For the second straight day in the SEC tournament, one bad inning of pitching was all it took for No. 5 LSU to suffer a one-run loss.
After Arkansas posted a five-run fifth inning to overcome a 2-0 LSU lead for a 5-4 victory Thursday, Texas A&M came back from a 3-1 deficit Friday with a four-run seventh inning for a duplicate 5-4 win in a losers bracket elimination at the Hoover (Ala.) Metropolitan Stadium.
The Tigers (43-15) failed to sustain rallies when they scored but one run each in the second, fourth and sixth innings. It caught up with them after LSU starting pitcher Ty Floyd held the Aggies to one run and five hits in his five-inning, 93-pitch performance.
LSU left 12 men on base vs. A&M, raising its total to 30 base runners stranded in three tourney games.
“Ty pitched well again and we were in control of the game for five innings,” said LSU head coach Jay Johnson, whose team will still likely be an NCAA top eight tourney seed when the bracket is announced Monday at 11 a.m. on ESPN2. “If we could have put ourselves in more control of the game, if we could have created a little more distance, it would have taken a little pressure off the pitching staff and would have been in a better spot.”
After LSU freshman reliever Griffin Herring replaced Floyd to start the sixth inning and used just 10 pitches to retire the Aggies, the Tigers’ victory train ran off the rails in the seventh.
Herring first walked A&M left fielder Ryan Targac, then gave up a double to second baseman Austin Bost and then an RBI sacrifice fly to designated hitter Brett Minnich.
Things went from bad to worse when Herring walked A&M 9-hole hitter Max Kaufer.
Herring was replaced by Sam Dutton, whose third pitch to Aggies’ shortstop Hunter Haas was deposited over the left field fence for a three-run homer and a 5-3 A&M lead.
Dutton, as in Wednesday's 10-3 win over South Carolina, was yanked after one batter. Reliever Javen Coleman entered and eventually got out of the inning by striking out Targac with the bases loaded.
And like LSU did vs. the Razorbacks scoring a ninth-inning run before the rally was squelched, the Tigers tallied a run off Aggies’ reliever Evan Aschenbeck in the ninth.
It was the only run Aschenbeck allowed in his three innings of work as A&M relievers gave up one or no runs for the third time in their four tourney games since Tuesday.
A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle believed LSU’s batters may have had their timing disrupted by Aschenbeck because of his lack of overpowering pitches.
“When you're on a team like LSU or some of these other high-end programs like Tennessee, they have the big, big, big arms that everybody throws hard,” said Schlossnagle, whose 35-24 team advanced to Saturday’s 12 noon semifinals vs. 4th ranked Arkansas. “Then, when you see a guy who's throwing a lot of off-speed pitches, they don't see that nearly as much in practice as other teams.”
Though LSU had used just three relievers in its first two SEC tourney games, the Tigers hoped they would get a strong performance from starter Floyd.
He provided one, and A&M starting pitcher Will Johnston wasn’t too bad himself. He allowed just three runs on eight hits, striking out seven and walking one.
Third baseman Brayden Jobert’s RBI single provided LSU with a 1-0 lead in the top of the second.
A&M opened the bottom of the second with consecutive doubles. Aggies’ center fielder Jordan Thompson led off with a double and scored on Targac’s double.
Floyd responded retiring three straight A&M batters, leaving Targac stranded at third base.
The Tigers had a similar inning when they re-took the lead at 2-1 in the top of the fourth.
LSU second baseman Gavin Dugas led off the inning with a double. Jobert followed ripping an RBI double down the left field line and advanced to third base on a balk by Johnson.
Yet Jobert never made it past third. Johnson struck out the next two batters and got Tigers’ center fielder Dylan Crews to hit a foul pop out to end the inning.
LSU added a run in the top of the fifth but should have had more. The Tigers opened the inning with left fielder Tre’ Morgan drawing a walk and scoring on catcher Hayden Travinski’s double, followed by designated hitter Cade Beloso’s single that moved Travinski to third.
Yet A&M’s Johnston danced out of further trouble. After first baseman Jared Jones struck out, Dugas’ poorly executed safety squeeze bunt resulted in Travinski being tagged out at the plate. Jobert grounded out to kill the rally.
Herring relieved Floyd to start the sixth and threw one flawless inning. He lasted just four batters into the seventh when Dutton entered and A&M’s Haas belted a home run that was an unexpected dagger.
“The ball has been flying all week here in the morning, and in the afternoon hasn't been carrying so I didn't really know if it was out or not," Haas said. "I was kind of hustling out of the box, but obviously very excited to see it go over the fence.”
LSU sat out third baseman Tommy White, who ranks second in the nation in runs batted in. Johnson didn’t specify afterwards if White had an injury or just needed a day of rest but added he will be ready for next weekend’s NCAA regionals in Alex Box Stadium.
“There's a lot to be gained from being here, and we'll use that to get ready for the NCAA tournament," Johnson said. “We've got to get our health right, and then get their minds right because playoff baseball is one pitch at a time. It's not the team with the best players, it's the team that plays the best, which we've done a lot of this year, and didn't do that today.
“But I trust the guys that we have on the field. I trust them a lot, and I trust their care level and their character.”
