LSU's Offense Non Existent in 4-0 Series Clinching Loss to Arkansas
LSU went cold at the plate and the Razorbacks blasted three home runs, leading to a 4-0 series defeat for the purple and gold.
The story of the night was the disappearance of the LSU offense against Arkansas starter Hagen Smith. Completely fooled by the strong armed freshman lefty, LSU was able to plate just three baserunners on two hits and one walk through his seven innings on the mound. For the game, the purple and gold could only string together three hits.
There really wasn't much to say other than the offense was just stymied as there weren't even opportunities to bring runners home and 0-for-10 with runners on.
Once again, LSU starter Blake Money's outing came down to just a few missed pitches as he stretched into the seventh inning on the mound. The Arkansas hitters put good swings on the ball throughout the contest but many of the deep field hits were able to find the glove a Tigers outfielder.
With that being said, Money was by no means perfect as he would allow three home runs in his 6.2 innings of work, the most damage coming in the third on two homers that gave the Razorbacks an early 3-0 lead. Money would allow four runs on seven hits, not letting the game get completely out of reach.
But the way the offense was now swinging the bat it didn't make much difference. The Tigers have shown pretty consistently to be a team that can get going late in the game but that didn't happen against the lefty Smith, who controlled the LSU offense from the first inning until he departed in the seventh.
Being able to chase Smith out to start the eighth did pay off at the Tigers were able to put two runners on base with no outs and load the bases with two outs later in the inning. However, the Tigers threat was put down after a popfly and closed the door on a potential rally.
LSU will look to avoid a series sweep on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
(Photo courtesy of LSUsports)