March 21, 2026: during NCAA Baseball action between the Oklahoma Sooners and the LSU Tigers at the Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, LA. Michael Bacigalupi
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
LSU’s offense forced the pitching and defense to walk a high wire for the last five innings.
Those two faltered in the eighth as Oklahoma scored three runs to take the lead and win game three of the series, 4-3, to claim it at Alex Box Stadium.
The game-changing play was a tailor-made double play ball to defensive replacement Jack Ruckert at second base with one out and the bases loaded in the eighth. He failed to glove it and threw late to first to allow the tying run score and keep the bases loaded. A sacrifice fly pushed Oklahoma in front by a run.
Gavin Guidry relived William Schmidt and escaped serious trouble in the fifth and seventh to strand four runners in scoring position. He ran out of gas in the eighth and allowed a four-pitch walk to open the inning before a pair of singles drew Oklahoma to within one.
Deven Sheerin took over and got the ground ball to second he needed before the sac fly and eventually another lazy fly to right to end the inning.
Jay Johnson probably pushed it a little bit asking Guidry to come back out for the eighth after 56 pitches. The veteran right-hander did throw 50 pitches in an outing against Dartmouth in February, so it wasn’t unprecedented, but the fastball velocity had dipped a bit.
That wasn’t what cost LSU the game. It was a lack of offense.
Omar Serna vaporized a two-run homer in the first inning, and Chris Stanfield smoked a solo shot in the fifth. Aside from those two swings and Jake Brown‘s eighth inning rocket to left that was miraculously gloved by Trey Gambill as he crashed into the wall, LSU just didn’t hit the ball hard.
Derek Curiel singled on the infield. Trent Caraway poked a flare into center. Those were the only other hits.
Oklahoma’s game three pitching is nothing special. Starter Cord Rager is a freshman who yielded eight earned runs over six combined innings against Santa Clara and Texas A&M. The two homers were the only hits he allowed.
The Sooner bullpen blanked LSU for 3.2 innings, and only two Tigers reached base.
This is a bad series loss after taking game 1 and saving the entire bullpen in the process. There are eight more to go, but the offense must play significantly better. At this point, it’s fair to question if and when that will happen.
THE SCORECARD
William Schmidt: 4 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 90 pitches, 59 strikes
Gavin Guidry: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 70 pitches, 39 strikes
Deven Sheerin: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 45 pitches, 29 strikes
Oklahoma: 4-for-18 (.222) with runners on and 1-for-13 (.073) with runners in scoring position
LSU was 4-for-28 (.143)
LSU only took eight at bats with runners on base to OU’s 18.
Oklahoma left 14 on base. LSU left four.
WHAT’S NEXT
LSU returns to action Tuesday night as Louisiana Tech visits Alex Box. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. Kentucky comes to Baton Rouge for an SEC weekend to follow.
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