For the fourth time in five weekends, the LSU Tigers were swept, and their NCAA Regional hopes are no more. LSU’s pitching once again had no answers on Sunday as Georgia easily defeated the Tigers 12-1 in seven innings.
LSU falls to 29-24, 9-18 in the SEC. First time since 1978 that LSU has suffered 18 SEC losses.
Pitching woes: LSU sophomore Casan Evans made his first start in nearly three weeks, but he didn’t last long. Evans was pulled in the second inning after giving up four runs.
Zac Cowan didn’t fare much better as he allowed seven runs in 3.1 innings.
Daniel Jackson, the potential Golden Spikes winner, hit his SEC-leading 25th home run and drove in four runs.
LSU gave up 36 runs during the three-game set.
What’s next: LSU will finish out the regular season against Florida with a three-game series that starts Thursday night at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU will likely be the 14 seed in the SEC Tournament that starts next Tuesday and play in the final game of the day in Hoover, Alabama.
LSU will have to win the SEC Tournament, which means six games in six days to receive an invite to the NCAA Tournament.
How did we get here? That’s what Jay Johnson will be asking himself a lot over the coming weeks. The Tigers had a little momentum heading into the series with the 5th ranked Bulldogs and it was like bug hitting a car’s windshield driving down the interstate, it was completely stopped by a much superior team.
LSU started the season ranked number one or two in all of the polls and ended up having the worst season in school history in 50 years.
And you can’t just say it’s baseball. The last two road series and that home series against Texas A&M, LSU, was miles away from the best programs in the country.
How did it get like this?
It starts with pitching as LSU’s pitchers never gave themselves a chance especially during these last two road series, giving up double digit runs in nearly every game.
LSU pitching coach Nate Yeskie has been to the College World Series with four different schools. He knows how to coach.
But something fundamentally went wrong. Coach Jay Johnson has had and will have many sleepless nights trying to figure this out and make sure LSU doesn’t have another season like this for another 50 years.
