LSU Blows Game 3, Loses Series to Oklahoma

Last night I went with my wife and friends to go see Project Hail Mary, so I saw very little of LSU’s jam-packed Friday night. I saw just a few minutes of the women’s basketball team dominant win over Jacksonville to open up their NCAA Tournament run, and I didn’t see a single pitch from LSU’s game two loss to Oklahoma. After this afternoon, I wish I had gone back and watched Project Hail Mary again.

LSU (16-9, 2-4) gagged away the rubber match against #8 Oklahoma (19-5, 4-2) to drop a second straight SEC series, and third consecutive weekend overall. LSU led 3-1, but gave up three eighth inning runs to lose 4-3. LSU’s inability to play complimentary baseball showed up once again and it cost them yet another SEC series.

On a day where the pitching was more than good enough to win, the Tiger bats only produced four hits, and Jack Ruckert committed an eighth-inning error that would have ended the frame with LSU’s lead intact; instead Oklahoma was able to capitalize off the mistake, tie the game, and then push across the go-ahead run one batter later. William Schmidt got the start and while his numbers were good enough (six hits, seven strikeouts, and just one run) he wasn’t efficient. Schmidt threw 90 pitches, but only got through four innings.

Since Schmidt couldn’t give LSU more length, Jay Johnson had to lean on his bullpen and I think he rode Gavin Guidry too long. Guidry was awesome coming out of the pen. He escaped two different situations with multiple runners on— one in the fifth, and one in the seventh.