Excitement poured into Alex Box Stadium on Friday as fans anxiously awaited the start of the three game series between No. 1 LSU and No. 5 Arkansas, according to D1 Baseball.
For a while, that passion stayed present. Fans defended their Tiger pitchers, screaming at the umpires after every call. They celebrated the tiny victories and scorned what ultimately became huge mistakes.
In extra innings, Arkansas took game one of the series 9-3, plowing through the Tiger’s bullpen little by little.
It wasn’t a surprise when Air Force transfer Paul Skenes stepped onto the mound to begin game one of the series. He has continued to be the obvious choice for the Friday night starter. This outing started no different. In the first inning, Skenes sent the first three Razorbacks back to their dugout quickly, moving the game into the bottom of the first with just nine pitches.
“We have the best pitcher on the planet, as far as I’m concerned with, pitching in a purple uniform on Fridays, and that’s a good way to get you off to a start,” head coach Jay Johnson said in regards to having Skenes in his bullpen.
Skenes continued to shut down Arkansas’ bats until the top of the fourth inning. The Razorbacks kicked off this inning at the plate with a double. Center fielder Tavian Josenberger sent the third pitch of his at-bat to right field. He quickly found himself on third base after a wild pitch from Skenes escaped catcher Brady Neal’s mitt. A sacrifice fly from second baseman Peyton Stovall was all Josenberger needed to cross home plate.
Arkansas was the first to strike.
The scoreboard remained the same through four more innings. LSU closed out the day with eight runs on the game, one more than Arkansas. The Tigers were just never able to actually capitalize on those hits. LSU left eight batters stranded throughout the innings. Poor base running and strike outs at the plate gave those players little opportunity to put down runs. The Arkansas bullpen challenged LSU’s line-up, making the team that had plated 27 runs against Texas A&M just one weekend before look average.
“Your response to any kind of event, especially in hitting when its designed around failure, is going to determine whether you’re successful or not,” Johnson said. “In an at-bat, you have a choice to respond well and get in and compete with two strikes. Some guys probably did that today. Some guys didn’t. And we need them to get back to doing that tomorrow.”
Skenes was retired after the seventh inning. He had allowed two hits and one run, walked three and struck out 12. Of his 105 total pitches, 67 were strikes. Freshman Chase Shores replaced Skenes on the mound. Within the eight batters that the right-handed pitcher faced, he allowed one run and one hit, walked one and struck out three. Shores was retired in the top of the tenth inning.
The mood shifted suddenly in the bottom of the eighth inning when, finally, LSU had plated a run.
Neal led the Tigers off at the plate in this inning and instantly ignited a new passion for not only the fans but for LSU’s dugout as well. The freshman sent a solo shot just over the left field wall, and with only one out, it was assumed that this moment would be the match that started a Tiger offensive fire.
That never happened though.
The eighth inning closed with nothing more than Neal’s home run. The ninth inning concluded quickly for both sides. LSU went into extra innings with Arkansas as fans held their breath, waiting to see who would ultimately run away with the win.
The Razorbacks took the tenth inning and used it to seal their own fate, plating eight runs effortlessly. Arkansas suffocated LSU’s offense, ringing in two home runs within minutes of one another. The final run for the Razorbacks came from a grand slam.
Christian Little was chosen to replace Shores on the mound going into that extra inning. His time was short though. After only facing five Razorbacks at the plate, junior Will Hellmers was called in from the bullpen. Hellmers faced only five batters as well. Little allowed three hits and four runs on the mound while Hellmers allowed one hit and three runs.
In the bottom of the tenth inning, LSU’s last chance to rope in runs, center fielder Dylan Crews was able to send over a home run of his own. The two-run RBI was ultimately all that came out of that inning for LSU.
LSU looks to find a win of their own in game two of the series. Due to inclement weather, game two will be followed by game three, which was originally set to take place on Sunday.
The first pitch of game two in the series is set to take place at 1 p.m. at Alex Box Stadium.
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