LSU Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
LSU’s warts were on full display Tuesday night.
The bullpen absolutely imploded, and the defense faltered in a key spot. Bethune Cookman tagged LSU with another heinous midweek loss, 10-7, that could come home to roost in June.
The Wildcats scored five in the seventh thanks largely to one hit by pitch from Santiago Garcia, another that followed from Mavrick Rizy who proceeded to walk in back-to-back runs. Then Dax Dathe got a ground ball, albeit a sharply hit one, that Seth Dardar misplayed at second to allow two runs to score.
Two hit batsmen, two bases loaded walks and a two-run error. That’s how you turn a 6-5 lead into a 10-5 deficit and lose.
LSU threatened to storm back in the bottom of the seventh when Wildcat pitching hit batters around an Edward Yamin single to load the bases with no one out for the top of the Tiger lineup. Jean Carlos Zambrano came out of the bullpen to fan Steven Milam, Jake Brown and John Pearson with legitimately good offspeed stuff. Milam and Brown whiffed straight changeups. Pearson waved at a 3-2 slider away.
That was the ball game.
Mason Braun’s 4-6-3 double play ball an inning later with two on and one out just cemented that.
Zambrano was running on fumes in the ninth when he hit Yamin and walked Brown. Pearson reached on an error that extended the game and brought Curiel to the plate as the tying run. He bounced to second.
Bethune Cookman is far and away the class of the SWAC. They’re going to win that league going away and are likely going to be a four seed in the NCAA Tournament. They played a damn good ball game. Their hits were not cheap. Their defense was mostly solid. They made late pitches to seal the deal.
It’s not about Bethune Cookman. It’s about a Tiger pitching staff that cannot navigate these midweek games without the weekend rotation or Gavin Guidry and Zac Cowan. The free bases are beyond ridiculous. LSU hit four Wildcat batters, three scored. The Wildcats collecting 12 hits and six free bases in an indictment on LSU’s pitching depth or lack thereof.
Mavrick Rizy has now allowed 21 free baserunners in 17.1 innings.
The defense was just as bad. Dardar may have been shielded by the umpire on his error, but the ball has to be kept in the infield. He also threw wide of home plate on a relay from leftcenter than could have cut down a run. A botched pickoff play accounted for the second error of the game.
Marcos Paz retired the side in the first on five pitches. He couldn’t get out of the second as Bethune Cookman answered an LSU first-inning two spot with three runs on six hits. Only one of them was cheap.
Jorge Rodriguez launched a two-out solo homer off Zion Theophilus in the fourth to tie the game at four.
There were positives from the LSU offense.
Jake Brown hit a missile of an RBI single off the wall in right in the second and blasted a towering homer into the seats in right which gave LSU a 6-5 lead in the sixth.
Curiel smoked a pair of RBI singles. Cade Arrambide missed a homer by three feet to dead center. It was a double. He also hit a laser of a single to left.
None of that is material as the Tigers left 15 men on base and lost the game. This is going to be another bad RPI hit. Despite Bethune Cookman’s record, their strength of schedule is so bad that their RPI will be an anchor on LSU when you pair it with multiple losses to Sacramento State, Northeastern and Nicholls.
LSU will head to Oxford with the wind out of its sails after a great finish to the weekend in Knoxville.
THE SCORECARD
Bethune Cookman outhit LSU 12-10.
Every Bethune Cookman starter had at least one base hit.
With Runners On: BCU 8-for-19 (.421); LSU 7-for-30 (.233)
With RISP: BCU 6-for-15 (.400); LSU 4-for-19 (.211)
Derek Curiel: 3-for-6, 2 RBI, R
Cade Arrambide: 3-for-5, 2B, RBI
WHAT’S NEXT
LSU heads to Oxford to take on Ole Miss beginning Friday to Swayze Field. The Rebels bet Florida 2-of-3 in Gainesville last weekend and are 5-7 in SEC play.
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