GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU played its first NCAA postseason baseball game in 1975 – nine years before coach Skip Bertman arrived in Baton Rouge and made June in Alex Box Stadium as routine as afternoon thunderstorms.
The Tigers are 179-75 all-time in NCAA postseason with 19 trips to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, since 1986 and seven national championships since 1991.
LSU SLIPS ON A LITTLE ROCK AND IS STARING DOWN A CLIFF NOW
Of those 75 losses, only once did LSU fall to a team with a losing record in the postseason. That was on Sunday, June 1, 2025, at Alex Box Stadium – 10-4 to little Arkansas-Little Rock, which improved to 27-33 on the season after an 8-16 finish in the Ohio Valley Conference for ninth place. The Rock rolled into Baton Rouge last week with a No. 243 ranking in the Ratings Percentage Index out of 307 teams.
It was also the Tigers’ first loss to the worst seed of an NCAA Regional in history as the Trojans were a No. 4 seed in the four-team tournament, a format that began in 1999 with the Super Regional round. LSU’s previous only loss to a 4 seed in the Regional round was to Ohio State, 5-0, in 1992 when the NCAA used a six-team format.
LSU also lost twice to 4 seed Stony Brook in 2012, but that was in the best-of-three Super Regional.
Ohio State was a very good team in 1992, despite its seeding. It finished 40-21 and won the Big Ten at 20-8. The Buckeyes reached the Regional title game at Alex Box in ’92 before losing to Cal State Fullerton. Stony Brook was also very good in 2012, finishing 52-15 and 21-3 in the America East Conference after going 0-for-2 in Omaha.
LSU TOYED WITH LITTLE ROCK ON FRIDAY
Arkansas-Little Rock is not a good team. It may be hot, having won eight of its last nine. But it’s not a good team. The Trojans lost 13 of 14 games between April 19 and May 17 before winning five straight at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament to get to Baton Rouge and win three games in two days after losing to LSU, 7-0, on Friday.
Arkansas-Little Rock is clearly the worst team LSU has ever lost to out of those 75 losses in NCAA postseason play.
And if the No. 6 national seeded Tigers (45-15, 19-11 SEC for third) lose again to Little Rock, this one will be doubly worse because it will eliminate LSU from the postseason. Therefore, it will easily become LSU’s new worst NCAA loss ever and most embarrassing loss in NCAA postseason history.
The Trojans have seven double-digit losses on their resume’ this season, including 21-2 to Murray State, 19-0 and 14-4 to Southeast Missouri just a couple weeks ago on May 15 and 17, 14-2 to a school called Lindenwood and 10-0 to Southern Indiana.
“They’re a hot team,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “They’ve been playing well here for the past two weeks.”
So true. The Rock has won eight games since May 21. Little just won eight in its league from March 21 through May 17.
“Man, we went into the tournament as the eighth seed, dropped 13 or 14 out of our last 15 games,” said Angel Cano, who bedeviled an LSU pitching staff that Johnson just last week called “one of the best in the country.” Cano hit a two-run home run off starter Jaden Noot in the second inning Sunday to cut LSU’s lead to 3-2, then popped a three-run double off Chase Shores in a four-run third for a 6-3 lead.
Cano, a junior from Cartagena, Colombia in South America via Western Oklahoma State, is hitting a whopping .533 (8-for-15) in the Trojans’ last three games with a three-run home run, a two-run home and a two-run home run, respectively, 14 RBIs and a double in each game.
He was 4-for-6 with seven RBIs in a 22-10 win over Rhode Island on Saturday. He was 2-for-4 with two RBIs in an 8-6 win over Dallas Baptist on Sunday afternoon and 2-for-5 with five RBIs against LSU on Sunday night.
Can Cano say Transfer Portal?
He adjusted well to the upper 90s and 100 mph pitching of Noot and Shores quite well – SEC recruiters.
“Obviously, the speed is high,” he said. “They’re providing the speed, so you stay short through it. Those guys are probably going to play pro ball – great pitchers.”
Obviously, the pressure will be immense on Johnson and his team tonight, especially him, whether he wants to discuss it or not.
You think big time College World Series pairings like LSU-Florida and LSU-Wake Forest and LSU-Tennessee were pressure-packed two years ago? Not like tonight. Any coach could be on the losing end of those three type games in Omaha, and not deal with it for the rest of his life quite the way a Little Rock loss tonight could fester.
You lose a big game like a NCAA Regional final to a Little team, and you’ll never forget it.
“Yeah, it’s a special day in life tomorrow,” Johnson said in the wee hours of Monday morning.
No, he needs for tonight to be just a regular game where LSU pounds an Arkansas-Little Rock from the outset and wins by double digits, goes on to the Super Regional round and hosts West Virginia, and nobody remembers Sunday night’s game. 10-4?
“I’m excited about tomorrow,” Johnson said.
In truth, Johnson may be more nervous about tonight than any game he has ever coached.
Meanwhile, Arkansas-Little Rock coach Chris Curry and Angel Cano are having the times of their lives.
“They’re playing with no fear, no worries, no pressure, and we have been for weeks now,” Curry said.
And that’s dangerous for their opponent – a team with suddenly a lot of worries and pressure.
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