Last week, at Louisiana Tech, where LSU suffered its lone loss, it was just more proof that some baseball official scorers do, in fact, have a lively sense of humor.

There were hijinks aplenty that night in Ruston for Tech’s 11-6 victory, but there, amidst the belly laughs from the pro-Bulldogs crowd, might have been the key to LSU’s season.

The Tigers officially made five errors in that game, which is way too many.

And, comical as it was, that’s barely the half of it.

Not to judge the official scorer, but he was feeling mighty charitable even by the rules’ lax standards for defining an error.

By the most conservative reckoning of the night, the Tigers should have been charged with nine (9), just shy of double digits.

That number would have set the single-game LSU record for on-field miscues. But thanks to that forgiving and mischievous eye in the press box, it remains at eight (8) set by the 1984 team, which must have driven first-year coach Skip Bertman batty.

First-year head coach Jay Johnson vowed it would not happen again.

“I’ve never really seen a game like that before,” he said the next day. “Hopefully, it was an anomaly.”

But it wasn’t THAT far off the norm.

LSU appears to have one of the most formidable lineups in the country. Though still in the mix-and-match stage to get pitching roles figured out, my hunch is there are plenty enough quality arms.

But at some point you have to catch the ball — and, perhaps more importantly, throw it to somewhere near the intended area code.

That’s not happening regularly enough.

Even Tré Morgan, the unquestioned best defensive first baseman in LSU history, is having trouble cleaning up all the mistakes, keeping fans in the stands behind first base on wide-eyed high alert.

I could tell you that LSU, which has 14 various miscues in eight games, is on pace to finish one shy of the school record for errors in a season.

You might counter that the 1993 team — the one that made 125 errors — also won Bertman’s second national championship.

So it’s doable.

Just not advisable.

And if history is any indicator the Tigers might just have to blast their way past the mistakes.

Johnson may not, as he said, have ever witnessed anything like the LSU vaudeville act in Ruston.

But he must have seen something similar while at Arizona before coming to the Tigers.

Over the last five years Johnson’s Arizona teams led the Pac-12 in hitting three times and were second another.

Good thing, too.

His Wildcats were also last or next to last in Pac-12 fielding percentage four of those five years, eighth out of the 11 in the other (Colorado doesn’t play baseball).

As of today, LSU is fielding at a .949 clip — Johnson’s worst fielding Arizona team managed .962.

That’s 13th out the 14 in the SEC. And by all means mark your calendars for May 13 when Ole Miss comes to Baton Rouge — the Rebels, at .937, should make for a frolicking fun matchup.

OK, pet peeve and disclaimer all in one here: fielding percentage can be misleading for judging a team’s defense. A lot of average defenses are content to simply make the routine plays and wave at the rest. You’re going to have some errors in pursuit of the highlight reel and you accept the trade-off.

But this LSU defense hasn’t threatened the “SportsCenter” top 10 with anything unusual while too often turning the mundane into a horror show.

When your shortstop has as many errors as assists, it’s not a good sign. Going into tonight’s game with UNO, Jordan Thompson has five of each.

He’s hardly the poster child — all four infielders, even Morgan, had an error in the Tech debacle.

You can’t keep Arizona transfer Jacob Berry’s bat out of the lineup (three home runs, 11 RBIs). But he’s played third base and two outfield spots and it appears his best position is designated hitter. And that’s not going to happen.

There are other problem spots to clean up.

Or else Louisiana’s flagship baseball program is going to give Playing for The Boot a whole new meaning.

—

Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com