LSU needs to show it can win close ones

Published 7:18 am Friday, March 17, 2017

LSU baseball has its own reasons for thinking TGIF.

The Southland Conference rarely shows up on the Tigers’ schedule for the weekend.

So, welcome to Friday. For the Tigers, thank goodness.

Away from the Southland.

Tonight also marks the opening of Southeastern Conference play, what head coach Paul Mainieri affectionately refers to as the “30-game grind.”

It can be an inconvenience.

There’s a convenient baseball national poll for nearly every possible taste. But at last glance at the five — count them, five (5) of them — the SEC had anywhere from five to seven teams listed in the top 25, eight in the two that expand their polls to 30 teams.

It is recommended to put on your big-boys pants before entering that schedule.

But, if you’re LSU, at least it’s safely away from the SLC.

The Tigers have had about all of that particular fun they can stand.

Oh, it’s not over yet.

There’s still a midweek game Wednesday against Southeastern Louisiana and a date in April against Lamar.

Fortunately for the Tigers both are at home, although that’s certainly no guarantee.

It didn’t help much against New Orleans Wednesday night.

Yeah, LSU hung in there, forced extra innings in the bottom of the ninth and lasted 15 innings before — with some creative twists to go 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position — losing 7-4.

“I’m glad we don’t play UNO anymore this year, to be honest with you,” Mainieri said afterward.

There is that positive — the Tigers are done with the Privateers for this season.

They were swept by UNO for the season, what with the nutty 11-8 loss earlier at New Orleans, in which the LSU bullpen imploded to gag up a 6-1 lead.

“We bring out the best in those guys,” Mainieri said.

Evidently.

The Privateers followed their first victory by losing three of their next five. They went to Baton Rouge Wednesday on a four-game losing streak, including a pair to Southeastern Louisiana.

And, of course, there were similar pitfalls when the Tigers visited McNeese last week for a 5-4 loss.

The Tigers did manage to put a 3-2 whipping on Nicholls State a few weeks ago.

So there’s that. But, all told, the Tigers, who were predicted to win the SEC West and are co-favorites with Florida to win the whole SEC shebang, are 1-3 in the Southland Conference.

The Tigers are 12-2 against the rest of the world, and one of those wins was Division III Louisiana College.

Smug LSU fans will be quick to point out that, being midweek games, none of the Southland teams had to deal with an Alex Lange or Jared Poch? on the mound.

True, but no excuse.

The Southland teams aren’t burning up their weekend starters on midweek games, either, no matter the fun of playing a six-time national champion opponent.

The Southland, however, must be getting some respect, even if it’s not showing up in the polls.

Despite the travails against the SLC, LSU is still nationally ranked — again you can choose from five polls — either No. 6 or No. 7 in all of them.

Well, all of the losses were close.

LSU had the tying and winning runs on at the end against McNeese, same for the first loss to UNO. Wednesday LSU had chances in the ninth and 11th innings for walk-off victories, still got the tying run to the plate in the 15th.

If there’s a concern entering conference play for LSU, that might be it — close games.

When things are going good, the Tigers are piling it on.

In games decided by three or more runs, LSU is 12-0.

So nobody really beat up on the Tigers.

But in games decided by three runs or fewer, the Tigers are 1-5.

They haven’t really had to sweat out a victory yet.

But neither have they had to hang on for one or invent a possum rally for victory.

This is a veteran team that should be striving ?— to borrow a phrase from Les Miles — “in tight quarters.”

But if there’s something this team still has to prove entering conference play, that might be it.

Over the years that clutch play has always been the “it” factor for the really good LSU teams.

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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU

athletics. Email him at

shobbs@americanpress.com