LSU Baseball Has To Turn Around Its Season Again To Avoid Sweep At Ole Miss Sunday

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

LSU has turned its baseball season around twice over the last two weekends, but it keeps turning back around.

That’s what has happened over the Tigers’ last three games – a 10-7 loss to No. 212 RPI Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday, then a 6-3 loss at No. 11 RPI Ole Miss on Friday and a whopping 12-2 destruction at the hands of the Rebels on Saturday. All that after LSU took two of three at Tennessee and seemingly turned its season around.

Is this just different? Ole Miss 10-run rules LSU to go to 2-0 against the Tigers since Lane Kiffin became football coach.https://t.co/D9jhK7rEpE

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) April 12, 2026

A win Sunday in the 1:30 p.m. series finale, though, will not be a turnaround as much as it will be a salvage stop. The Tigers (22-14, 6-8 Southeastern Conference) have fallen to a 74 RPI.

It will be up to LSU senior right-hander Grant Fontenot (0-0, 1.50 ERA) to try to stop the bleeding against sophomore right-hander Taylor Rabe (3-1, 3.20 ERA).

So a sweep at the hands of the Rebels Sunday will basically erase the two wins over Kentucky two weekends ago at home by 7-0 and 17-10 after losing the last two at home to Oklahoma and the opener against Kentucky before the series win at Tennessee. That 16-6 win in 12 innings in the finale on Sunday was supposed to be the watershed win.

But the Tigers continue to take one step up and two steps back. And a hot Texas A&M team will be in Baton Rouge next weekend. The No. 18 Aggies (27-7, 9-5 SEC) are fresh off 9-8 and 11-4 wins over No. 2 Texas with a 13 RPI.

“All you can do is stay positive,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said after the loss Saturday – fresh out of answers.

“They’re disappointed,” he said. “I’m sure a lot of guys, I hope, are feeling some pain from their performance.”

One of those may be starting pitcher William Schmidt, who struck out seven batters in his first three innings Saturday. But between and around those were two walks in the second and two more in the disastrous fourth around two wild pitches. Then he gave up a sacrifice fly, an RBI single, a two-run home run to Austin Fawley and a double, and he was gone.

Schmidt fell to 4-3 on the season after giving up four runs on three hits with four walks, which tends to negate the seven strikeouts. He threw 85 pitches with 35 balls in just three and two-thirds innings. And he is yet to see a seventh inning in five SEC starts this season.

“I thought his first inning was excellent,” Johnson said. “The third was excellent. I thought he grinded his way through the second inning.”

And you know the rest of the story.

LSU’s bullpen was a disaster as six pitchers gave up four more walks, six hits, another wild pitch and eight runs.

“They have an explosive offense,” Johnson said. “You can’t give them free bases. Because eventually, they’re going to homer. And they did.”

And free bases can eventually lead to sweeps.