By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Forget how bad a team Tulane is at 23-27 and 8-13 in the American Conference with a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) of No. 145.
Forget how bad a team South Carolina is at 22-27 and 7-17 in the Southeastern Conference with a 102 RPI.
And forget about Southeastern Louisiana’s No. 75 RPI at 30-19 overall and 18-9 in the Southland Conference.
LSU won its fifth straight game against those three with a 13-6 victory over Tulane on Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium after taking three from South Carolina over the weekend and beating Southeastern last week.
Considering the fact that LSU has losses this season to No. 193 RPI Bethune-Cookman, No. 167 McNeese State and two to No. 130 Sacramento State, those five wins are proof that LSU is playing better, period.
So, the Tigers (29-21, 9-15 SEC) will go to No. 5 Georgia (38-11, 18-6 SEC), which has a No. 16 RPI, as a much better team than it was just a month ago. LSU has committed only two errors over those last five games after committing seven in the three games before the streak. And Tiger pitching has allowed an average of 2.8 runs a game over those five after giving up 32 in LSU’s three losses at Mississippi State before the 5-0 run.
“We strung a lot of good at-bats together,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said after the win over Tulane. “The first inning (6 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks) was one of the best innings of the year offensively in terms of plate discipline, hard contact, execution, moving runners, two-strike hitting, taking walks. I mean, it was a clinic. It was good. It’s been good for a couple weeks now, and tonight was certainly good again.”
And it doesn’t matter who was pitching against LSU. Because LSU has often looked bad against the bad and the good this season. Now if it can up its game when the competition rises at Georgia, it has a chance.
LSU youth movement went Fab-U-Lously in nightcap for doubleheader sweep.https://t.co/1KDLWcrA9M
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) May 3, 2026
“Very pleased with the improvement that’s been made,” Johnson said. “Playing in the SEC, sometimes you’re going to take your lumps, and you’ve got to get some guys through that. And playing a lot of young players, we had to do that and working through some injuries. But I feel like we have a real identity right now.”
Yes, LSU is hitting, pitching and playing defense. At times during the mid-season and until only recently, it wasn’t hitting, pitching or playing defense. Or as Johnson said multiple times, they were just not playing the game right.
“I feel like we’re playing a very good brand of baseball and an aggressive brand of baseball now, an intelligent brand of baseball offensively,” Johnson said. “And we’re capitalizing often here over these last three weeks. I’m really happy to see it, and I think it’s going to give us a chance in these last six games.”
And suddenly, LSU is getting healthier. Third baseman John Pearson returned to the lineup on Tuesday for the first time since April 24 because of a hamstring. And he homered and drove in three runs. Seth Dardar has been gimpy for several weeks with an ankle injury, but he was 3-for-5 with two RBIs.
“John really put a charge in three baseballs tonight that was great to see,” Johnson said. “Good to have him back in there. This is probably the last baseball Seth is going to play, and I always like having seniors there at the end of the road because you get everything they got. He’s given us a jolt these last three games. Yeah, that’s good to see.”
Meanwhile, pitcher Zac Cowan has returned to his vintage 2025 form. If Casan Evans can do that after missing his last two starts with arm stiffness, LSU may just sneak into the NCAA postseason in the nick of time.
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