There are times during the season that the bullpen will not come through and Saturday night was one of those occasions for the LSU Tigers as they saw their 17-game winning streak snapped in an 11-7 loss to Texas.
LSU had to lean on its bullpen on Saturday night because of a second consecutive short start from Anthony Eyanson. Eyanson couldn’t get past the fourth inning last week and last night he ran into trouble in the fifth inning.
LSU entered the bottom of the fifth inning with a 5-2 lead.
But Eyanson walked the lead-off hitter in the fifth. Struck out the next hitter and then gave up a single to put runners on first and third.
That’s when the parade of arms out of the bullpen started for LSU.
Coach Jay Johnson went to Conner Ware first. A run scored on a pass ball and then he would walk the only hitter he faced on the night.
Johnson went to freshman William Schmidt and for the second straight appearance Schmidt gave up a three-run homer Ryan Galvan to give Texas a 6-5 lead.
Schmidt would then load the bases as the freshman is struggling with his confidence going up against SEC hitters.
Conner Benge came in and got out of the inning with no further damage. Benge pitched a scoreless sixth as LSU would re-take the lead in the top of the sixth inning on a two-run home run by Derek Duriel.
But Benge gave up the one-run lead in the seventh inning when Jalin Flores jumped on a hanging breaking ball for a long home run.
Benge then gave up a couple of singles. Left-hander DJ Prmeaux came in and he gave up an RBI single to give Texas an 8-7 lead.
Texas scored three more runs in the eighth inning as Johnson went deep into his bullpen and used Jacob Mayers and Dalton Beck for the first time in SEC play and they couldn’t throw strikes. Mavrick Rizy eventually finished the eighth inning, but gave up an RBI single.
On the night, LSU’s bullpen allowed seven earned runs and nine hits in 3.2 innings.
It was certainly a night LSU could have used a veteran reliever like Gavin Guidry, who continues to try and recover from a back injury.
LSU could also use longer outings from its starters, so they don’t have to rely on so many guys on the bullpen, especially on the road.
But this pitching staff is learning how to win games in the SEC. Most of these pitchers lack experience pitching in the SEC and Saturday night was a learning experience.
Chase Shores will start on Sunday for LSU. The most he’s pitched in a game is five innings. Several of the same pitchers who threw on Saturday will likely pitch again on Sunday, including Ware, Primeaux and Rizy. Closer Casan Evans has yet to be used this weekend, and will Johnson bring back Cowan after he threw 55 pitches on Friday?
Game time is at 2 PM.
