LSU Baseball ends against USM; small blip to an otherwise bright future
The word ineffable is used for phenomena that is “too great or extreme to be expressed or described into words” according to Webster’s dictionary.
By this definition, any description of a topic, even a poor description, automatically disqualifies that subject from being ineffable.
For this reason, baseball should not be considered ineffable, but, by God it’s close. The 2022 LSU baseball team will surely attest to that.
As with any baseball season, teams experience numerous peaks and valleys throughout the year, and LSU was no exception to this rule.
The Tigers struggled at home in the friendly confines of Alex Box against opponents like Texas A&M, Auburn, and Ole Miss—all opponents that will boast berths to the College World Series this year.
However, for every disappointing home series loss, there were impressive road series wins against the likes of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt with the latter two being sweeps against last season’s national championship game participants.
This rollercoaster ride of game results does not even mention the fact that the 2022 season was Jay Johnson’s first year at the helm of the LSU baseball program, and the starting pitching cupboard was left bare from the previous coaching staff.
Yes, Ma’Khail Hilliard was excellent for the Tigers all season both on the mound and as a team leader, but it is difficult to win in today’s college baseball without a Friday night starter that throws an overpowering fastball along with good command of three other pitches.
That is a far cry from Hilliard’s style which features a looping curveball and a fastball that tops out in the low 90’s, yet he, and this LSU pitching staff, rose to the occasion time and time again.
It took a lot of management, sometimes over management, to get them to that point though. Games dragged on due to Johnson’s constant mound visits and pitching changes which drew the ire of fans at away ballparks and even some at home.
While many complained about the length of games, few could argue with the results.
Offensive heroics from Dylan Crews, Josh Pearson, Cade Doughty, Tre Morgan, and Brayden Jobert along with effective pitching management from the coaching staff propelled a Tiger team that finished 7th place in the SEC last year to 4th place this year.
LSU entered postseason play with a head of steam, but quickly found itself in the hole during the opening round of regional play against Kennesaw State.
Down 11-4 in the 8th inning, the Tigers rallied back with 10 runs to win the game 14-11.
The next night, LSU fell into a similar situation against regional host Southern Mississippi when the Tigers were down 6-2 with one out in the bottom of the 9th. With echoes of the previous night, LSU once again stormed back to win the game 7-6 in the 10th inning.
Despite all the obvious shortcomings and foibles of this Tiger team, it appeared to be a team of destiny in some regard, finding a way to win when the stakes were at their highest.
Unfortunately, the team’s collapse in the next two games against Southern Miss were not just a microcosm of the season but also point to the ineffability, at least to some degree, of the game of baseball itself.
When LSU needed its bullpen staples that performed all year to throw strikes, they did not. When the Tigers needed its offensive weapons to come through with a clutch hit, they came up empty-handed.
In the span of a 96 hours, the Tigers looked like one of the most unbeatable teams in the country as well as one of the most inconsistent.
It doesn’t make any sense, but that’s baseball.
So, what’s on the horizon for this LSU program?
If Johnson’s postgame press conference was any indication, more consistent pitching.
“We’ve got to pitch better, end of story,” were Johnson’s exact words, and I would imagine that the Tiger coaching staff will continue to utilize the transfer portal as well as high school recruiting to correct this issue.
As far as the offense goes, Crews and Morgan will return for their third year and Gavin Dugas, who battled injuries all last season, is also eligible to return. Person and Josh Stevenson will also have significant playing time under their belts heading into next year and continue to contribute to the LSU offense.
This is not to mention the fact that LSU has the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, a class so good that many believe landing just half of their commitments on campus would be a major success for the purple and gold.
The future is bright for LSU baseball, and this year should be considered the floor of expectations for Johnson’s program moving forward.
If that sentiment is correct, some expect for Johnson to usher in a new decade of ineffable accomplishments for the LSU program.
While I join fans in a sense of optimism, it’s also important to remember that we’re talking about baseball, a sport where fans should rarely expect what’s expected.
