LSU pitching tosses a Sunday stinkbomb, Auburn wins series

After LSU starting pitcher Paul Skenes recorded a career-high 15 strikeouts in the Tigers’ 3-0 win over Auburn Friday in the opener of a three-game SEC series, LSU head coach Jay Johnson was simply giddy.

"When Paul Skenes is pitching, I’m living the best days of my life,” Johnson said.

But maybe not so much for Johnson when Skenes isn’t pitching, which went from bad in LSU’s 8-6 Saturday loss to terrible in a 12-2 Sunday eighth-inning run-rule road flameout as the No. 1 ranked Tigers lost their first SEC series of the season.

After 12 weeks atop the polls, LSU (37-10 overall, 16-7 SEC West) should drop a spot or two in the rankings after losing two straight games in a league series for the first time this season.

One of the worst first-inning pitching performances in recent LSU baseball history immediately took the wind out of the Tigers’ sails after second baseman Gavin Dugas led off Sunday’s game with a solo homer.

Auburn responded with six runs in the bottom of the first when LSU starting pitcher Christian Little and reliever Griffin Herring combined to walk six of AU's first seven batters by throwing 32 balls in the game’s first 42 pitches. The struggling duo walked in three runs and gave up two hits for three RBI.

LSU never recovered.

“We walked six guys in the first inning, and that’s a tough hole to climb out of,” Johnson said. “So we start there, and then (Auburn starting pitcher Christian) Herberholz did a nice job for them on the mound. He executed his pitches.

“I never feel like we’re out of a game, but that first inning makes it a little more difficult. Our pitchers don’t have to be perfect, they just need to be solid, and we weren’t solid today.”

While all four Tigers’ pitchers allowed runs, Auburn’s starting pitcher controlled LSU's bats for a second straight game. After AU’s Saturday starter Tommy Vail struck out eight and held LSU to two runs on six hits in four innings, Auburn’s Sunday starter Herberholz limited LSU to two runs on five hits in five innings.

LSU entered the weekend ranked No. 3 nationally in runs scored per game (10.0) and 10th in batting average (.318). Center fielder Dylan Crews was college baseball’s leading hitter batting .486 and led the nation in runs scored (73).

Eleven Auburn pitchers combined to limit LSU to an SEC series season-low 11 runs as the Tigers batted just. 227. Crews’ batting average dropped 40 points to .446 after going 2 of 12 with no runs scored.

The only Tiger who hit well in the series was third baseman Tommy White, who batted .500 (6 for 12) with three doubles and two RBI.

Sunday’s game started with a ray of hope for LSU. Dugas hit Herberholz’s third pitch of the game over the monstrous left field wall for a 1-0 LSU lead.

But after White cracked a one-out double, he eventually was left stranded at third.

Then came LSU’s pitching meltdown.

Tigers’ starter Little threw 23 of 28 pitches for balls to five batters. He walked four batters (forcing in run) and allowed an RBI single by AU designated hitter Ike Irish.

Reliever Herring tossed more gas on the fire as he chucked 9 of 14 pitches for balls to three batters. He issued two walks forcing in a pair of runs, followed by AU second baseman Caden Green’s two-RBI single for a 6-1 lead.

Herring was yanked for reliever Gavin Guidry, who eventually stopped the bleeding with no further damage.

But in the Auburn second, Guidry gave up another run on first baseman Cooper McMurray’s one-out RBI single before Guidry shut down the AU rally.

LSU committed two errors in the Auburn fourth when center fielder Kason Howell slapped a two-run triple for a 9-1 lead.

The only suspense after that was whether LSU would suffer its first run-rule loss of the season. It happened when McMurray hit an RBI single with no outs in the eighth to end the game.

The home team rushed the field to celebrate as Auburn (27-19-1 overall, 11-13 SEC West) won its third consecutive SEC series.

LSU returns home for a Tuesday 6:30 p.m. home non-conference game vs. Northwestern State. The Tigers host their final SEC home series of the regular season vs. Mississippi State starting with Friday’s 7:30 p.m. opener.