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LSU dropped their first weekend series since 1999 with Sunday’s 11-3 loss to Notre Dame.
“This whole weekend we were totally outclassed,” LSU head coach Paul Mainieri said following the beatdown. “The playing, coaching, everything. I have to tip my hat to Notre Dame, they came down here very prepared and very tough. They came down here and took it to us. Conversely, it’s hard for me to find a lot of positive things we did the whole weekend. We obviously have a lot of work to do.”
Pitching continued to be a sore spot for LSU as Todd Peterson lasted just one inning and allowed three runs, all earned, on four hits. Peterson had a clean first two innings but after dancing around two singles in the third he lost two batters and gave up a crucial three run home run.
“From pitch one I knew I was going to have to work really hard today,” Peterson said. “I didn’t think I had my best stuff today, I fell behind in a lot of counts and I wasn’t pitching in the counts like I needed to. I didn’t have my feel for anything.”
The bullpen wasn’t much better, as four bullpen arms gave up eight runs on seven hits. Tiger arms allowed 11 free passes in the Sunday finale after walking eight and hitting three more.
Offensively, the Tigers equally struggled, recording only five hits in the game and scoring two of their runs on solo home runs from the Jordan twins. Spots one through six in the LSU lineup went a woeful zero for twenty on the day.
“The complete aspect of our game just wasn’t good at all,” Beau Jordan said. “After the first night we knew they were better. We didn’t think they would be as good defensively but they came out and made every single play and I give them props for that. They just outplayed us.”
LSU jumped out to a lead in the 3rd inning when the Jordan twins Bryce and Beau lead off the inning with a single and a walk. Brandt Broussard bunted them over (and beat the throw to first but was erroneously ruled out) and Josh Smith brought Bryce home with a sacrifice fly to left field.
Notre Dame responded with a three-run blast from Eric Gilgenbach, scoring Podkul and LSU Kavadas, who both walked.
“They didn’t need it because they played great,” Mainieri said. “But we certainly gave them an awful lot of gifts this weekend. And it all starts on the mound. We have to put the ball over the plate, there is no defense against a base on balls. We’ve got to be better with throwing the ball over the plate and trusting our defense to make some plays.”
LSU had their chance for a big inning in the bottom of the fifth when Nick Webre had the bases loaded with no outs following a double from Beau Jordan and a single from Broussard followed by a Josh Smith hit by pitch. Unfortunately for LSU Webre hit into a 6-3 double play, only scoring Jordan. That’s all LSU would get in the inning, bringing the Tigers within a run.
Notre Dame responded with a three run inning propelled by a Spencer Myers two-run single and a double from Cole Daily to score him.
Beau Jordan lead off the bottom half of the seventh inning with a solo home run, but LSU failed to do anything with the two walks that followed his single shot.
Things got completely out of hand in the ninth inning when Gilgenbach hit a grand slam in the ninth inning, his second of the day and his third on the weekend. Spencer Meyers singled in Daniel Jung after Jung reached on a walk following the grand slam from Gilgenbach.
“LSU has a legacy to uphold,” Jordan told the team. “Weekends like this, its not up to LSU’s legacy. I’ve been a part of three really good teams. This weekend wasn’t fun.”