Bulldogs complete dominant sweep of Tigers

Jonathan Mailhes

By Hunt Palmer

THE STORY

Those two teams aren’t equals.

LSU threw an early flurry of punches on Friday, but Georgia pummeled LSU into submission for the final two days and run-ruled LSU, 12-1, to sweep the series and essentially end LSU’s season.

The Bulldogs look ticketed for Omaha. LSU may post a historically bad SEC record.

Casan Evans made his return after two weeks down with arm discomfort. He navigated the first successfully but allowed four hits, two walks and hit a man in the second. That spotted Georgia a four-run lead. Evans threw 26 strikes and 30 balls after the two weeks off. He had his velocity early and struck out three of the five outs he recorded. He looked healthy which is as important as anything.

The Bulldogs, taking the field as newly crowned SEC champs, hardly showed signs of a hangover. They threw the throttle into overdrive and kept scoring.

Daniel Jackson flipped a homer over the short porch in right in the fourth to make it 6-1. Rylan Lujo’s RBI single made it 7-1. Lujo delivered the death blow in the fifth with a front-footed grand slam off Zac Cowan that made it 11-1.

LSU was going to have to hit with Georgia to stay in games, and the Tigers couldn’t. Kaden Aoki was excellent in a starting role for the Bulldogs. He fired five innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts. The biggest came of Cade Arrambide with the bases loaded and one out in the third. Steven Milam grounded to second to leave the bases loaded, and that was the last time LSU and Georgia felt close.

This loss ends LSU’s chances of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Even a sweep of Florida would put the Tigers at 12-18. Some miracle run to Sunday in Hoover probably isn’t enough with that. And let’s be honest, this pitching staff isn’t going to win five or six games in a row in Alabama.

This team crumbled against the upper crust of the SEC. That was on display this weekend against the league’s top team.