Tag: Josh Pearson

LSU baseball gets back in the win column against Vanderbilt in Game 1

LSU entered this week needing to bounce back in a big way. It did just that with a 10-6 win over No. 6 Vanderbilt on Thursday night.

LSU entered this week needing to bounce back in a big way. LSU did just that with a 10-6 win over No. 6 Vanderbilt on Thursday night.

The Tigers were dominated by Southern on Monday and were swept by Arkansas in their latest SEC series. No. 6 Vanderbilt strolled into Baton Rouge looking to add insult to injury.

LSU got on the board first in the bottom of the third inning as [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] hit a solo homer, [autotag]Paxton Kling[/autotag] scored on a fielder’s choice, [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] hit an RBI single, [autotag]Brady Neal[/autotag] hit a two-RBI single, and Neal scored on an RBI groundout to give LSU a 6-0 lead early in the game.

In the bottom of the fourth inning [autotag]Mac Bingham[/autotag] hit a solo homer and [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] hit a two-RBI double to give LSU a 9-0 lead.

In the top of the fifth inning, Vandy finally got on the board as they plated four runs against [autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] to cut the lead to 9-4. In the top of the sixth inning, the Commodores scored two more runs to cut the lead to 9-6.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, [autotag]Jared Jones[/autotag] singled to center and Bingham scored due to a throwing error to increase the lead to 10-6. [autotag]Griffin Herring[/autotag] remained in the game to pitch the top of the ninth inning, he retired the Commodores to secure the 10-6 victory.

Game 2 of the series will be Friday night at 7 p.m. CT.

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What is wrong with LSU baseball?

The 2024 season has not gotten off to the best start for the Tigers.

The 2024 season has not gotten off to the best start for the LSU baseball team. After three conference series, the Tigers are 20-9 overall and 2-7 in conference play and have lost all three series. The Tigers dropped series to Mississippi State and Florida 2-1 and then got swept by Arkansas last weekend.

So, what is going on with this team? For one, let’s rewind to the 2023 season. [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] and the LSU Tigers had the two best players in college baseball on their team, [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] and [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag]. The No. 1 and No. 2 overall draft picks in the 2023 MLB draft.

Along with that, the team had [autotag]Tre Morgan[/autotag], [autotag]Gavin Dugas[/autotag], [autotag]Jordan Thompson[/autotag], [autotag]Brayden Jobert[/autotag], [autotag]Cade Beloso[/autotag] and [autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag]. That equates to two out of three starting pitchers, first and second base, shortstop, designated hitter, and two of the three outfield spots. One outfield spot ([autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag]), one starting pitcher ([autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag]), and two catchers ([autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] and [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag]) were all that remained from last year’s starting lineup.

Replacing six hitters in your starting lineup and two of your starting pitchers is not an easy task. Johnson had to hit the recruiting trail hard for high school kids and players in the transfer portal. He did a great job of rebuilding the team, but some players you just can’t replace. There is no replacement for those guys.

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at some stats so far. LSU is in the middle of the road for most hitting statistics in the conference. The Tigers are seventh in the conference in batting average, on-base percentage, and hits, eighth in slugging percentage, doubles, and triples. The biggest issue for LSU on the offensive side is that we are ranked 11th out of 14 in RBI and runs scored. LSU is not hitting the long ball as well either as the Tigers rank ninth in that stat.

Three more interesting offensive stats, LSU ranks first in the conference in double plays and caught stealing. First in those areas is not a good thing. That means you have hit the most double plays and been caught stealing the most. [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] leads the conference in double plays. He has hit into eight of them. That’s three more than the next closest player.

Now, let’s look at the Tigers’ performance on the mound. [autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] is the silver lining of this pitching staff. Without him, you would not want to see any of these numbers. Holman has the second-lowest ERA (1.38), second-highest strikeouts (61), and fourth-lowest opponent batting average (.173). Why am I singling him out? Because if you take him out of the equation, LSU does not have another pitcher in the top 15 of the conference.

LSU has the MOST walks in the SEC (131) and the second most wild pitches in the SEC (28). [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] is tied for the most losses in the conference with four and three LSU pitchers are tied for sixth in the conference in wild pitches with four. ([autotag]Kade Anderson[/autotag], [autotag]Gage Jump[/autotag] and Hurd)

LSU is sixth in the conference in fielding percentage but [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] is tied for first for the most errors in the conference with seven. Those numbers will not get the job done, especially in conference play.

LSU will play Southern at home on Monday before hosting Vanderbilt this weekend.

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LSU baseball drops series to Arkansas after extra-innings loss in Game 2

The Tigers didn’t get the job done in exras as Arkansas walked it off to win 4-3.

LSU entered game two against the Arkansas Razorbacks looking to even the series at one apiece. They didn’t get the job done as Arkansas walked it off in extra innings to win 4-3.

LSU scored the first runs of the game in the top of the third inning when [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] hit a two-RBI single to give LSU a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Razorbacks scored three runs on [autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] to take their first lead at 3-2. Holman got the start on the Tigers’ mound but was pulled from the game after 4.1 innings. He gave up three runs on five hits, five strikeouts, and five walks. Griffin Herring entered the game to get the Tigers out of a jam in the fifth inning.

In the top of the sixth inning, Ashton Larson hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to tie the game up at 3-3. Unfortunately, a double play happened right after that to prevent LSU from scoring any more runs.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Hogs had runners on the corner with only one out. [autotag]Jared Jones[/autotag] made a play reminiscent of what Tre Morgan did against Wake Forest in Omaha. He charged a bunt attempt and threw the runner out at home to keep the game tied at 3-3.

The game remained tied as we headed to the bottom of the ninth inning. Herring remained on the mound for LSU. The first batter of the inning led off with a double. The Hogs had the winning run in scoring position with nobody out but Herring retired three in a row to send us to extra innings.

[autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] entered the game in the bottom of the 10th inning for the Tigers. After Hurd struck out the first hitter of the inning, the second hitter reached on an error by [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag]. The third hitter of the inning hit a walk-off RBI double to win the game for Arkansas 4-3.

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Instant Analysis: LSU baseball gets back in the win column against Southeastern Louisiana

After losing two out of three games to Florida last weekend, the LSU Tigers needed a pick-me-up.

After losing two out of three games to Florida last weekend, the LSU Tigers needed a pick-me-up. They got that with an 8-4 win over Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday night.

LSU scored first in the bottom of the first inning when [autotag]Brady Neal[/autotag] scored on an RBI single by [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] to make it 1-0 Tigers.

In the top of the second inning, SLU took the lead by scoring two runs against [autotag]Sam Dutton[/autotag] to chase him from the game. In the bottom of the inning, LSU took the lead back as the Tigers put up four runs. [autotag]Mac Bingham[/autotag] hit a solo homer, [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] scored on an RBI groundout, and White hit a two-run homer to give LSU a 6-2 lead.

 

In the bottom of the seventh inning, LSU scored three more runs as [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] hit a two-run homer and [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] scored on a fielder’s choice to make the score 8-2 LSU.

In the top of the eighth inning, Southeastern hit a solo shot in the eighth and ninth innings to cut the lead to 8-4 but that was as close as they could get. LSU will now prepare to travel to Fayetteville to take on the No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks this weekend.

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Instant Analysis: Gators run-rule LSU baseball in Game 3 to take the series

This game got out of hand late, and Jay Johnson was thrown out as Florida took Game 3 12-2 to win the series.

After a heartbreaking loss last night against the Gators, LSU looked to bounce back in the Sunday Gold uniforms. This game got out of hand late and [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] was thrown out as Florida took Game 3 12-2 in eight innings to win the series.

LSU scored first in the bottom of the fourth inning when [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] scored due to an error made by the left fielder to make it 1-0 LSU.

In the top of the fifth inning, the Gators onslaught began. Two two-run homers and a two-RBI double led to a 6-1 Florida lead as [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] was pulled from the game.

In the bottom of the inning, LSU got one of those runes back via a Jared Jones solo shot to cut the lead to 6-2.

After the homer by Jones, some words were exchanged between the Gators’ first baseman and Jones which led to warnings for both teams. [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] struck out to end the inning and apparently, he heard something else he didn’t like. He came out of the dugout and proceeded to get tossed from the game.

Florida would go on to score two more runs in the top of the sixth and four runs in the top of the eighth to extend their lead to 12-2. LSU failed to score in the bottom of the eighth and the Tigers lost via run rule.

That’s two straight SEC series losses for LSU as their record drops to 19-5. The next game will be against Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT.

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Stellar pitching leads LSU baseball to a win in Game 1 over Florida

LSU took Game 1 against Florida with a 6-1 victory.

LSU took Game 1 against Florida with a 6-1 victory.

[autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] got the start on the mound for the Tigers and unlike last week, he was phenomenal. He finished the night with six innings pitched. He allowed one run on one hit, 13 strikeouts, and three walks.

The Tigers got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning as LSU took a two-run lead thanks to a [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] RBI single and an [autotag]Ethan Frey[/autotag] RBI single.

The game went quiet until the top of the fourth inning when the Gators got on the board with a solo homer. That was Florida’s only hit and only run against Holman all night.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, LSU got some insurance runs as [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] walked with the bases loaded, [autotag]Paxton Kling[/autotag] hit a sacrifice fly, and [autotag]Mac Bingham[/autotag] hit an RBI single to give the Tigers a 5-1 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Bingham hit an RBI double to extend the lead to 6-1 as we headed into the ninth inning.

In the top of the ninth inning, Griffin Herring remained on the mound and got the Tigers through the inning unscathed. Herring entered to pitch after Holman and he finished the game after pitching three full innings and allowing zero runs on three hits and three strikeouts.

Game 2 of the series will be Saturday at 6 p.m. CT.

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Instant Analysis: LSU baseball takes care of business against Louisiana Tech

The LSU bats were on fire as the Tigers run-ruled the Bulldogs 11-1 in eight innings.

The LSU bats were on fire as the Tigers run-ruled the Louisiana tech Bulldogs 11-1 in eight innings.

The LSU bats wasted no time getting a strong lead against Louisiana Tech. The Tigers scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning as [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] hit an RBI single, [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] hit an RBI single, [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] hit a two-RBI single, and Pearson stole home to give LSU a 5-0 lead.

The Bulldogs scored a run in the top of the second inning but LSU got that run back plus one more in the bottom of the second [autotag]Jared Jones[/autotag] hit a two-RBI homer to increase the lead to 7-1.

LSU then scored one run in the bottom of the third, fourth, sixth, and seventh inning to give the Tigers an 11-1 run-rule victory over Louisiana Tech.

LSU welcomes the Florida Gators into Baton Rouge for a weekend national championship rematch. The Gators will enter the weekend series as a top-10 team.

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Instant Analysis: Mississippi State shows LSU the error of its ways in series-opening loss on Friday

Luke Holman entered the first game of this series with a 2-0 record and a 0.00 ERA. After Friday, that is no longer the case.

Conference play did not start the way LSU wanted it to as the Tigers lost Game 1 to Mississippi State 10-4.

[autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] entered the first game of this series with a 2-0 record and a 0.00 ERA. After tonight, that is no longer the case. State scored first in the bottom of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead early.

LSU then took the lead in the top of the third inning when [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] hit a solo homer and [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] hit a two-run shot to right to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the wheels fell off for the Tigers. The Bulldogs scored three runs, two of which were unearned, to give themselves a 4-3 lead and chase Holman from the mound. Holman’s final line was 4.2 innings pitched and he gave up 10 hits, five runs (two earned), three strikeouts, and one walk.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, State scored again on an RBI single. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Bulldogs hit a three-run homer against [autotag]Justin Loer[/autotag] to extend their lead to 9-3 and an RBI single extended the lead to 10-3.

In the top of the ninth inning, [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] scored on an RBI groundout to cut the lead to 10-4. That was all LSU could manage and that was the final score. Game 2 will be Saturday at 4 p.m. CT.

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Instant Analysis: LSU crowned the champions of the Astros Foundation Classic with Sunday win over Texas State

LSU joins Vanderbilt as the only other team to go 3-0 at the Astros Foundation Classic.

LSU took on Texas State in a battle of two teams who came into the game undefeated at the [autotag]Astros Foundation Classic[/autotag]. Texas State knocked off Houston and Texas while LSU knocked off Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette. Both teams entered the game looking to leave as one of the only two teams to go 3-0 on the weekend.

[autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] got the start on the mound for the Tigers and he had a quality start. He went five innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits, five strikeouts, and one walk. Hurd was the first LSU starter to give up an earned run during the Classic.

[autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] got the Tigers on the board first with a solo shot in the bottom of the third inning to give LSU a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Tigers tacked on five runs as [autotag]Jake Brown[/autotag] hit an RBI double, [autotag]Paxton Kling[/autotag] had a two-RBI single, [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] had an RBI single, and [autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] got an RBI on a fielder’s choice to make the score 6-0 LSU.

In the top of the fifth inning, Hurd looked like he would escape the inning unscathed until a ball caromed off of [autotag]Michael Braswell[/autotag]’s glove into left field resulting in a run. After that, a throwing error by Braswell resulted in two more runs scoring for the Bobcats to cut the lead to 6-3.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, LSU got two of those three runs back. Travinski hit an RBI double and [autotag]Stephen Milam[/autotag] hit an RBI double to extend the LSU lead to 8-3.

[autotag]Javen Coleman[/autotag] entered to pitch for LSU in the top of the seventh after [autotag]Christian Little[/autotag] got the Tigers through the sixth unscathed. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Milam hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 9-3. [autotag]Ashton Larson[/autotag] then entered to pinch hit for LSU and he hit an RBI single to make it 10-3 Tigers.

With the bases loaded in the top of the ninth inning, [autotag]DJ Primeaux[/autotag] came into the game to try to get the last out of the evening. DJ was met with a two-RBI single to cut the lead to 10-5 and [autotag]Gavin Guidry[/autotag] would get the call out of the bullpen.

With the win, LSU moves to 11-1 on the season. LSU was crowned the champions of the Astros Foundation College Classic tournament after going undefeated and putting up a better run differential than Vanderbilt, who also finished the tourney 3-0. The Tigers will be back in action on Wednesday against Southeastern Louisiana.

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Luke Holman gets LSU back in the win column against Northern Illinois

Luke Holman made his second start of the season and he pitched a masterclass as he got LSU back in the win column.

[autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] made his second start of the season and he pitched a masterclass as he got LSU back in the win column with a 5-2 victory over Northern Illinois on Saturday. Holman pitched seven innings and allowed zero runs on two hits, eight strikeouts and no walks.

LSU scored first in this one as [autotag]Mac Bingham[/autotag] had an RBI groundout and [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] was walked with the bases loaded to give LSU a 2-0 lead after two innings. In the bottom of the fourth inning, LSU scored three more runs as Bingham hit a two-run homer to left field and Pearson followed it with an RBI single to give LSU a 5-0 lead.

After that, the LSU bats went as cold as ice. The Tigers only managed three hits against Northern Illinois as Bingham, [autotag]Paxton Kling[/autotag], and Pearson were the only Tigers that got a hit. After Holman left the game, [autotag]Christian Little[/autotag] came in for the eighth inning. Little allowed zero runs on zero hits, two strikeouts, and a walk as he maintained the 5-0 LSU lead.

In the top of the ninth inning, things got interesting. [autotag]Justin Loer[/autotag] entered the game on the mound and Northern Illinois teed off on him. The Huskies scored two runs on two hits as they chased Loer from the mound. [autotag]Gavin Guidry[/autotag] came in after Loer and shut Northern Illinois down to secure the 5-2 victory for LSU.

With the win, LSU moves to 6-1 this season. The Tigers will get a shot at revenge against Stony Brook on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT