16-05-2025
LSU blows ninth inning lead and drops game one vs. South Carolina
LSU baseball entered Thursday with a chance to finish the season strong and earn the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament, but LSU took a step back after blowing a 5-4 ninth-inning lead vs. South Carolina to lose 6-5.
The only thing LSU can control is how it finishes against the Gamecocks. Former Tigers head coach Paul Maneiri is the head coach for Carolina, and he has had a rough time this year.
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Before the game started, Jay Johnson announced that Kade Anderson would be pushed back to start the Friday game and Anthony Eyanson would start the Saturday game. Conner Ware got the start in game one.
LSU grabbed the lead early as a two-run homer by Danny Dickinson gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. In the bottom of the second inning, a sacrifice fly by the Gamecocks cut the lead in half, making it 2-1 Tigers through two full innings.
Jaden Noot entered to pitch for the Tigers in the second inning. He worked through the rest of the second inning and remained in the game until the bottom of the sixth. LSU added to its lead in the top of the fifth inning as Jared Jones hit an RBI single to increase the lead to 3-1.
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The Tigers possibly could have scored more, but a baserunning error got the Gamecocks out of the inning. In the bottom of the sixth inning, an error led to a couple of runs for South Carolina as they tied the game 3-3.
Chase Shores entered to pitch for the Tigers to finish the sixth inning. Noot finished with four innings pitched. He allowed two runs on two hits, five strikeouts, and zero walks. Shores found himself in a jam in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Gamecocks had runners on first and second with one out. Josh Pearson then became the hero the Tigers needed as he made a great catch to cause a double play to end the inning.
In the top of the eighth inning, Dickinson hit a single, and Jake Brown entered to pinch-hit for Luis Hernandez. Brown hit a single to move Dickinson to third base with one out.
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Josh Pearson was then intentionally walked to load the bases. Stephen Milam then hit a sacrifice fly to give LSU the lead again. Michael Braswell III then hit an RBI single to score another run to make it 5-3. Chris Stanfield then struck out to send us to the bottom of the eighth inning.
Zac Cowan entered to pitch for the Tigers in the bottom of the eighth inning. Shores finished after two full innings. He allowed zero runs on two hits, one strikeout, and zero walks.
Cowan was greeted by a triple and a single to cut the lead to 5-4. That runner was caught stealing by Cade Arrambide then back-to-back flyouts ended the inning. We headed to the ninth inning with the Tigers still leading by one run.
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In the bottom of the ninth inning, LSU entered with a 5-4 lead. After striking out the first batter, Cowan gave up a homer and a triple to tie the game and put the winning run at third base.
Cowan then hit the next batter to put runners on the corners with one out. He got a pop fly for an out, and then an intentional walk loaded the bases for the Gamecocks. A wild pitch then scored the game-winning run for South Carolina. LSU falls to 40-14 overall and 17-11 in conference play with the loss. Game two is scheduled for Friday night at 6 PM.
This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: LSU blows ninth-inning lead vs. Paul Mainieri's South Carolina
