In the end, the LSU baseball team’s weekend series against No. 1-ranked Texas A&M was like a trip around the proverbial diamond itself.
There were hits, thrills, excitement and certainly surprises as the Tigers took the first two games of the series. The Aggies looked like they expected to toss their lofty ranking out onto the diamond and wait for the Tigers to roll over.
Didn’t happen. Not in the least. LSU gritted out a pair of 6-4 victories Friday and Saturday, securing the series win going into Sunday’s final. Much credit to LSU for putting together its two most impressive and meaningful victories of the season.
Rounding third and heading for home in this series, though, LSU again proved to be no matinee idol. The Tigers ran up against only one truly bad inning, surrendering nine Texas A&M runs in a telethon-length fifth. LSU’s hopes of a shocking sweep died in the dust of one Aggie after another circling the bases, stepping stones on the way to a 14-4 LSU defeat.
For all the good they did themselves in the first two games, coming back both nights from early deficits to hold on for huge wins, the Tigers ended up being confronted with the same painful issues Sunday. Not enough pitching, certainly not enough clutch hitting, to take all three games.
“We played probably as good as our team as played for 18 innings (the first two games) plus four innings” Sunday, LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “We just ran out of bullets against a lineup of that caliber.”
Big picture wise, LSU gained a healthy measure of self-confidence from a series that entering Sunday must have stunned the rest of the college baseball world set against the rest of the Tigers’ season.
Ultimately though, it was a bit more same old, same old for LSU. The Tigers were still unable to deliver the complete, emphatic, season-changing series they needed. LSU exits the weekend pretty much where it entered it, clinging to one of the last berths in 12-team Southeastern Conference tournament, and still with work to do to have hope of securing an NCAA tournament bid.
“We’re in the fight,” Johnson said. “That’s all we can do right now.
“We’re not in the (NCAA) field, but we’re in the fight.”
It’s an unfamiliar place for LSU baseball to find itself, especially coming off a College World Series championship season. But Johnson is absolutely correct. The Tigers overall record (31-18) and RPI ranking (35 immediately after Sunday’s game according to the reliably accurate WarrenNolan.com) are emblematic of a team not destined to host one of 16 NCAA regionals but firmly in the field of 64.
LSU’s 9-15 SEC record suggests something else. Common college baseball wisdom suggests that the Tigers must get to at least 13 SEC wins to earn an NCAA bid.
It looked like a highly improbable task with the Aggies coming to town. After taking two of three — LSU’s third straight SEC series win after losing their first five — it’s at least doable.
That means, of course, the Tigers have to come through. Their most realistic path — not the easiest, just the most reasonable — is to go on the road and take two of three at No. 23 Alabama, then come home and take two of three from Ole Miss, like LSU a recent CWS champion fighting to secure an NCAA bid.
Despite some un-LSU-like struggles, the Tigers do have positives on their résumé. There’s this series win over A&M, appearing destined to be a top-eight NCAA national seed at least, and a 22-3 non-conference record. Keeping the latter mark looking shiny makes Tuesday’s final non-conference game at Alex Box Stadium against Northwestern State another game that feels like must-win material.
They all are now, really. The Tigers know it. Players and coach all spoke of being in “playoff mode” all weekend. A couple of false steps and their season could end well short of the actual playoffs.
It’s hard to think of LSU baseball being in such a precarious spot. Especially with the gleam still on the 2023 CWS trophy and the consensus top-10 national rankings for the Tigers entering this season. For whatever reason or reasons, this team has to date come up short of that goal. Even those dreaming of a 2008-like late-season run had to be sobered by Sunday’s result.
Nonetheless, this 2024 LSU team has to face the reality of its own making. Win and get in, with a chance of being that team that no one wants to have show up in their NCAA regional. Or lose and come up short of even that, by LSU baseball standards, modest goal.
This series win helped the Tigers. But lack of a sweep leaves much work to be done.