LSU Baseball No Match for Kumar Rocker, Vanderbilt in 13-1 Series Opening Loss
With two immensely gifted starting pitching staffs, we were promised exquisite pitching performances. That's what we got Thursday evening in Alex Box only it turned out to be a one sided affair. It's the first time LSU has started conference play 1-6 since 1969.
Vanderbilt ace Kumar Rocker retired 15 of the Tigers first 17 batters and the Commodores offense built a 5-0 lead on Landon Marceaux, never looking back. The Commodores won in blowout fashion ... by doing all of the little things right on a night where pretty much everything went wrong for LSU.
Through two innings, it looked as if we'd get the pitching duel we were promised. Of the first 13 batters to come to the plate, 12 were retired by Rocker and Marceaux as fans settled into their seats for a highly anticipated matchup.
But then the wheels started to come off for Marceaux and the LSU (17-9, 1-6) defense. A hit batter in the third turned into an RBI double as the sequence was a microcosm of the up and down start from the pitching staff to start conference play.
Everytime there's a leadoff walk or hit batter, runs come across against LSU pitching and that was no different for Marceaux in the third. The wheels came completely off in the fifth and sixth innings as the Commodores hung four runs a piece in the monster two inning span to take complete control of the game.
It was really the first time Marceaux has been attacked on the mound in that fashion. Keep in mind until last week, Marceaux had fired 30 plus consecutive scoreless innings. But on Thursday, as the pitch count went up, Marceaux left way too much over the plate. Vanderbilt recorded eight of its total 17 hits over that two inning stretch as they loaded the bases in each inning, the wind and defense doing Marceaux no favors.
All of the sudden, LSU was staring at a 9-0 deficit in a game that felt over after it was 2-0. On the other half of the game, LSU's offense had absolutely no answers for Rocker.
He retired 15 of the first 17 batters, allowing just one run and four hits in six innings of work with eight strikeouts. It was another one of those head shaking performances in what needed to be a must win kind of situation for the purple and gold.
Dull fly balls, routine ground balls in the infield and nine strikeouts kept the Tigers from getting into any kind of a rhythm on offense. Paul Mainieri also elected to go with defense over offense in the field, a move that backfired by the fifth inning of play.
A Tre' Morgan single followed by a Dylan Crews RBI single two batters later was the only noteworthy offense of the evening for the purple and gold.
"I think it's gonna come together. This team's got really solid chemistry but we're gonna leave it all out tomorrow," Crews said. "We had a few rough games but we got punched in the gut today. We've gotta leave it all out on the field tomorrow."
It won't get much easier for the Tigers offense on Friday evening either with Jack Leiter on the mound. Leiter has opened the 2021 SEC schedule with 16 straight no hit innings. First pitch will be at 8 p.m. as the Tigers look to even the series with Jaden Hill on the mound.
"The message tonight is all about pride. Wins and losses are gonna happen but how you represent your university is what's most important to me," Mainieri said. "And that's what I wanna see tomorrow."