LSU Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
A pair of flawed teams battled in Oxford on Friday.
LSU’s flaws shone through most notably, and the Rebels did some things they’ve struggled with all year.
Both starters overcame rough early innings to settle in. The bullpens battled. Ultimately LSU flinched as the Rebels notched three in the eighth to beat the Tigers, 6-3, in game one of a three-game set in Oxford.
LSU’s infield defense imploded, as it’s prone to do, in the bottom of the eighth to cost the Tigers the game.
Defensive replacement Ethan Clauss received an on target throw from Steven Milam at second and just didn’t have his foot on the base as he tried to turn a double play. Everyone was safe. Seth Dardar gloved a ball up the middle and fired wide of first to allowed Will Furniss to reach and load the bases with no one out.
The ball hadn’t left the infield.
Hayden Federico drove an RBI hit into the right field corner on a 3-2 changeup from Zac Cowan to give the Rebels a 4-3 lead. Then Clauss failed to glove a really good safety squeeze with one out to make it 5-3, and Will Furniss scored on a shallow sac fly to left to make it 6-3. Chris Stanfield’s throw was atrocious, 20 feet up the third base line.
LSU is a bad defensive team, and it was on full display there. Cowan threw the ball just fine.
The Tigers will regret stranded runners. Rebel starter Hunter Elliott has made a legendary Rebel career out of leaving them aboard.
LSU had runners on the corners with two out in the first. Cade Arrambide was back-picked at third on a simple pump fake and throw as Mason Braun stole second. That ended the inning
With Stanfield at third in the third, Derek Curiel bounced to second.
In the fourth, LSU had second and third with one out after a single and a double. Dardar struck out, and John Pearson followed suit. Dardar struck out again in the sixth with runners at second and third and one out in a 3-2 Rebel game.
With the bases loaded and one out in the seventh, down one, LSU only mustered one on a Curiel sac fly. Steven Milam flied to center to end the inning.
Jake Brown’s two-run homer in the first got LSU off to a good start. Casan Evans couldn’t make it stand up in the bottom half as Ole Miss struck for a pair of runs on four hits.
Evans settled in after the first. He allowed a leadoff homer to Owen Paino in the second and then faced the minimum over the next 13 hitters. He didn’t allow a hit to the last 16 Rebel hitters he faced.
It was a hotly contested game, but the problem is LSU has burned its best and perhaps only real bullpen bullet. And lost.
This was a really, really important game considering the pitching situations the rest of the way. LSU fell significantly short. Somehow the Tigers have to find a way to win a game in Oxford.
Both teams are now 6-7 in league play.
THE SCORECARD
With RISP: LSU 2-for-11 (.182); Ole Miss 4-for-7 (.571)
With Runners On: LSU 4-for-14 (.250); Ole Miss 6-for-14 (.429)
Casan Evans: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 107 pitches, 68 strikes
Ole Miss made three errors. LSU made one.
Both teams had nine hits.
LSU stranded eight to Ole Miss’s five.
Zac Cowan threw 32 pitches.
Mason Braun: 3-for-4, 2B
WHAT’S NEXT
LSU and Ole Miss play game two on Saturday at 4:00. The Rebels send their best arm to the mound in Cade Townsend. LSU will counter with William Schmidt who is facing the most important outing of his young career.
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