Northeastern jumps all over LSU, holds on late

By Hunt Palmer

THE STORY

LSU is officially in a funk.

The top end of the pitching staff masked it over the weekend, but the middle and bottom of the staff couldn’t on Monday. Northeastern absolutely mauled the Tigers in every phase to earn a 13-10 win at Alex Box Stadium that wasn’t really that close.

There is plenty to critique.

Cooper Williams lost the strike zone. Zac Cowan was blasted. LSU’s offense, at least its starters, didn’t board the plane back from Jacksonville last week, and the defense was very poor throughout the game. They made four errors and threw three wild pitches. The four errors were the most since LSU made five in the disastrous game two of the College World Series finals against Florida.

Northeastern scored four in the second and six in the third to seemingly remove all doubt early.

Williams wasn’t hit especially hard. He was late to cover first on a ground ball to open the second. Then a pair of ground ball singles, one that beat the shift, created traffic. After Williams issued a four-pitch walk on a pitch that sailed all the way to the backstop, he was lifted.

Cowan came in and was greeted with several barrels. His final pitch was a hanging curveball in the middle of the plate that .091 hitter Chris Walsh deposited into the left field seats. The senior right-hander allowed four runs on five hits in 1.2 innings of work. None of it was especially cheap.

Northeastern entered the weekend with a team ERA of 15.00 after being drilled by Minnesota in run-rule fashion on back-to-back days last weekend. Though LSU totaled runs, that output was deceiving. Eight of them came after Jay Johnson cleared him bench.

The Huskies’ starter, Ryan Griffin, hardly broke a sweat mowing the Tigers down.

He retired the first six he faced, and when the seventh reached on an error, he immediately got a double play ball from Cade Arrambide to shut off the threat.

In the fifth, Derek Curiel singled to lead off. John Pearson was hit by a pitch, and Zach Yorke walked. That loaded the bases with no one out, and the Tigers mustered a single run. Steven Milam chopped to second to plate the run. Brayden Simpson struck out, and Seth Dardar chopped to second. All three efforts were pretty feeble.

Then in the sixth, Curiel was put aboard by a throwing error and came around to score. Two Tigers dug in with Yorke at second, and both grounded out on the infield.

That’s when the starting lineup had a seat and seldom-used Tigers got a chance to step in following four days of dismal offense.

In the seventh, LSU (11-2) needed two runs to extend the game. They got three, but the ball never left the infield. Four walks, a hit by pitch and an infield single resulted in the three-spot that only delayed the inevitable.

LSU’s reserves then provided some late sparks.

Edward Yamin, LSU’s third catcher, clubbed a two-run homer into the empty bleachers in left with five outs left and the Tigers down 13-5. Ethan Clauss and Daniel Harden collected their first career hits in the ninth to contribute to a three-run inning. The tying run never got to the batter’s box.

The cosmetics of the last three innings don’t take away from the disaster that was the first six.

LSU has played a ton of baseball over these three weeks, and the pressure of the mounting offensive ineptitude is weighing heavy. That bled over to the defense on Monday.

This is the first real bout of adversity for this group. It was bound to happen, but that doesn’t make Monday any less jarring.

THE SCORECARD

Cooper Williams: 1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Zac Cowan: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

LSU’s starting lineup was 4-for-21 (.190) without an extra base hit.

Northeastern outhit LSU 10-to-5.

LSU was 0-for-4 with the bases loaded and 6-for-25 (.240) with runners on base.

Northeastern was 6-for-15 (.400) with two outs and plated eight runs. LSU was 1-for-9 (.111).

WHAT’S NEXT

LSU hits the road for a true away game on Wednesday as they head down I-10 to face Louisiana-Lafayette. The Cajuns have won 9-of-10 after an 0-2 start.

First pitch from Tigue Moore Field at Russo Park is set for 6:00.