Sundays have not been fun for LSU this season.
The Tigers entered Sunday's Game 3 against Texas A&M with a 1-6 record in the final game of SEC series. The absence of an established third weekend starter, shaky bullpen depth and subpar play at the plate has consistently hampered LSU by the end of these three game sets.
Unfortunately for LSU, all three issues reared their ugly heads again on Sunday against the Aggies. A nine run implosion in fifth inning for LSU's bullpen was more than enough for Texas A&M to snatch the 14-4 victory at Alex Box Stadium.
"We played about as good as we have all year for 22 innings," LSU coach Jay Johnson said. "And we just kind of ran out of bullets against a lineup of that caliber."
Left-hander Nate Ackenhausen proved he was healthy enough to start on Sunday after exiting last Saturday's game against Auburn with a hamstring injury. But he only threw 1⅔ innings in his return despite not allowing a run.
Right-hander Sam Dutton replaced Ackenhausen and cruised through the rest of the second, third and fourth without allowing a hit. But things went south quickly for Dutton in the fifth.
He allowed a triple and a single that resulted in the Aggies' first run of the afternoon. He then gave up another single before allowing a three-run homer to Graham Grahovac that handed Texas A&M a 4-3 lead.
"I think (Dutton's) pitched good," Johnson said. "I think he's an improved pitcher."
The nightmare inning continued for LSU (31-18, 9-15) with left-hander Justin Loer on the mound for Dutton. Loer recorded a strikeout but then walked a batter and gave up a two-run homer to Jackson Appel that increased the Aggies' lead to three.
Right-hander Thatcher Hurd replaced Loer but wasn't any better. He walked all three batters he faced; the final free pass resulted in a run to make it a 7-3 game. Right-hander Aiden Moffett came in for Hurd and allowed two run-scoring singles that grew the Texas A&M (40-8, 16-8) lead to six before finally ending the inning.
Moffett lasted until the eighth inning and didn't allow another run. But left-hander Cam Johnson — after finishing the eighth — walked two batters in the ninth before handing the ball off to right-hander Will Hellmers.
Hellmers walked another batter before allowing a grand slam and a solo homer to increase the Aggies' lead to 11.
"I don't look at the ninth inning and go like, 'Oh, this is some horrific loss because they added five late,' " Johnson said. "We just ran out of steam a little bit."
LSU took the first lead of the game in the second inning when Brady Neal blasted his eighth home run of the season, a two-run shot. The Tigers then increased their lead to three in the third on a run-scoring single from Josh Pearson with two out.
But soon after Pearson's single, Texas A&M brought right-hander Chris Cortez into relief to shut down the LSU offense. Cortez tossed 4⅓ scoreless innings and only allowed one hit.
"He's going to get paid. He's really good," Neal said. "But yeah, he's just sinking the ball at 100 mph. So I mean, it's tough."
The Tigers wouldn't score another run until the ninth inning when Paxton Kling hit a two-out single to score Ethan Frey.
LSU is back in action on Tuesday to face Northwestern State at Alex Box Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and will be streaming on SEC Network+.