Omaha Shocks LSU 5-4

Too little too late

In what was shaping up to be maybe the ugliest loss of the Jay Johnson era, LSU (5-1) put up a late fight but still lost to Omaha 5-4 to even the series.

The most dramatic thing about Saturday afternoon’s game was whether or not LSU would also get no-hit, and they came pretty damn close to pulling off the feat. It took an Ashton Larson single with two outs in the eighth inning to finally break up the bid.

Jay Johnson is known to tinker with his lineups in the early portion of the season, and Saturday’s morning game’s had the most noticeable changes: Daniel Dickinson batted leadoff, while Derek Curiel moved over to centerfield and replaced Chris Stanfield; Ashton Larson slid over to left, while Jake Brown rounded out the outfield in right.

Junior righty Anthony Eyanson made his second start for the season and after issuing a five-pitch walk to lead off the game, Eyanson was able to get a pair of strikeouts and a weak fly down the left field line to end the first.

Omaha starting pitcher Ben Weber had trouble finding the strike zone early. He walked Dickinson and then, after throwing a wild pitch that allowed Dickinson to steal second, walked Curiel on four pitches. Weber was able to get Jared Jones to pop out on the first pitch offered up, and Ethan Frey, getting the start at DH, just missed what likely would have been an RBI double but ended up flying out as well. Larson was hit by a pitch to load the bases but Milam weakly flew out to squander the scoring chance.

Eyanson lived dangerously in the second, giving up a one-out double to Trent Bulkhalter and walking Eli Houerner, but he was able to throw up another zero thanks to his fourth K of the afternoon.

LSU loaded the bases again in the second inning without recording a hit. Jake Brown drew a walk to lead off the inning, Cade Arrambide got hit by a pitch, and Dickinson reached base after a 10-pitch battle with Weber. But, like they did in the first, LSU squandered that chance as well.

Eyanson settled in the third and fourth innings as he recorded consecutive three up, three down innings. He needed those zeros because he got absolutely no help from his offense. LSU was held without a hit through six innings and wasted two bases loaded situations. Eyanson’s day concluded after six innings where he allowed three hits, walked a pair, and struck out seven. He was replaced by Grant Fontenot in the seventh.

Fontenot promptly hit the first two batters he faced. The first was borderline, so much so that Jay Johnson challenged the call, but the hit by pitch ruling stood after video review. Fontenot was replaced after just three pitches by Connor Benge.

Benge immediately committed an error in trying to hold the runner at second, and the errant throw allowed the Omaha runner to reach third. With runners on the corners, Eli Hoerner hit a single to left to score the first run of the contest. Omaha doubled its lead to 2-0 when a Benge wild pitch got by Arrambide that scored Drew Borner.

Benge’s afternoon would only worsen as later in the seventh inning Jackson Trout took him deep to left field for a three-run homer to push Omaha’s lead to 5-0. All three runs given up by Benge were charged to him.

Cooper Williams took the mound in the eighth inning and did a good job of stopping the bleeding. Williams worked a quick 1-2-3 eighth and showed off a nice glove to get the second out of the inning.

LSU showed a little bit of life in the ninth inning when Tanner Reaves led off the inning with a pinch-hit single and Jake Brown laced a double to left field. Ryan Costello walked to load the bases and flip the lineup over to Daniel Dickinson.

Dickinson plated a double to push across LSU’s first two runs of the game. Jared Jones kept the momentum going with a single to push across a third run. Josh Pearson flew out to center but there was no throw home and Dickinson was able to tag from third and make it a 5-4 game. Larson struck out and Milam flew out to center to end the game.

LSU and Omaha will play the decisive game of this three-game series at 5:00 P,M.