3 Stats That Stuck Out in LSU Baseball's Loss to Georgia and If They Are Fixable

LSU was beat all around Foley Field this weekend.

Outside of the first four innings of Friday's game, LSU never looked like it stood a chance against Georgia's prolific offense. And as prolific as Georgia's offense was, LSU's pitching fed into it.

The Tigers now stand no real chance of making the NCAA tournament unless they can win five straight games in Hoover at the SEC tournament. For the final weekend of the season, LSU welcomes No.19 Florida to town. These four issues need to be squashed for LSU to be able to catch its breath.

14.32 - LSU's ERA in Athens

LSU pitcher Zac Cowan pitches the ball | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

Georgia only batted in 22 of 27 possible offensive innings and still outscored LSU 36-17 and outhit the Tigers 39-21. The Bulldogs scored in 14 of their 22 innings, and scored multiple runs in nine of those.

The Bulldogs play in a park that heavily favors batters, but LSU got exposed like no other and didn't take advantage of the field the same way the home team did.

Georgia hitters were continuously waiting for breaking balls to come right down the middle, where they would smack them for an extra-base hit.

"I think the argument in Louisiana a lot of times is 'Why are we throwing our third-best pitch in hitters' counts most of the time?'" The series' play-by-play announcer and LSU legend, Todd Walker, said.

This led to an incredible 26 walks offered by Tiger pitchers.

It's like Georgia knew what was coming. Not in a 2017 Houston Astros way, but the Bulldogs were just so well-prepared and LSU couldn't diversify its pitch selection enough to get Georgia out of a groove.

Diversification is going to be key going forward for LSU, as well as just getting back in its home ballpark. The issue might not be fixable in a quick turnaround, like what will be needed to win five straight in Hoover.

.196- LSU's batting average with runners on

Derek Curiel swings at the ball in a game against Southeastern | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

LSU got its leadoff hitter on base 50% of the time. It didn't matter much, as the offense wasn't able to get them around to score much outside of Friday's early scoring barrage.

Even though the offense scored eight runs Saturday—making it the fifth straight SEC loss in which LSU scored exactly eight runs—more than half came once the game was already on ice. In fact, LSU was one strike away from getting run-ruled Saturday and not even having a chance to look like it was making a comeback.

Head coach Jay Johnson even pinch-hit Zach Yorke and Brayden Simpson in Sunday's game to try and switch something up. Both haven't played much in the past month due to poor performance.

It's not like Georgia even has an elite pitching staff. It entered the weekend with a 4.83 ERA, a mark that dropped eight points over the weekend.

This series seems to have been an outlier after the offense lit up both South Carolina and Mississippi State with solid hitting. The bats need to find their rhythm again, something that is not out of the realm of possibility.

.400 - Georgia's two-out batting average

Closing out innings and games has been a season-long issue for LSU. It was the same story against Georgia, which hit 17 of its 36 RBIs with two outs.

In Sunday's fifth inning in particular, Zac Cowan started with two strikeouts before allowing a double, an intentional walk, a walk and a grand slam. It was the encapsulation of the weekend.

The poor pitch selection comes into play here as well. The lack of ability to switch up pitches over the course of the inning and eventual lineup turnovers only made Georgia's powerful offense even stronger.

Georgia wasn't even good about getting the lead-off hitter on, except for Saturday's game, so most success came once LSU had gotten one or two outs. It shows Georgia's ability to learn and adapt, and LSU's deficit in the same category.

The fact that this issue has plagued LSU so much all year makes it seem like it just isn't fixable with only four guaranteed games left this season. Pitching coach Nate Yeskie will have his hands full heading into the Florida series.

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