Tigers to try to recover from Nicholls loss against Boston College
BATON ROUGE – LSU lost to a nonconference opponent in a mid-week game for just the third time out of 49 games going back to 2011 when the No. 2 Tigers fell to Nicholls State, 6-3, Wednesday night in Alex Box Stadium.
“We were outplayed and outcoached, and it’s incumbent upon us to get back to work and get better,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said.
The Tigers (3-1) will get a chance to redeem themselves very quickly as they open a three-game series at 2 p.m. Friday against Boston College (2-2) at Alex Box. A second game follows Friday night at 7 with the third game at 3 p.m. Saturday. The series was changed from its original Friday-Sunday format because of expected bad weather Sunday.
LSU outhit Nicholls, 14-12, but left 17 runners on base and committed four errors in the loss to the Colonels (3-1). It was the second consecutive game in which the Tigers committed four miscues.
“You have to credit Nicholls for playing a great game,” Mainieri said. “They took aggressive swings at the plate and played with a great deal of intensity and energy.”
It was Nicholls’ first win over LSU in 26 games. The Colonels last beat the Tigers on April 15, 2009, by a 3-1 score in Alex Box.
LSU may not drop far in the national rankings, however, if it can sweep Boston College. College baseball rankings are not as impacted dramatically by a single loss in a given week as in football or basketball as there are so many more games in baseball.
“We’re looking forward to the weekend because it’s an opportunity for us to improve and continue to develop into the team we want to be,” Mainieri said.
Mainieri will start sophomore left-hander Jared Poche (1-0, 0.00 Earned Run Average) in the 2 p.m. game Friday against Boston College senior right-hander John Gorman (0-0, 5.06 ERA). Freshman right-hander Alex Lange (1-0, 0.00 ERA), who was named the Southeastern Conference’s pitcher of the week last week after beating Kansas in his debut on a two-hitter, will start the nightcap for the Tigers against junior right-hander Jeff Burke (0-0, 9.00 ERA).
Freshman right-hander Jake Godfrey (0-0, 2.45 ERA) will pitch the 3 p.m. game Saturday against senior left-hander Nick Poore (0-0, 5.06 ERA).