LSU Baseball drops series finale against Arkansas but, picks up crucial series win

After a statement mercy rule win by the LSU Baseball team on Saturday, the Tigers came into Sunday's game looking to pick up a series sweep over the Razorbacks. For the 3rd straight weekend, LSU turned to true freshman Casan Evans to start as Chase Shores transitions into a role in the Tigers bullpen.

The LSU offense got started quickly as Luis Hernandez's solo home run in the bottom of the 2nd inning gave LSU a 1-0 lead. Later in the second inning, Steven Milam would connect on a solo home run to make it 2-0 LSU.

In the 3rd inning, the Razorbacks offense got to Casan Evans as 5 hits, a walk, and a sacrifice fly allowed Arkansas to plate 4. The Tigers offense was able to get back within a run as Daniel Dickinson, Jake Brown, and Luis Hernandez all singled to make it 4-3.

Arkansas struck again in the Top of the 5th inning as a walk and a single hurt the Tigers as the Razorbacks made it 5-3 on a ground out to first.

In the 8th inning, Jay Johnson got to hit the showers early after the umpire ejected him without issuing a warning. The ejection may have fired up LSU's offense as the Tigers bottom of the order strung together a pair of singles which allowed Josh Pearson to score on Chris Stanfield's RBI ground out cutting the deficit in half.

After working to cut the deficit to 1 run, LSU's pitching staff hurt itself with walks to push the momentum back in Arkansas's favor. 4 walks and a single allowed Arkansas to stretch the lead up to 3 runs giving LSU's offense a ton of work to do in the bottom half of the inning if the Tigers were going to close out the sweep.

LSU's offense threatened in the 9th inning as Daniel Dickinson singled and Ethan Frey drew a walk to bring the tying run to the plate. The Tigers were unable to do any damage however as Cade Arrambide struck out and Luis Hernandez hit a sharp liner to the shortstop to end the game.

Casan Evans had his first rough start of the game as he lasted just 3.2 innings, allowing 7 hits and 3 walks, which allowed Arkansas to score 4 runs while striking out 4. Chase Shores had a nice relief outing, going 3.1 innings, allowing 1 run on 2 hits and 1 walk. After Shores, no LSU reliever gave the Tigers more than 2 outs as the Tigers are still looking for a younger arm to step up heading into the postseason.

Jared Jones and Derek Curiel went 0-9 at the plate with 1 hit by pitch which makes it difficult for the offense to do any damage against any opponent. Daniel Dickinson, Luis Hernandez, and Steven Milam led the Tigers offense which is encouraging as the trio are massive X-Factor's for LSU when they're hot.

While the Tigers didn't pick up the series sweep, taking 2 of 3 games is massive at this point in the season. LSU currently sits in 3rd place in the SEC and in the final series of the year against a struggling South Carolina team a series win will clinch a double bye in the SEC Tournament while help elsewhere could require less. Taking another series win over a team like Arkansas will also help LSU in ensuring they're a top 8 team in the NCAA Tournament allowing them to host a Regional and a Super Regional.

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