No. 4-Ranked LSU Baseball Will Have To Earn Its Money To Take Series Versus No. 5 Tennessee

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

No. 4 LSU’s baseball players clearly did not earn their high-ranking Name, Image & Likeness salaries their last time out in a 13-3 loss to non-ranked Northwestern State on Tuesday night. The game was called after seven innings because of the 10-run rule.

“With great players that played this game that get paid to do it, some of these guys want to do that,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said when asked about the team moving on from the embarrassing loss.

“You have to develop that ability, but you also have to learn how to deal with failure and frustration, and not let it affect how you play. We have to work on that,” Johnson said.

LSU-TENNESSEE: THE SERIES OF THE SEASON SO FAR

Particularly with defending national champion and No. 5 Tennessee (34-7, 12-6 Southeastern Conference) in town for a three-game series at Alex Box Stadium, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday on SEC Network+

Johnson likewise did not earn his salary, which is just under $2 million, on Tuesday. LSU pitching gave up nine hits and four walks, and its erratic bullpen hit four batters and threw two wild pitches. The Tigers’ slumping offense managed just seven hits and committed three errors, including two by third baseman Jared Jones.

Yes, Johnson moved Jones from his usual position at first base to third and put outfielder Jake Brown at first to try to get more offense in the lineup. Brown was not charged with an error, but did struggle at that corner.

“Won’t do that again probably moving forward,” Johnson said. “I’m the one who writes the lineup, so I’ll take the responsibility.”

The series pitting the last two national champions that is the highest ranked pairing this weekend continues on Saturday with a 7 p.m. nationally televised game on ESPNU. The 2 p.m. finale Sunday will be on the SEC Network.

Former five-time LSU baseball coach Skip Bertman will be signing copies of his book “Everything Matters In Baseball” at his statue in front of Alex Box Stadium from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. Saturday. Bertman most often did not stress mid-week games. He used them largely to find out who could pitch.

Contending SEC teams don’t need mid-week wins for RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) purposes because they have enough via the SEC schedule. Usually, if an SEC team loses a mid-week game and wins the SEC series that weekend, it either rises in the polls or remains the same.

Bertman’s Tigers won national championships in 1996 and 2000 with a combined 10 losses in mid-week, or non-conference games. The ’96 team lost two to Northwestern State. The 2000 team, which will be honored before Saturday’s game, lost seven of these affairs, including five straight early in the season. Former coach Paul Mainieri’s 2009 national champions lost five of them. Johnson’s 2023 champions lost three.

The 2025 Tigers (34-8, 12-6 SEC) have now lost two non-conference games.

“It can have nothing to do with what happens this weekend,” Johnson said.

But how LSU played is what concerns Johnson.

“Not good across the board – pitching, defense, offense, coaching, the whole thing,” Johnson lamented. He was so upset, he barely talked to his team after the game.

“I didn’t really have the right words,” he said. “Yeah, there wasn’t a whole lot to say. There will be. That wasn’t the right time.”

Tennessee is handling its own adversity. The Vols did beat Lipscomb Tuesday night, 11-1, but it has lost its last two SEC series. Tennessee is 10-2 on the road this season.

“But you’re going to a place that as difficult to win in as any place in the country,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said. “There is a certain environment when you go down there. When the bus pulls up, you can smell that there is pretty good cooking going on in the parking lot, but you don’t get to eat any of it.”

On Tuesday, Northwestern State sure did, though, as it made meat pies out of LSU.

“Awful game collectively,” Johnson said. “Every facet of it was not good. You’re defined by how you respond to those things. We have to make a choice about what happened. If we do, we’ll have a successful season. If we don’t, we’ll make it hard on ourselves – very hard.”