The LSU baseball team was eliminated from the regional NCAA tournament in Mississippi which officially ended LSU's first season under coach Jay Johnson. Number one seed Southern Miss defeated LSU in the double elimination tournament defeating the Tigers two straight after dropping their first game with the Tigers.
LSU's over all won-loss record for the season was 37-18 and their record against SEC opponents was a winning 17-13. Last season the Tigers overall won-loss record was 38-25 and their record against SEC opponents was a losing 13-17. So some comparisons can be made as to what progress was made this year, if any, compared to last years team.
It is this writers opinion that this years LSU team did improve and make progress in hitting, especially with runners on base and driving those runners home. LSU for the past several years were weak in that department and showed no improvement.
On the other hand, this writer believes the Tigers made no progress or very little in pitching. LSU still has no starting pitcher they can count on to win that one game when they need to. And the problem of weak starting pitchers has been around for several years. Coach Johnson knows that and tried to move pitchers around to help out the situation but it is the Tigers weak spot and has to be corrected.
LSU was in the drivers seat in the Regional when they beat Southern Miss in the first game but let it slip away. Many do not understand that "stats" are mostly meaningless in a short series. The fact that LSU had a good road record had no bearing on their chances of winning as some thought. So Southern Miss, a team that plays in a conference rated below the SEC proved a point when they defeated LSU.
Jay Johnson did a good job this season with the team this writer believes and demonstrated he understands what LSU lacks and what LSU has to do to keep improving. LSU's last year team advanced farther going to the Super Regional then went two and out. This years team had a better won-loss record in SEC play but the pros and cons of each team tell this writer the big need for the future of LSU winning and having an opportunity to play in the CWS is the recruiting of capable starting pitchers.
This commentary written by JoeLorio
Note: Next up is LSU football with their new head coach and what might be.
