LSU Baseball Is Back … And Just In Time After Overcoming Zach Bryan Concert And 7-0 Deficit | Glenn Guilbeau

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

What a difference a day, and a night, and a concert in Tiger Stadium can make.

Unranked and spiraling LSU came back from a 7-0 deficit in the third inning and 10-6 in the fifth for a rocking 17-10 win on 16 hits over No. 19 Kentucky to take its first Southeastern Conference of the series on Sunday afternoon in front of 11,010 at Alex Box Stadium.

LSU holds spring football game at Alex Box Stadium.https://t.co/kDQWrdVYPO

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) March 29, 2026

And suddenly the Tigers are breathing again at 19-10 overall and pushing .500 in the league at 4-5.

“That’s my team out there today,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said proudly and emphatically of the defending national champions. “That’s our program out there today.”

But for a while there Sunday at a very early noon first pitch in Alex Box Stadium, following the Zach Bryan concert across the street in Tiger Stadium, it looked like the Tigers left their game at the concert. Eyewitnesses placed several Tigers, who shall remain nameless, at the show, but it did end before midnight.

And not long after noon Sunday, LSU was down 7-0 in the top of the third.

“They didn’t show up ready to play today,” Johnson said, which was amazing, considering what was at stake and the fact that LSU was 9-10 since an 8-0 start after losing 7-4 to the Wildcats on Friday night. The Tigers won, 7-0, Saturday, but badly needed not to flip back with another loss on Sunday.

“We’ve had a hard time getting to the next thing, whether that’s game to game or whatever,” Johnson said. “And I was like, ‘Man, I guess everybody went to the concert last night and went to bed at 4 a.m. after doing God knows what. And they didn’t give a rear end about today.’ They needed something. Because I mean, they didn’t show up.”

Then something happened. LSU woke up in the third inning and scored six runs with four of those on a hangover-curing grand slam by John Pearson to cut Kentucky’s lead to 7-5. A Seth Dardar single then made it 7-6. The Wildcats (21-6, 5-4 SEC) punched back and took a 10-6 lead in the fifth before the Tigers scored four in the sixth, taking the lead for good at 11-10 on a three-run home run by Dardar.

“Those were the two biggest swings we had thsi year,” Johnson said of the Pearson and Dardar homers. “That was quite a day. That was quite a day. Proud of the fight. Boy we sure didn’t play well early in the game. But players made a decision how they wanted to it to go today, and they made it happen. Offensive breakthrough for our whole team today.”

Eight players recorded the 16 hits, and there were six extra-base hits with three home runs.

And not a moment too soon. LSU plays three of its next four series on the road, and it needed to be closer to .500 in the SEC than 3-6 and sniffing 2024 again when the Tigers had to rally just to finish 13-17 in the league.

“It was massive,” Derek Curiel said of Pearson’s grand slam. “That was the momentum and energy we needed. We were sick and tired. We were going to fight back. It was an attitude thing. Absolutely, the Tigers are back. And it’s a good thing. Because this last week, we knew the pressure was on. We knew we had to have a turning point at some point.”

LSU had lost three straight home SEC games before the win Saturday. Turning point is a football term, but it worked on this day.

Mark it down. On March 29, LSU turned the 2026 season around.

“We decided to do it now at the halfway point,” said Curiel, whose solo homer in the sixth cut it to 10-8. “We knew we needed to win this game. We needed to win this series, especially at home.”

And, no, Curiel said he did not go to the concert.

“We do have a curfew,” he added. “And that’s that.”

With the more difficult part of LSU’s schedule coming up at No. 25 RPI Tennessee and No. 7 RPI Ole Miss over the next two weekends before hosting No. 17 RPI Texas A&M, then at No. 10 RPI Mississippi State, LSU needed to make its 4-5 SEC-record-curfew.

“It was our day,” Johnson said. “I think they showed themselves what this is really about. SEC weekends, you’re forced into uncomfortable. You’re forced into frustration at times. If you don’t throw punches back, and I’m not talking about scoring runs. I’m talking about having your manhood challenged, and you don’t respond, you’re going to lose. And we’ve lost and haven’t responded that way. Today, you can’t ask for a better response.”

And with that, Johnson was off to watch Duke and UConn in the Elite Eight.

“They deserve a day off tomorrow,” Johnson said.

They’ll be sleeping in, especially those who made the concert.