GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson criticized his team without naming it or any of his players after the Tigers lost a three-game series at unranked Texas A&M because of a 6-4 loss on Sunday. LSU lost 3-1 Saturday and won 2-1 in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday night.
LSU BULLPEN LOSES SERIES FINALE AT TEXAS A&M
On the weekend, LSU hit just .214, going 21-for-98 at the plate, including 7-for-33 with runners on base, and couldn’t even crack double-digit runs over three games.
“You win when your best players play well,” he said. “And that’s what happened for them (the Aggies) today.”
Some of LSU’s best players all season did not show up in College Station as the No. 2 Tigers (38-11, 15-9 Southeastern Conference) dropped from No. 2 to No. 6 on Monday in the Baseball America poll and from No. 2 to No. 4 in the USA Today poll. The Tigers dropped just one spot in the Ratings Percentage Index rankings to No. 8.
-Derek Curiel, one of the Tigers’ best hitters all season who reached base in LSU’s first 43 games, went 0-for-5 in the opener with two strikeouts and finished 1-for-12 (.083) with zero walks and four strikeouts. The freshman from the Los Angeles area led LSU in hitting at .373 after the Tennessee series a week ago, but is now down to .361, which still leads the team.
-Daniel Dickinson, who has been one of the best transfers in the country, went 1-for-8 (.125) with three strikeouts and four walks after coming in hitting .337.
-Michael Braswell III went 1-for-11 (.090) with a walk and a strikeout. He came in hitting .302 in SEC games.
-Chris Stanfield went 2-for-10 (.200) with six strikeouts and one walk. He was hitting .352 in SEC games entering the series.
In addition, LSU’s two best relievers on the season – freshman Casan Evans and junior Zac Cowan – were not themselves.
Evans didn’t pitch poorly, but he had his worst game of the season, allowing three hits, an uncharacteristic three walks and an earned run in just three and a third innings. He came in with a 1.09 ERA that is now 1.24.
Cowan took both losses in just a third of an inning in each game as he allowed four runs on five hits in facing seven batters. He came in with a 1.12 ERA that is now 1.99.
“Zac is Trevor Hoffman to me,” Johnson said on Sunday of the former San Diego Padres closer who is the National League leader in career saves with 601 and had a 2.87 ERA over 18 seasons.
“He’s one of the most reliable guys you can have,” Johnson said of Cowan. “He’s been amazing for us all year long.”
He could say that about Curiel, Dickinson, Stanfield and Evans, as well, and about Braswell in recent weeks.
The above players will likely need to improve significantly if LSU is to win a three-game series this weekend at Alex Box Stadium against No. 2 Arkansas (40-9, 17-7 SEC), which just swept three over the weekend from Texas. And did it dominantly, 9-0, 6-1 and 13-8.
LSU hosts Grambling State (21-23, 16-8 Southwestern Athletic Conference) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday before the Arkansas series – 6:30 p.m. Friday (SEC Network+), 5:30 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network) and 3 p.m. Sunday (SEC Network).
Former LSU coach Skip Bertman will be signing copies of his book, “Everything Matters In Baseball” from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday at his statue in the front of Alex Box. It will be the last home regular season series of the season as the Tigers close the regular season at South Carolina on May 15-17.
“We want to play a little better with a competitive mindset,” Johnson said. “This team is capable of accomplishing a lot of things.”
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