Tag: Thatcher Hurd

LSU baseball to face former pitching coach Wes Johnson in SEC Tournament

LSU will face a familiar foe at the SEC tournament on Tuesday.

When LSU opens the SEC baseball tournament against Georgia on Tuesday, a familiar face will be in the opposing dugout. The Bulldogs are led by former LSU pitching coach [autotag]Wes Johnson[/autotag], a key member of LSU’s national title staff in 2023.

Johnson was with LSU for just a year, but in that time, he built one of the best pitching staffs in the country, landing [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] and [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] from the transfer portal and developing [autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag] into a second-round pick.

Following the title run, Johnson was offered the head coaching position at Georgia, where he’s delivered an instant turnaround.

The Bulldogs were 11-19 in conference play in 2023, but in year one under Johnson, UGA went 17-13 in the SEC and 39-14 overall.

Johnson’s background is in pitching, but it’s the lineup that’s carried the Dawgs in 2024. Georgia leads the SEC in runs per game with 9.4 while Charlie Condon has put up video game numbers with 35 home runs and 219 total bases.

As for Johnson, much of LSU’s pitching staff is new, so his stint with the Tigers may not provide much-added advantage.

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LSU baseball falls in Game 3, misses out on sweep against No. 1 Texas A&M

LSU’s hopes of a sweep against the top team in the nation were dashed by a nine-run fifth inning from the Aggies.

After LSU baseball took the first two games of the series against No. 1 Texas A&M, the Aggies rallied to take Game 3 by a score of 14-4.

LSU scored first as [autotag]Brady Neal[/autotag] hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning to get the Tigers out to an early 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the third inning, [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] hit an RBI single to increase the LSU lead to 3-0.

In the top of the fifth inning, everything went south for LSU. The Aggies plated nine runs to take a 9-3 lead. Four runs were charged to [autotag]Sam Dutton[/autotag], three to [autotag]Justin Loer[/autotag] and two to [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag].

 

 

In the top of the ninth inning, the Aggies hit a grand slam and then a solo homer to increase their lead to 14-3. In the bottom of the ninth inning, [autotag]Paxton Kling[/autotag] hit an RBI single to cut the lead to 14-4 but that is all LSU could get.

LSU will be back in action on Tuesday night as the Tigers take on Northwestern State. With the wins this weekend, LSU has gone from a team on the verge of not making the SEC tournament to a team that is solidly in the tournament.

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LSU pitcher Nate Ackenhausen pulled in Game 2 against Auburn with hamstring injury

The good news is that the injury does not seem major.

LSU was facing Auburn in game two of the series Saturday night in Baton Rouge and the game was tied 2-2 as we headed into the top of the ninth inning. [autotag]Nate Ackenhausen[/autotag] was on the mound as he had pitched 1.1 and was hoping to end the game with a win.

After throwing a few warm-up pitches, Nate motioned to the dugout to ask head coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] to come visit him. Eventually, he was pulled from the game and [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] entered to pitch for him. After the game finished, Johnson was asked about pulling Ackenhausen from the game and about his status going forward.

Johnson said that Ackenhausen was pulled due to a hamstring injury. If you recall, Nate was sidelined for a little while last year with a hamstring injury as well. It appears he may have re-aggravated it tonight. The good news is that the injury does not seem major. Johnson said he believed Nate could have stayed in the game but he did not want to risk it.

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Josh Pearson walks it off as LSU baseball takes Game 2 against Auburn

LSU has now secured back-to-back SEC series wins.

LSU walked it off in the bottom of the ninth as the Tigers secure back-to-back conference series wins on Saturday night in a 3-2 win over Auburn.

[autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] got the start on the mound for LSU as the Tigers looked to win back-to-back conference baseball series. Auburn got the scoring started in the top of the third inning to take an early 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the third inning, LSU took their first lead of the game when [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] and [autotag]Jared Jones[/autotag] hit back-to-back solo shots to give LSU a 2-1 lead.

In the top of the fourth inning, Auburn tied the game as they scored a run on a wild pitch to make it 2-2. Holman was pulled from the game after 6.2 innings. Holman gave up only two hits and two runs (one earned run) as he struck out nine hitters and walked three over that span. It was a nice bounce-back game for him.

[autotag]Gavin Guidry[/autotag] entered to pitch after Holman. Guidry, [autotag]Nate Ackenhausen[/autotag], and [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] combined to give up zero runs over the last 2.1 innings of the game. In the bottom of the ninth, [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] hit an RBI single to center to walk it off as LSU won 3-2.

The final game of the series will start Sunday at 1 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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LSU baseball makes changes to the pitching rotation before matchup with Arkansas

Jay Johnson is changing things up on the mound ahead of a matchup against the top team in the nation.

This weekend, the LSU Tigers take a trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to take on the No. 1 team in the nation, the Arkansas Razorbacks.

LSU has lost back-to-back series to start the conference slate. The Tigers dropped two out of three games to Mississippi State and Florida. This weekend, the schedule is a little different. There will be no game on Sunday due to Easter. The series will be played on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

With these circumstances, [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] has decided to make some changes to the starting pitching rotation. For the last two weekends, the Tigers have gone with [autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] on Friday, [autotag]Gage Jump[/autotag] on Saturday, and [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] on Sunday. That won’t be the lineup this weekend.

Holman and Jump will both pitch on their normally scheduled days (Friday and Saturday) so they will be on full rest. As for Thursday, we do not know who is going to start for LSU. Hurd threw 90 pitches in Sunday’s loss to Florida so it will not be him.

The Tigers have a few options to go with but we will not know who it is until Johnson announces it before the first pitch.

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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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Starting pitching struggles for LSU baseball in series loss to Mississippi State

It was the first SEC series loss since last May, which also came against the Bulldogs.

As good as the LSU pitching was last weekend against Xavier, it was the polar opposite this weekend against Mississippi State. [autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag], [autotag]Gage Jump[/autotag] and [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] combined to give up 16 runs, 21 hits, nine strikeouts and seven walks in 13.1 innings. Only 13 of those runs were earned, making the weekend ERA of the starters 8.93.

[autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] finished Game 1 after pitching 4.2 innings and giving up 10 hits and five runs (two earned runs) as he struck out three hitters and walked one in the Friday night loss.

[autotag]Gage Jump[/autotag] finished Game 2 after only 3.2 innings and gave up four runs on four hits, three strikeouts and three walks. Even though LSU got out to a 9-1 lead, Mississippi State scored eight runs unanswered until [autotag]Nate Ackenhausen[/autotag] shut the door on them.

[autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] finished game three after five full innings. He gave up seven runs on seven hits, three strikeouts and three walks. He had a bad first inning where he gave up three runs and then a bad fifth inning where he gave up four runs. Two doubles, a three-run bomb and a solo shot chased him from the game.

It was the first SEC series loss since last May against guess who? Mississippi State.

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Instant Analysis: LSU baseball drops series, run-ruled by Mississippi State in Game 3

Mississippi State run-ruled LSU 15-5 in Game 3.

Mississippi State run-ruled LSU 15-5 in Game 3 on Sunday to take the opening series of SEC play.

Game 3 started badly for LSU and it only got worse as the game went on. [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] got the start on the mound and the Bulldogs scored three runs against him in the first inning before it mercifully came to an end.

In the top of the fifth inning, [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] hit an RBI double to cut the lead to 3-1 State. Back-to-back bases-loaded walks followed that to tie the game 3-3.

It looked as if the Tigers had hope and were right back in the game, but in the bottom of the inning, Hurd gave up a three-run bomb and a solo shot to give Mississippi State a 7-3 lead.

In the top of the sixth, [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] got half of those runs back with a two-run shot of his own to cut the lead to 7-5.

That is when the wheels fell off for LSU. The Bulldogs scored five more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend their lead to 12-5. All of those runs were charged to [autotag]Christian Little[/autotag]. Little was pulled from the game after giving up five runs on three hits, two strikeouts and two walks in 0.2 innings.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Mississippi State scored three more runs to take a 15-5 lead and end the game via run-rule victory.

LSU suffered their first conference series loss since last May when the Tigers dropped two out of three games to Mississippi State. LSU will be back in action on Tuesday as the Tigers host Louisiana Tech at 6:30 p.m. CT.

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