By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
The LSU baseball team continues to flirt with a disastrous season.
The Tigers lost the opener of their Southeastern Conference series to No. 19 Kentucky, 7-4, on Friday night at Alex Box Stadium, dropping to 2-5 in the league. LSU (17-10) has already lost its first two SEC series of the season and has lost three straight league games at home.
And the schedule gets more difficult over the next two weeks as the Tigers play at No. 25 RPI Tennessee next weekend and at No. 7 RPI Ole Miss the following weekend.
Kentucky improved to 21-4 and 5-2 in the SEC.
LSU found itself down 4-0 after two innings, even though starter Casan Evans had allowed only two hits. The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in the first without a hit, but Evans gave up a walk and hit a batter before a double play. Then he let the run score on a wild pitch.
Who says NCAA prison doesn’t rehabilitate inmates?
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“I’ll try to follow more rules this time.” … ex-serial cheater Will Wade after getting old job back at LSU, which fired him 4 years ago this month.https://t.co/BFM6kkllP7
Kentucky scored three in the second inning for the 4-0 lead on three walks and two hits off Evans. Jayce Tharnish delivered an RBI single, Tyler Bell walked with the bases loaded and Hudson Brown hit a sacrifice fly.
Evans lasted six innings, allowing four runs on four hits with six walks and two hit batsmen and the wild pitch. He took the loss to fall to 2-1.
Kentucky ace Jaxon Jelkin handcuffed LSU’s offense over eight innings, holding the Tigers to five hits and two runs. He struck out seven and walked one in improving to 6-0. He threw 114 pitches with 80 for strikes.
Sophomore right-hander William Schmidt (3-1, 3.00 ERA) will start Saturday’s 2 p.m. game (SEC Network+) against Kentucky sophomore right-hander Nate Harris (3-1, 4.97 ERA). The series finale is at noon on Sunday (SEC Network+).
The Tigers got to within 4-2 in the third off Jelkin, who loaded the bases by giving up a single to Chris Stanfield, hitting Steven Milam and walking Jake Brown. After Jelkin struck out Omar Serna Jr., Derek Curiel drove in two runs with a single before Zach Yorke grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
Kentucky made it 7-2 in the top of the seventh. Fresh reliever Ethan Plog ignited the rally by allowing a lead-off single to Luke Lawrence and walked Tyler Bell. After a strikeout, Plog gave up an RBI double to Ethan Hindle, and it was 5-2. A fielder’s choice grounder by Tagger Tyson made it 6-2, and Carson Hansen’s sacrifice fly gave the Wildcats their five-run lead.
LSU countered in the home seventh with a one-out double by Seth Darder, who reached third on a fly out to right by Mason Braun. But Stanfield grounded out to shortstop to end the threat.
The Tigers cut it to 7-4 in the bottom of the ninth off reliever Nile Adcock with two runs as Yorke singled and scored on Dardar’s third double of the night before an RBI groundout by pinch-hitter Ethan Clauss scored the second run. Tanner Reaves struck out to end the game.
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