After a walk-off victory on Saturday night, LSU had the momentum heading into Sunday’s series finale against Auburn. But in baseball, momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher.
The Tigers sent freshman Kade Anderson to the hill on Sunday. Coach Jay Johnson was hoping Anderson could give the Tigers at least three strong innings. Johnson went with Anderson, because his pitching style is similar to Friday night’s starter Gage Jump. Jump pitched seven shutout innings on Friday in a five to nothing win.
But Anderson gave up a lead-off double and Auburn strung some more hits together to take a 5-0 lead in the first inning. All five runs scored after two outs, which has been a problem that continues to plague the Tigers.
LSU got within two runs after a three-run homer by Steven Milam in the fourth inning, but the Tigers ended up losing 7-5.
The loss drops LSU’s record to 7-14 in the SEC. The goal is to get to 13 wins. Thirteen wins should be enough to get into the NCAA Tournament, but the Tigers will host top ranked Texas A&M this weekend and then travel to 23rd ranked Alabama. LSU closes out the regular season by hosting Ole Miss.
If the season ended today, LSU would be in the SEC Tournament as they are one-game ahead of Missouri for 13th place in the league. But the Tigers are still on the wrong side of the bubble at this moment to make an NCAA Regional.
Griffin Herring usage
LSU’s best arm out of the bullpen is Griffin Herring, but he didn’t get in the game until the second inning on Sunday and the Tigers were already down 5-0.
Johnson said after the game that Herring was not available Saturday, which is why Nate Ackenhausen was used instead in a close ball game.
As I mentioned earlier, Johnson decided to start Anderson on Sunday, because his pitching profile resembles Jump’s. But Anderson got into trouble and Johnson called on Will Hellmers, who ended up giving up a two-run double.
So why not bring in Herring to replace Anderson in the first inning? Johnson said Herring was not warm yet and didn’t want to insert him into the game in the middle of an inning.
It was an inning that got away from the Tigers and what’s even more frustrating is that LSU was one pitch away from getting out of the inning without allowing a run.
Herring was also on a pitch count, and he ended up throwing 64 pitches.
He gave way to Christian Little in the sixth inning, who gave up a big RBI double.
Just a tough loss for LSU, who can’t afford anymore as they try to fight their way into the NCAA Tournament.
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