LSU Tigers Drop Kentucky Wildcats Series Opener 7-2 On Friday Night
· Yahoo Sports
The LSU Tigers continue their ugly start to SEC play with a 7-4 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats on Friday night. The Tigers fall to 17-10 on the year and just 2-5 against SEC teams.
Saturday becomes a must-win game if they want to avoid losing the first three conference series. Some regression from last year was expected with the talent lost, but no one saw this much struggle coming.
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After Casan Evans came out of last weekend with a gem in his pocket, striking out 15 Oklahoma Sooners batters in 7.2 innings of work, many thought that the Tigers' ace had finally found his footing in the season. It was another rocky outing for him on Friday night, though.
Evans once again smoothed out as the night went along, but was uneven early as he gave up four runs over six innings. The real killer was six walks, which led to many of the runs he allowed, all of which came in the first two frames.
Maverick Rizy had the best stint out of the bullpen, going two scoreless innings with one hit allowed and three strikeouts.
The bullpen didn't even matter, though, as the LSU offense never battled back from that first deficit. Derek Curiel had a two-RBI single in the third, which gave the team a little bit of life, but the Wildcats' pitching really held the Tigers in check.
Kentucky ace Jaxon Jelkin went eight innings, allowing two runs on just five hits and walking just one LSU batter. He fanned seven. The Tigers couldn't put anything together against him. When the Wildcats replaced him in the ninth, LSU actually showed a pulse.
Seth Dardar did earn some recognition with his individual night at the plate. He went three-for-four with three doubles and an RBI. Ethan Clauss picked up the first RBI of his college career when grounding out in the bottom of the ninth.
The Tigers will try to flush this loss and come out rejuvenated for Game 2 of the series on Saturday afternoon.