COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Two weak hits and a blast.
That's all it took for afternoon's game to flip on its head for . The Tigers were an out away from escaping it, leading 4-2 in the eighth inning of Sunday's rubber match with .
Ultimately, it was Texas A&M right fielder Caden Sorrell's three-run home run with two outs in the eighth that gave the Aggies a 6-4 win. The blast proved to be the difference between a series victory and a series defeat for LSU at Blue Bell Park.
"To win in this league, you win when your best players play good," LSU coach Jay Johnson said, "and that's what happened for them today."
To start the eighth inning, LSU redshirt sophomore right-hander Chase Shores got a pair of strikeouts but came out with a runner on third base for junior left-hander Conner Ware. Ware, in the game to face Aggies left-handed slugger Jace LaViolette, surrendered an infield single that drove in a run, cutting the LSU lead to 4-3 before exiting for junior right-hander Zac Cowan.
Cowan allowed a bloop single that put two runners on base and let Sorrell walk up the plate. Sorrell, who has 10 homers in 22 games, worked the count to 2-1 and then blasted a ball over the wall in left field.
After allowing just four earned runs in Southeastern Conference play before this weekend, Cowan surrendered four earned runs and recorded just two outs in two appearances against the Aggies (27-20, 10-14 SEC).
"Zac's Trevor Hoffman to me, (he's) one of the most reliable guys you can have," Johnson said. "We obviously worked our tail off to get the ball to him in that situation, and he's been amazing for us all year long."
LSU (38-11, 15-9) had originally taken the lead on a two-run homer in the sixth inning from senior Luis Hernandez, handing them a 4-2 advantage. Hernandez was the lone Tiger with multiple hits on Sunday.
"I was looking fastball but he gave me a slider down the middle," Hernandez said regarding his homer. "I got a good swing and it went out."
Before Hernandez's blast, LSU's offense got off to a slow start, not scoring through the first three innings and failing to drive in a runner in scoring position in the first and third.
The Tigers wouldn't break through at the plate until the fourth inning when they took advantage of some poor Texas A&M defense to plate a pair of runs.
With a runner on and two outs, Hernandez ripped a double off the top of the top of the wall in left-center field to drive in senior Michael Braswell from first base. Braswell would've been easily thrown out at the plate, but Texas A&M catcher Bear Harrison dropped the ball at home and couldn't corral it in time to tag Braswell.
Hernandez then scored three pitches later on a run-scoring single from sophomore Steven Milam. He also would've been out at the plate by a healthy margin if it weren't for third baseman Wyatt Henseler dropping left fielder Terrence Kiel's throw on the relay towards home.
Both runs handed LSU a 2-0 lead. Tigers third base coach Josh Jordan made the aggressive decision to send Braswell home, but he had the stop sign up for Hernandez. The veteran just missed the late signal.
It was the third time in the series in which LSU was aggressive in sending a runner home with two outs.
"Hits in the series were tough to come by," Johnson said. "So sometimes it's better to roll the dice on making them make a play than expecting your next guy to get a hit with two outs."
LSU's offense had another quiet day overall. The Tigers had just seven hits, two walks and went 3 for 11 with runners on base. However, they did excel with two outs, scoring all four of their runs in those scenarios.
"We want to execute a little better, play a little better with a competitive mindset (that) is one of a team that's capable of accomplishing a lot of things," Johnson said.
Freshman right-hander Casan Evans made his second career start on Sunday and it was an odd one. The Texas native allowed just one earned run but he only lasted 3â…“ innings, throwing a season-high 93 pitches.
Evans walked three batters, surrendered three hits and only recorded two strikeouts. After he allowed a run-scoring single with one out in the fourth, he exited the game for redshirt sophomore left-hander DJ Primeaux.
Primeaux was on the mound to face LaViolette and struck him out before redshirt sophomore right-hander Jaden Noot ended the inning with a fielder's choice groundout. Noot allowed a solo homer in the fifth inning but lasted until the sixth. He was replaced with one out and two on by freshman left-hander Cooper Williams so he could also face LaViolette.
Williams struck out LaViolette and then handed the ball to Shores. Shores hit the first batter he faced to load the bases, but he forced a fly out to left field on a 100 mph fastball to end the sixth.
"I think they may have changed the dynamic of our team today," Johnson said when asked about the bullpen, "with some of the guys taking a step forward the way that they did."
LSU faces Grambling State for its final midweek game of the year on Tuesday. First pitch from Alex Box Stadium is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be available to stream on SEC Network+.
