LSU baseball’s bullpen falls apart in the eighth inning to drop Game 2 to Tennessee
LSU trailed by just one run to Tennessee before the start of the eighth inning on Saturday night at Alex Box Stadium.The Volunteers had controlled the game to that point but the Tigers had finally broken through offensively. Playing infront of the largest crowd in Alex Box Stadium history, sophomore Steven Milam and senior Michael Braswell had hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the seventh that cut the LSU deficit to 3-2.
It seemed like an ideal moment to turn to junior right-hander Zac Cowan or freshman right-hander Casan Evans to enter the game and keep the deficit at one. But instead, LSU coach Jay Johnson elected to keep redshirt sophomore right-hander Chase Shores in the game in the eighth inning.
With LSU still trailing, he seemed content with saving Cowan and Evans for Game 3 on Sunday.
“I think there’s some things I will always owe you answers (to),” Johnson said. “It’s just (because of) competitive strategy and with a game to play tomorrow, I’m going to choose not to answer that.” The decision did not pay off for Johnson.
The Volunteers scored six runs off Shores and freshman left-hander Cooper Williams in the eighth to take a commanding seven-run lead, leading to a 9-3 win that evened the three-game series at a game apiece.
“It is tough to play from behind,” Johnson said. “You have to stay with it with some of these SEC teams. They’re going to pop some out of the yard every once in a while and you’ve just got to keep going.”
Tennessee (35-8, 13-7 SEC) loaded the bases in the eighth inning after Shores allowed a single, a hit by pitch and an intentional walk with one out. He then hit the next batter to drive in a run before coming out for Williams.
Williams got a strikeout before left fielder Dalton Bargo hit a bouncing ground ball to first base that junior Jared Jones couldn’t handle, scoring two runs and giving Tennessee a 6-2 lead.
“He’s got to what we call ‘body up’ and keep it in the infield,” Johnson said. “He tried to pick it and it’s a tough play, but he (can) make that play.”
The next batter, Volunteers catcher Cannon Peebles, blew open the score with a three-run homer into the left field stands that gave Tennessee a 9-2 advantage.
“They’re one of the best teams in the country,” Johnson said. “I believe we’re one of the best teams in the country.”
Just like the night before, both sides traded zeroes to start the game, but this time Tennessee broke the tie in the fourth inning. Peebles shot a run-scoring single into left-center before a groundout back to junior right-hander Anthony Eyanson resulted in another run with one out.
“I think they just do a really good job of competing in the box,” Eyanson said. “As a pitcher, you have to make a really good pitch if you want to execute.”
Eyanson tossed a scoreless fifth before exiting with two outs in the sixth for freshman right-hander William Schmidt. In 5⅔ innings, Eyanson allowed six hits, struck out eight batters and walked four on 111 pitches.
“You take that against a team of that caliber,” Johnson said.
Schmidt walked the No. 9 hitter, shortstop Ariel Antigua, before he was replaced by Mavrick Rizy, another freshman right-hander. Rizy walked a batter to load the bases before getting a groundout to escape the jam.
He stayed in the game to start the seventh inning and surrendered a walk and a single to start the frame. Rizy was then taken out for redshirt sophomore left-hander DJ Primeaux who allowed a base-hit to load the bases with nobody out.
Leave a Reply