LSU Baseball Offense Falls Flat in 4-1 Elimination Loss to Georgia

Missed opportunites has been a constant theme for this LSU team all season and it popped up in a big way against Gerogia. The Tigers left eight batters on base and struck out 11 times in a 4-1 loss to the Bulldogs in a single elimination matchup.

It's the first time that LSU has been eliminated from the SEC Tournament without a win since 2005.

LSU started out in a hole as Landon Marceaux just didn't look like his usual sharp self but also wasn't helped by his defense when it counted most. After loading the bases in the first, third baseman Cade Doughty made a pair of really nice grabs, the second of which could've been turned for a double play, but second baseman Collier Cranford short armed the throw to first to keep the inning alive.

Georgia would take advantage two batters later as a double would score three runs and put the Tigers in a 4-1 hole.

"That really takes the breath out of you and it shocks you," Marceaux said. "I take full responsibility for that, I wasn't commanding my pitches and I came out in the second inning, I was furious and turned it on."

That stumble out of the gate would turn out to be an abberation for Marceaux as he was much sharper in locating his pitches and even saw some increased velocity the rest of the way.

Marceaux wouldn't allow another run to come across for the next seven innings, allowing four hits and striking out nine batters in that span as he would do everything in his power to keep the offense in it.

"I was really proud of Landon, he really pitched his heart out," coach Paul Mainieri said. "He's pitched like that all year for us, pitched so courageously with warrior mentality. Really proud of him and what he did on short rest."

As it would turn out, that first inning sequence would be detrimental to the Tigers mainly because of the inability of the LSU offense to get anything going. After the first three batters of the game were able to reach in the opening inning, the Tigers were able to only scrape one run together as a double play and strikeout put a pin in a potential big start.

From there, the offense was unable to get much going against starter Luke Wagner and particularly relief pitcher Jaden Woods. Wagner allowed six hits over his 3.1 innings of work but Woods was the true star for the Bulldogs.

The Tigers had no answers for the hard throwing lefty as he retired the first 10 LSU batters he faced, striking out five of them. Because of the offensive lull, all of a sudden the eighth inning crept up on the purple and gold with the top of the order due up.

A surprise pitching change in the eighth opened a window for the Tigers as Tre Morgan was able to draw a walk and a little Hoover magic allowed a Dylan Crews popfly to drop in fair play. Doughty would be hit by a pitch, loading the bases but back-to-back strikeouts was the story of this game as LSU couldn't capitalize on the opportunity.

"Obviously you wanna come in here and make a statement," Crews said. "We came up short, Georgia came right after us, they were aggressive with their pitches and we just couldn't string anything together with runners in scoring position."

With the opening loss, it'll now be a long week of waiting to see if the Tigers get into the NCAA Tournament.

"We're going to move on from this and that's really all we can do now," Marceaux said. "Hopefully we get the bid and if do, we're gonna be ready to take advantage of it. That's out of our hands.

"Our RPI speaks for itself. We have one of the toughest schedules and I would hope we get invited to the big dance," Mainieri said. "It's not a good position to be in and it's not a lot of fun to be at the mercy of a selection committee."