LSU Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
STARKVILLE, Miss., — In poker terms, they call it “all in”.
LSU pushed the bullpen chips, seven of them, to the center of Dudy Noble Field, and the river card came up maroon and white. Kevin Milewski’s no-doubt blast through the Starkville rain walked LSU off 10-8.
The Tigers had their chances.
LSU failed to push Derek Curiel across from third with one out in the 10th. Cade Arrambide struck out, and after Steven Milam walked to load the bases, Mason Braun’s flare to left field was picked off the grass on a dive by James Nunnallee crashing in. It was inches from a two-run single.
State tied the game when down to its final strike in the ninth. With runners at first and second and two out, Ryder Woodson’s ground ball skipped by Milam and into left field. The runner at second was left there after what looked like a double play was overturned by replay as Milam’s foot left the base inches before he took the feed from Jack Ruckert at second. LSU lost a pair of challenges at the second base bag.
Milam’s diving stop and throw later in the inning sent the game to extras thanks to a stellar pick by Braun at first.
William Patrick’s two-out, opposite field RBI single plated Braun from third to break a 7-7 tie and give LSU a ninth-inning lead. They just couldn’t hold it. That was a theme as LSU couldn’t hold an early lead, either.
Jay Johnson has been managing from behind for two months. With starter Casan Evans unavailable with arm discomfort and Gavin Guidry taking the ball to start, Johnson went to his most trusted relievers early. They weren’t sharp, and the defense buckled to allow State to chip away and take the lead.
Things finally got started on a high note for LSU. Chris Stanfield reached on a throwing error to open the game. Curiel chopped a double down the right field line, and Omar Serna followed with an RBI single. Milam’s RBI single with two strikes and a Braun RBI ground out that followed a wild pitch made it 3-0 Tigers off State ace Tomas Valincius.
Gavin Guidry then surrendered a two-out, two run homer to immediately trim the lead to one.
But the Tigers kept putting pressure on Valincius, something no one else in the SEC has really done to this point.
Serna blistered a solo shot in the third, and LSU added three more in the fourth. Mississippi State offered some help with an error of a tailor made double play ball off Curiel’s bat that shortstop Ryder Woodson just whiffed. Milam made it hurt with a two-out, two-run single up the middle that made it 7-3 Tigers.
That’s the point where Johnson elected to go to his “A relievers”.
It took four LSU pitchers to get four outs between the last of the third and end of the fourth. Johnson called on Deven Sheerin with two on and two out in the fourth, and he hung a two-strike pitch that Gehrig Frei bshed by Braun into right to plate a run.
Sheerin didn’t have the stuff that mowed down the sizzling Aggies last Sunday. He labored to record six outs, and he allowed three runs to tie the game. Only two were earned. The State two-spot to knot the game in the sixth came without a hit. It was another LSU unraveling.
Sheerin walked Woodson, the eight hole hitter hitting sub-.270, on four pitches. Then Trent Caraway gloved a hot shot to third and tried to start a double play but threw wide of second to pull Jack Ruckert off the bag. Review confirmed that. A wild pitch, a hit batsman on a 1-2 pitch and a sac fly tied the score.
Santiago Garcia got out of the bases loaded jam by getting a weak ground ball on the infield to keep things tied after six.
Zac Cowan worked the last two innings. He was the seventh arm LSU used.
LSU burned its best bullpen arms but couldn’t earn a win. That puts immense pressure on William Schmidt on Saturday. LSY could have won the game three different times, but they just don’t quite do enough to get to the finish line.
THE SCORECARD
Tomas Valincius: 3.2 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 90 pitches, 59 strikes
Omar Serna: 3-for-5, HR, 2 RBI, R
Mason Braun: 2-for-4, RBI, R
William Patrick: 2-for-6, RBI, R
LSU outhit Mississippi State 13-to-10.
LSU left 14 runners on base and was just 3-for-5 scoring runners from third with less than two out.
WHAT’S NEXT
Game two between LSU and Mississippi State is scheduled for 6:00 on Saturday night. The Tigers turn to sophomore right-hander William Schmidt. Mississippi State will counter with Duke Stone, another sophomore righty.
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