LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson huddled his team together in the dugout before the bottom of the fourth inning started on Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers, in desperate need of victories to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive, had just allowed three runs to Northwestern State in the top half of the inning to lose their 2-0 lead.
They needed a spark, something to make them resemble the club that took down the No. 1 team in the nation this past weekend when winning a series against Texas A&M.
"I was like, 'Look, guys, we have to win,' " Johnson said. "And I never do that because we're always about the play and the process. But it's like, we can't go sideways."
The team meeting didn't produce results at first, but the Tigers did eventually get their act together. Jared Jones' two-run, go-ahead home run in the eighth inning was the difference in LSU's 6-5 victory.
The homer was Jones' 21st of the season and keeps LSU in striking distance to make an NCAA regional. Northwestern State entered Tuesday's game at No. 174 in the RPI.
"We knew that game was a game that had to be won," right-hander Gavin Guidry said. "The RPI would have completely plummeted if we would have dropped that game."
LSU (32-18) scored the first runs of the night in the second inning on a two-run home run from Brady Neal, his ninth of the season and his second in as many games.
The Tigers wouldn't score again until Northwestern State (19-29) had taken the lead and grown it to 5-2. In the fifth inning, Michael Braswell hit a two-out, run-scoring single to cut the deficit to two.
"I didn't like some of the at bats early in the game," Johnson said. "Like I thought we were swinging for the moon, opening up the zone."
LSU scored again in the seventh to cut the lead to one on a single from Ashton Larson, but its comeback had little to do with the top of the order, which finished the night 1 for 17 at the plate with only Jones' homer as a hit.
"Tonight was one of those nights for a lot of guys and myself included," Jones said. "Until that last at bat, I hadn't had a hit."
Left-hander Kade Anderson started for LSU and struggled. He allowed six hits, three walks and three runs (two earned) in 3⅓ innings.
He exited the game for right-hander Fidel Ulloa in the fourth. Ulloa allowed an inherited runner to score before surrendering two more runs (one earned) in the fifth.
LSU didn't commit any errors while Ulloa and Anderson were in the game, but Neal couldn't corral two passed balls and three wild pitches behind the plate through the first six innings, leading to the unearned runs.
"He caught three guys that couldn't be more different," Johnson said. "... In terms of Kade (with) what he does with the ball and how it goes and moves. And then Fidel, (his pitches are) firmer, obviously, and then (has) big break on the slider. And then Gavin is certainly unique. Maybe that played into it."
Guidry tossed the final four innings in relief of Ulloa. He shut down the Northwestern State attack and let LSU to claw back into the game, allowing no runs, one hit and striking out seven on 54 pitches.
It was his second longest outing at LSU and his longest of this season.
"Gavin was the story of the night," Johnson said. "I mean, that was phenomenal."
Next up for LSU is a three-game road trip against Alabama in Tuscaloosa starting Friday. First pitch from Sewell-Thomas Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m. and can be streamed on SEC Network+.