By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
With ace Casan Evans on the mound and seven runs from the Tigers by the fifth inning, the formula for an LSU win should have been percolating at Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference opener in Nashville Friday night.
But the No. 13 Tigers were down 10-7 at the time in the fifth through the seventh as Evans and two “high leverage” relievers behind him looked more like mid-week experiments.
LSU scored five in the eighth to take a 12-10 lead, only to see stud closer Gavin Guidry lose it in the ninth on a two-run, walk-off home run to clean-up hitter Logan Johnstone, 13-12.
Just when the formerly slumping LSU offense put up a robust 12 runs on 13 hits with three doubles and a three-run home run by Jake Brown for a 4-2 lead in the second, LSU’s pitching slumped, solidified and bombed.
The Will Wade Train could soon be LSU bound as members of his posse from McNeese State and Lake Charles keep circling LSU. ANALYSIS:https://t.co/7R3RHeAkKg
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) March 13, 2026
Evans was uncharacteristically wild, walking five batters and hitting another one while allowing five hits and six earned runs over three innings. And he is off to a sophomore-jinx-type start at 1-0 with a 6.45 earned run average and 12 walks in five appearances. He was 5-1 with a 2.05 ERA last season with seven saves and 19 walks in 19 appearances.
“I think you have to be willing to invest in a way that it’s going to hurt really bad when something like that happens,” LSU coach Jay Johnson.
In other words, that loss better hurt and be deposited in the memory tank.
The Tigers (13-6, 0-1 SEC) and Vanderbilt (11-7, 1-0 SEC) meet at 7 p.m. Saturday in game two of the series on the SEC Network.
LSU will start junior Cooper Moore (3-1, 2.25 ERA, 31 strikeouts, 24 innings) against 6-foot-6 freshman Wyatt Nadeau (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 15 strikeouts, 11 innings). Nadeau is not Vanderbilt’s regular No. 2 starter. That is sophomore Austin Nye (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 13 strikeouts, 10 innings), but he has an injury.
“Like, he’s the best coach since Skip Bertman in college baseball, in my opinion.”
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) March 12, 2026
-Jay Johnson on Tim Corbin, whom Skip once interviewed to be LSU’s coach.https://t.co/WjBStG6EjG
Johnson hopes the offense carries over.
“I was proud of our team for the way we fought back after falling behind, and I think we’re a much better team now than we were at the beginning of this week,” he said. “It was an unbelievable effort by our offense and our position players. We were down 10-4, and they came back to give us a two-run lead in the ninth.”
Not so much for the pitchers.
Sophomore left-hander Cooper Williams struggled mightily when he replaced Evans in the fourth after Evans gave up a lead-off home run to Braden Holcomb to put the Commodores up 6-4. Williams did not record an out, walked four and allowed four earned runs. He threw 23 pitches – 16 were balls. Jaden Noot replaced him and threw 23 pitches, and 11 were balls as he walked two and allowed a hit.
Finally, senior Zac Cowan restored order over three and a third innings. LSU’s first three pitchers walked 11 in the first four innings. Then Cowan returned to his 2025 form when he was 3-3 with a 2.94 ERA and six saves. Cowan allowed one hit, no runs and walked no one with five strikeouts to keep LSU in the game as the Tigers came back to take the lead.
“He was spectacular,” Johnson said. “That was an outing we saw on a regular basis last year.”
Guidry’s mistake before the grand slam was the lead-off single he gave up to pinch-hitter Tommy Goodin.
“You’ve got to take care of that guy,” Johnson said.
That hit got Vanderbilt to the top of the order, and Rustan Rigdon singled. They got to second and third on catcher Cade Arrambide’s fourth passed ball of the season. Brodie Johnston’s sacrifice fly cut LSU’s lead to 12-11. But Guidry struck out Holcomb – Vanderbilt’s No. 3 hitter with 12 home runs – looking for the second out.
After one strike, Johnstone ended it with the two-run walk-off homer off a curve that Guidry left over the heart of the plate.
“He just missed up,” Johnson said of Guidry (3-2, 4.20 ERA, 1 save), who took the loss. “And it was a great swing right there.”
Be the first to comment