The worst LSU baseball season since Skip Bertman arrived concluded late Wednesday night with a 3-1 loss to 6th-ranked Auburn.
The final record is not pretty. 30-28 overall, and when you include the two SEC Tournament games, the Tigers’ league record was 10-22.
LSU baseball failed to beat an SEC team with a winning record in league play.
How it happened: Auburn entered the SEC Tournament with the best team ERA in the conference at 3.60. LSU experienced that firsthand as the Bayou Bengals had four hits.
Auburn ace Jake Marciano had been struggling in his last few starts, but he was really good on Wednesday, allowing one run in five innings.
Jackson Sanders threw four scoreless innings for his fourth save.
It’s the 31st game that Auburn won by holding the opponent to 31 runs or fewer.
Projected first-round pick Derek Curiel had two hits and reached on a walk. His lead-off double in the 4th inning led to the lone run on the night.
LSU was without Omar Serna, who missed the game, after his hand was cut up from sliding into home on Tuesday night.
Go-ahead run scores on an error: It’s appropriate that a bad team defensively allowed the go-ahead run to cross the plate on a throwing error, and with two outs in the inning.
It was a ground ball up the middle that freshman Jack Ruckert fielded in front of second base. He tried to throw out a runner who just rounded third base, but his throw was wild, and the runner came home to give Auburn a 2-1 lead.
What’s next? A whole lot of work. The evaluation on went wrong has already started, and a lot of changes will happen behind the scenes.
I’m not expecting any major changes with the coaching staff, as this group just won a national championship a season ago.
But they will take a different approach to how they evaluate players in the transfer portal. Look for LSU to sign more players from Power 4 schools.
Also, developing the returning players, especially the pitchers, will be critical for this team to return to national prominence.
A very disappointing season comes to an end, but at least it’s over, and Coach Jay Johnson will work day and night to make sure the Tigers are never in this position again.