hitters struck out 38 times, and average 11.5 strikeouts a game in conference play. The Tigers have gone down on strikes over 100 times so far this season, and they've only played 24 games.
All of those numbers are scary, right? Negative numbers! However, I'm convinced LSU's youthful team will improve. The Tigers might have to miss out on the postseason and endure a painful result, but next year and the year after, LSU will be one of the best teams in the country. If LSU misses post-season play, there will be some (a few knuckleheads) that will want to move on from coach Paul Mainieri. Ok, sure! He'd be out of a job for about 24 hours, if that. You don't fire the active winningest coach in college baseball for one bad season. Now, let's hand out some grades from the weekend against Tennessee.
Offense: Yikes! LSU relied on the home run too much against Big Orange. The Tigers collected 31 hits in the series against Tennessee. Not bad at all! The problem is they only scored 11 runs off 31 hits. Right now the Tigers can't hit in the clutch or key moments in the game with runners on base. Grade: F
Defense: The Tigers turned in some gems with the glove, fielding is not the issue for LSU. The Tigers committed one error this weekend. Grade: A
Starting pitching: Jaden Hill had another rough outing Saturday, giving up 6 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks issued. The Tigers pitching staff issued 29 free passes this weekend. In other words, they walked or hit 29 Tennessee hitters. As I wrote earlier, AJ Labas and Landon Marceaux were pretty solid as starters. When you put 29 hitters on base via a walk or hit by pitching, it's never good. I'm surprised LSU was even in the three games with that many free bases issued. All three games this weekend were decided by a total of four runs. Grade: C
Coaching: As the skipper,, you take the heat when things aren't going well, and deflect credit when things are going well. Coach Paul Mainieri was visibly frustrated in Knoxville. When you are the head coach, it's typically on you. Now, to be fair, Paul Mainieri didn't strike out 38 times this weekend. Mainieri didn't issue 29 free bases either. The coach can be second guessed for not intentionally walking Tennessee center fielder Drew Gilbert in the bottom of the 9th inning in game 2. Gilbert sent the game into extra innings, when he smashed a two out, two strike double to right field, thus driving in the game tying run. Gilbert would later walk off the Tigers with a solo home run in the 11th inning. Mainieri can't be given a high grade after his team was swept.
Grade: C
Overall team grade: D. The only reason they don't get an overall failing grade is because LSU lost two games by two runs in the series against the Vols. Remember when you would bring home bad grades on your report card? What did your parents do? Punish you in some way, right? Grounded for two weeks? No TV for a week? Well, my punishment for LSU would be no cell phone use for a week.
How does the saying go? When it rains it pours? Well,,the baseball gods have a great sense of humor! The Tigers have No.1 Vanderbilt coming to Alex Box stadium this weekend. If they get swept by Vandy, this could be a really loooooong season for LSU.
First things first, LSU has to be honest with themselves, and coach Paul Mainieri has to have some real conversations with his team, and I'm certain he will. Don't hit the panic button just yet Tiger fans, just know the combination to the lock on the panic button.
Lagniappe: The Tigers are 3 and 3 in one run games this year. The really good teams in college baseball should be more like 5 and 1 in one run games, or at least 4 and 2. For instance No. 1 Vanderbilt has played 4 one run games. Vandy is 3 and 1 in those games.
Lagniappe part two: Vanderbilt starting pitcher Jack Leiter has pitched 16 innings in conference play, and he's yet to give up a hit! That's incredible to me. Yes, Jack is the son of former MLB pitcher Al Leiter.
Got to get your act together real fast LSU!
