By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
OXFORD, Miss. – Let’s review all the positives of No. 24 LSU being swept in an SEC series at No. 25 Ole Miss this past weekend.
- LSU head coach Jay Johnson didn’t get ejected from any of the three games. His team played so poorly that he had no ammo to torch the umpiring crew.
- True freshman first baseman Mason Braun started every game of the series for the first time this year, hitting a team-best .455.
- LSU fan Alton Bloodworth may have had the biggest hit in the series when hesockedan Ole Miss fan after being doused by a beer exiting the stadium. He was arrested for an assault.
That’s not a short list, but the entire list of the Tigers’ highlights in losses to the No. 25 Rebels 6-3 on Friday, 16-6 (run rule) on Saturday and 8-7 on Sunday.
LSU’s starting pitching – Casan Evans, William Schmidt and Grant Fontenot – was the worst combined effort of the first five Tigers’ SEC series of the season. The trio lasted just a combined 10 innings and had an 8.10 ERA.
Eight of the Tigers’ 11 relievers seeing action gave up a run, leading to a 9.82 ERA.
Five of nine position players who started two or more games batted .200 and under, including two starters who went hitless. LSU batted. 245 for the series, Ole Miss hit .348.
Johnson, whose team fell to 22-15 overall and 6-9 SEC, said Ole Miss’ pitching was as good as advertised.
“We knew coming into this series it would be a challenge against this pitching staff,” Johnson said of the Rebels’ hurlers who had a combined ERA of 4.32 and had only one disastrous inning in the series.
It came on Sunday when three consecutive LSU batters hit solo homers – just like last Sunday at Tennessee – to spark a seven-run rally to tie the game in the top of the seventh.
But the Tigers’ relievers couldn’t seal the deal. Ole Miss shortstop Brayden Randle’s RBI single gave the Rebels (26-11, 8-7 SEC) their winning margin, and the Ole Miss relievers retired LSU’s last six batters.
“We got dominated for the first six innings, you can’t lose sight of that,” Johnson said. “We did come back from a late deficit on a Sunday, which we’ve done before, but we didn’t make the plays we needed to win the game.
“It’s frustrating, because we’re not executing the staples that have been part of our winning formula at LSU. We’re not executing as we should, so we need to keep attacking solutions.”
Two seasons ago oming off its 2023 national championship series, the Tigers were 3-12 in the SEC at the halfway point and had lost all five series (at Mississippi State, Florida, at Arkansas, Vanderbilt, at Tennessee).
LSU went 10-5 in the back half of the league, won four series (at Missouri, Auburn, Texas A&M and Ole Miss), and lost one (at Alabama). It went 4-1 in the SEC tournament, losing in the finals to eventual national champion Tennessee.
Winning 14 of their last 20 games earned LSU a spot in North Carolina’s Chapel Hill Regional where the Tar Heels edged the Tigers 4-3 in 10 innings in the championship game.
This year’s rebuilt Tigers, struggling after their 2025 national title, are still ahead of LSU’s 2023 SEC pace as Johnson’s team opens the second half of league play Friday at home vs. Texas A&M. The Aggies are 27-7 overall and tied with Texas A&M for second place in the SEC at 9-5.
Here’s an LSU-Ole Miss series recap:
GAME 1: OLE MISS 6, LSU 3 – Friday night’s game was tied 3-3 when the Rebels scored three eighth-inning runs on four hits and an LSU error.
Ole Miss leftfielder Hayden Federico had an RBI single, centerfielder Brett Moseley bunted home a run from third base, and shortstop Brayden Randle delivered a sacrifice fly.
GAME 2: OLE MISS 12, LSU 2 (7 innings run rule) – The Tigers led Saturday’s game 2-0 after two innings but were blanked the rest of the way. Ole Miss scored all of its runs in the final three innings.
GAME 3: OLE MISS 8, LSU 7 – The Rebels led 7-0 on Sunday before the Tigers’ seven runs in the top of the seventh tied the game.
LSU sent 12 batters to the plate, had eight hits, and left two on base. Derek Curiel, Cade Arrambide and Jake Brown led off the inning with solo homers.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com