LSU can't afford more losses to underdogs if it wants a national seed

The month of May is just more than a week away and there are 15 games left in the regular season including four SEC series on LSU’s baseball schedule.

Though the Tigers are one game behind first place in the SEC’s Western Division and two games in back of conference leader Georgia, LSU coach Paul Mainieri knows his team is almost out of wiggle room in capturing one of the top eight seeds in the NCAA tournament.

He understands that the Tigers, 26-15 overall and 11-7 in the SEC, need to start stringing wins together, especially after winning the Florida series this past weekend with a combined 24 runs and 27 hits in capturing the last two games.

Starting tonight with a non-conference home game against Lamar and continuing with a weekend series at Alabama against a Crimson Tide team tied with Kentucky for the worst league record, LSU needs a perfect week.

The Tigers, 7-4 in midweek games, need to handle their three remaining midweek opponents like most all other SEC title contenders have done all season. LSU can’t afford in its series opener at Alabama to give up double-digit run totals, which has been the case for the Tigers in their last two SEC series openers at Missouri and vs. Florida. LSU has to stay aggressive at the plate, as it did against the Gators.

“This is the most important week of the year,” Mainieri prior to Monday’s practice in sun-splashed Alex Box Stadium. “If we’re going to be contenders for the SEC championship, the SEC West Division championship and to be a host (in the NCAA tourney), we’ve got to get the job done this week.

“If we get the job done, then our record will be decent. We’ll have three (SEC) weekends to go, and two of those three will be at home. We’ll be playing teams (Ole Miss, Arkansas, Auburn) that are contenders for the SEC West title.”

After getting embarrassed in a 16-9 series opening home loss to Florida last Thursday, the Tigers’ subsequent 13-1 and 11-2 victories on Friday and Saturday respectively were two of LSU's most complete back-to-back victories of the season.

“Thursday was a disaster from a pitching standpoint starting out the game that way,” Mainieri said. “But we ended up swinging the bats, getting 16 hits and scoring nine runs. You could just see the guys were getting their money’s worth at the plate and it carried over to the next two days.

“Everything kind of came together and we swung the bat as well as we have in a long, long time.”

Two years ago when LSU advanced all the way to College World Series finals, the Tigers were 30-15 entering May before getting on a 17-game winning streak that was snapped with a CWS loss to Oregon State.

The year before that in 2016 when LSU’s season ended with a Super Regional loss to Coastal Carolina, it was 28-16 heading into May. The Tigers went 14-2 in May, winning 11 straight at one point.

Four wins this week would put LSU at 30-15 heading into May, dead even with the 2017 record and ahead of the 2016 mark.

The difference between those two years and this season so far is the ’17 and ’16 teams had considerably more consistent starting pitching and hitting.

Also, those squads weren’t saddled with an abundance of injuries like the current Tigers, with their array of pitching ailments in which finding a steady rotation of dependable hurlers is a week-to-week proposition.

For instance, Zach Hess, LSU’s usual Friday night starter, was relegated to an effective relief role in the Florida series while he was recovering from a groin injury sustained the previous week at Missouri.

“His groin felt good after the game,” said Mainieri, who added he won’t know until Thursday after consulting with pitching coach Alan Dunn if Hess will open the Alabama series as a starter.

The two positives that the Tigers need to continue to have a chance to get a top eight NCAA tourney seed are freshman pitcher Cole Henry’s unflappable winning performances and senior outfielder Antoine Duplantis’ rejuvenated bat.

When LSU badly needed effective starting pitching after Tigers’ starter Ma’Khail Hilliard was rocked for six runs on seven hits in the opening loss to Florida, Henry paid back the Gators in full in Friday’s game two by striking out 12 batters in 5.1 innings.

The victory improved Henry’s record to 4-2, dropped his ERA to a team-leading 3.26 and on Monday helped him win SEC Co-Freshman of the Week honors.

He has adjusted nicely to college baseball since being momentarily dazzled early in the season.

“I was like, `This is the SEC, I came from a small town in Alabama, I think I need to step up my game a bit’,” Henry said. “I was overthrowing badly until I figured out to let my pitches work for me and let my fielders work for me. It’s a lot easier out there now.”

Duplantis, chasing LSU’s all-time hits record, struggled in recent weeks and saw his average dip under .300 before going 9-of-16 with seven RBI in the Florida series.

“I felt like I was hitting the ball in the air too much, I know that’s not my game,” said Duplantis, who has raised his average to .310. “I was trying to figure out a way to help my body move in a way that will allow me to hit more line drives and ground balls.

“I’ve just got to relax and let my natural abilities take over. That’s what my body is used to doing – hitting hitting ground balls, hitting the ball the other way, using the whole field.”

LSU junior outfielder Zach Watson said he believes the Tigers’ bats should remain steady for the rest of the season.

“The way everyone swung the bat last weekend, you can see it’s coming around,” said Watson, who’s batting a team-leading .352. “I feel like everybody’s hitting approach is better, that they’ve started to figure it out. There’s a learning curve for a lot of players and everybody is learning and seeing the ball well.”