LSU ready for NCAA Tournament

The LSU baseball team’s stay at the SEC Tournament was a couple games shorter than it hoped – the Tigers were bounced from the quarterfinals Friday afternoon by eventual tournament champion Mississippi State.

The heartbreak didn’t last more than 48 hours.

When LSU returned home, they discovered they were one of the top seeds in this week’s NCAA Tournament.

The collegiate sports governing body awarded the Tigers on Monday afternoon when they unveiled their 64-team bracket.

The Tigers are the No. 7 national seed and the No. 1 overall seed in the Baton Rouge Regional.

They are paired with No. 2 Oregon State, No. 3 Belmont and No. 4 Louisiana-Monroe.

LSU begins its journey for a 7th national championship Friday at Alex Box Stadium against the Warhawks, who posted a 31-28 record in the Sun Belt Conference.

The Warhawks were not one of the top teams in the Sun Belt throughout the regular season, finishing with just a 15-15 record in the league.

But UL-Monroe earned their automatic bid into the tournament by winning the Sun Belt Tournament, scoring a 4-2 win against Arkansas State in the tournament finals.

Despite a modest record, UL-Monroe did take two of three games from SEC foe Tennessee early in the season and also has a win against Tulane under its belt.

Tigers coach Paul Mainieri said he believes LSU will be ready for the challenge, despite a disappointing stay at the SEC Tournament.

“It’s something we’ll rebound from,” Mainieri said. “We have time to kind of regroup, analyze it. We’ll put it in the rear view mirror, and we’ll be ready for next week. Next week is what really matters going forward.”

If the Tigers move past the Warhawks, they will take on the winner of Oregon State and Belmont.

The Beavers enter the NCAA Tournament red-hot, coming off a sweep of nationally ranked Oregon this past weekend.

Belmont is also entering the weekend with a good feeling in its gut.

The Bruins won this past weekend’s Atlantic Sun Tournament to clinch an automatic bid into the field.

For the season, Belmont also has wins against SEC clubs Vanderbilt and Auburn.

The Tigers hoped to enter the Big Dance with the same momentum as their counterparts.

But LSU’s stay in the SEC Tournament was seemingly doomed from the start.

Entering as the tournament’s top overall seed, the Tigers lost their opening game to the Bulldogs 3-2.

LSU freshman starter Aaron Nola got the Tigers off to a solid start Wednesday, tossing two perfect innings in just 30 pitches.

But Mainieri pulled the true freshman after his short outing to preserve the youngster for later in the tournament.

The Bulldogs took advantage, scoring two runs off Tri-parish native Brent Bonvillain to take an early 2-0 lead.

That lead was almost all Mississippi State needed, as All-American pitcher Chris Stratton held the Tigers in check throughout the duration of his six innings.

“He’s really good,” Mainieri said. “We’ve seen him three years now, and I think that was the fourth time he’s pitched against us. I’m about ready for that kid to go into professional baseball so we don’t have to see him anymore. He’s really outstanding, and he’s going to make a good pro.”

The only time LSU threatened Stratton came in the fifth inning when the Tigers tied the game on a two-RBI single from junior first baseman Mason Katz.

But the Bulldogs took back the momentum in the next frame, plating a run to push the game to its final margin.

With the 3-2 lead in hand, Mississippi State shut the doors on LSU with three perfect innings from setup man Caleb Reed and closer Jonathan Holder.

Holder hasn’t allowed an earned run all season.

“We just couldn’t muster anything against their bullpen after that,” Mainieri said. “The kids played hard. They just came up a little bit short today. I tip my hat to Mississippi State. They played a really good, solid game.”

One day after losing to the Bulldogs, LSU took out their frustrations on Ole Miss, scoring a decisive 11-2 win to move to the tournament quarterfinals.

LSU’s stranglehold on Thursday morning’s game started early, as the Tigers plated two runs in the top of the first inning off Rebels starter Tanner Bailey.

The Tigers added single runs in the third and sixth innings to take a 4-2 lead into the seventh inning.

The Rebels plated one run in both the second and sixth innings.

Those runs were the only ones Ole Miss could muster off dominant LSU ace Kevin Gausman, who earned his 10th win of the season.

The sophomore righty struck out seven batters and allowed just seven hits in the 97-pitch effort.

“When Kevin Gausman gets the ball, you like your chances,” Mainieri said. “Kevin has great stuff and deserves all of the accolades he gets just based on his ability. He is a different pitcher this year. He has this innate ability to raise his game to a different level when he needs to.”

Gausman deflected the praise for his outing, saying his job becaume easier after LSU’s first-inning rally.

“It is easy to pitch when you have a lead,” Gausman said. “You feel like you don’t have to go out there and strike everyone out.”

Gausman boasted about LSU’s early runs, but the Tigers put away the Rebels with late hitting, scoring seven runs over the final two innings to clinch the win.

But LSU couldn’t carry that momentum past Thursday’s game, losing to Mississippi State on Friday afternoon in a 4-3 extra innings thriller.

The Tigers scored three runs over the first two innings of the game to take an early 3-0 lead.

That lead lasted into the eighth inning thanks largely to the efforts of sophomore starter Ryan Eades, who shut out the Bulldogs in his six innings of work.

But the Bulldogs plated a single run off setup man Chris Cotton in the eighth inning.

They pushed the game into extra innings with two more off LSU closer Nick Goody in the ninth.

Mississippi State rode its momentum and won it in the 10th on an RBI single by Matthew Britton, which sent the Tigers home for the weekend.

“Normally, when we come to Hoover, we win this tournament,” Mainieri said. “It was tough loss for us, but we’ll put it behind us in time and get ready for next week.”

“As an offense, we just didn’t do enough,” LSU senior shortstop Austin Nola added. “We had opportunities and we didn’t get the job done. We have to get better. We have to learn. Those situations, with the guys we have in our lineup, with the way we’ve been playing, I feel like we can do better and a good job. It just didn’t happen today.”

“Obviously, a very tough loss for us,” Mainieri added. “You know, a big game, a game that you seemingly have in hand, and then you can’t hold the lead in the ninth inning, and unfortunately it just didn’t go our way. For a long time, we were very fortunate to be shutting them out.”

LSU pitcher Kevin Gausman fires a pitch during a game this season.

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