There will be those who minimize this weekend's sweep of Fullerton. Fullerton committed ten errors on the weekend, so LSU didn't so much win as Fullerton lost. The only reason LSU won is because of the home Box advantage, and it would be a different series on a neutral field. LSU routinely blew leads, exposing the weakness of their bullpen. Choose your narrative. The response?
Scoreboard.
Oh, and LSU will further get to prove themselves next weekend against Florida. You may have heard, but they have a pretty good team as well. LSU doesn't get to sit back for the rest of the season and say, "we swept Fullerton," but it sure is a nice feather in the cap.
LSU went, in the national narrative, from promising young team to legitimate national title contender in the span of a weekend. You can make excuses that we didn't take Fullerton's best punch, and that is partly true, but Fullerton is one of the best teams in the nation, boasting an incredible array of pitching talent. And LSU clobbered those pitchers to the tune of 24 runs and 31 hits.
Even more encouraging, LSU showed that this team has all of those soft and fuzzy intangibles. LSU blew big early leads in the first two games, and both times they calmly rallied for the winning runs. This team is a mentally tough bunch. Even in their one loss, they rallied back from a huge deficit and almost won the game on a bases loaded walk. Burned by a bad call against Holy Cross, LSU did not hesitate to work a bases loaded walk in a late inning situation against CSF. Last game is last game.
It wasn't a perfect weekend by any stretch. Just ask Ryan Eades or Chris Cotton who combined for a line of 0.2 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, and 5 R (all earned). Yeah, ouch. It would have also been a lot nicer had LSU not blown their leads in the first place. But, at the end of the weekend, you simply cannot complain about a sweep of one of the best teams in the country.
Things look real good in Alex Box right now. It might not have looked perfect, but it sure felt perfect.
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