(Photo Credit: @LSUbaseball on X)
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
In a back-and-forth battle in Austin on Saturday night, Texas threw the last punch.
LSU took three different leads in the game, two early and one late, but Texas stormed back each time and won game two of the series, 11-7, to force a Sunday rubber match.
Texas answered LSU’s two fourth inning runs with two of their own. LSU surged ahead 5-2 in the fifth, and Texas responded with four to take the lead. Derek Curiel launched a two-run home run in the sixth that gave the Tigers a 7-6 advantage, and an inning later the Longhorns took the lead for good with a solo shot and a clutch RBI single with two outs.
LSU’s bullpen struggled. Mightily. Seven Tiger relievers surrendered seven earned runs on nine hits in 3.2 innings. They walked five and struck out one.
Conner Ware walked the only man he faced and threw a wild pitch that scored a run in the process.
William Schmidt faced five hitters. He walked two, gave up a double and a line drive three-run homer that put Texas on top. The homer came on a 3-1 fastball that was center cut to the hottest power hitter in the country, Rylan Galvan.
Connor Benge hung an 0-2 breaking ball that Jalin Flores hit out of the ballpark to tie the game in the seventh.
DJ Primeaux yielded the RBI single that gave Texas the lead and was tagged for another run in the eighth when the leadoff single that he allowed to Ethan Mendoza came home to score off of Jacob Mayers. Josh Pearson booted the single in right field which allowed Mendoza to reach third base.
Flores greeted Mayers with an RBI single that made it 9-7.
Dalton Beck took over with a 2-0 he inherited from Mayers, he fired two more balls.
Mavrick Rizy came in next and immediately fell behind 2-0 and gave up a two-run single on a 2-1 pitch. That was the knockout blow to make it 11-7.
The Tiger offense did a good job on the whole but failed to truly break the game open early when chances were presented.
LSU had the bases loaded and no one out with a run home in the fourth and only plated one more run. Pearson struck out, and Luis Hernandez drove home a run on a ground ball to shortstop that resulted in a fielder’s choice.
The Tigers left a runner at second base in a three-run fifth, too.
That said, seven runs on nine hits should win a lot of games. It didn’t Saturday because LSU could not find an answer out of the bullpen.
Right now Anthony Eyanson and Chase Shores are only proven to be four or five inning starters. That’s okay if your bullpen is lights out. When it’s not, you have to get deeper into games.
Zac Cowan and Casan Evans are trusted arms. That’s only going to be good enough for so many innings over the course of a weekend.
There is plenty of talent on the staff, but there have to be more strikes. Schmidt and Rizy have had really spotty control the last three weeks. Same goes for Ware. Those three really need to take a step up moving forward because they’re plenty talented enough to get outs
LSU’s winning streak is snapped at 17. The Tigers are 4-1 in SEC play, as is Texas.
THE SCORECARD
- LSU used seven pitchers out of the bullpen. Their combined line: 3.2IP, 9H, 7R, 7ER, 5BB, 1K, 101 pitches, 56 strikes.
- Anthony Eyanson’s line: 4.1IP, 4H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 6K, 78 pitches, 50 strikes.
- Jalin Flores: 3-for-5, HR, 4R, 2RBI
- Rylan Galvan: 2-for-3, HR, 3R, 3RBI
- Jared Jones: 3-for-5, 2B, 2R, RBI
- Derek Curiel: 1-for-4, HR, 2RBI, 2R, HBP
- Chris Stanfield: 2-for-3, 2B, 2R, BB
- LSU was 2-for-9 (.222) with runners in scoring position.
- LSU was just 4-for-7 getting runners home from third base with less than two outs.
- Texas drove in four runs with two out.
WHAT’S NEXT
Game three from Austin is set for 2:00. Chase Shores is LSU’s scheduled starter, Texas has not yet announced its pitching plans. The Longhorn bullpen is going to be without two of its best arms. Max Grubbs threw 70 pitches on Saturday, and Andre Duplantier threw 46 on Friday. Ruger Riojas is the best remaining option for Texas. He went four innings on Tuesday against UTSA and should be available.
LSU has not used Casan Evans yet. He will be one of Jay Johnson’s first options after Shores.
The winner of the game will take the series and move to 5-1 in league play after two weeks.
