It's the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. fans of your team, and you can even jump into the national chats and talk about whatever's happening across the league. Tap the Everydayer Club link in the show notes to learn more. A disgusting display by the Tigers. Clearly, the season is over. We're going to talk about it locked on LSU. I'm ticked off. Here we go. you are locked on LSU your daily podcast on the LSU Tigers part of the locked on podcast network your team every day okay let's get it it is locked on LSU your team every day I'm your host Matt Moscona. Thank you for making us your first listen every day. We're free available wherever you get great podcasts, of course on YouTube as well. So please subscribe as always. One of the fastest ways to help us grow is by leaving your comments below. So thank you sincerely for that. I don't think that's going to be a problem today. LSU loses to McNeese seven to six. Whoa, clearly, clearly this team stinks. Clearly they are overrated. Clearly they are not worthy of their praise. Clearly, they are no good whatsoever. Or maybe last year's national championship team lost to Omaha and was run ruled by Northwestern State. Y'all don't want to think about that, do you? 2023 Tigers lost to both ULL and to Nichols, but y'all don't want to think about that either, do you? All right. We'll get into the game. Okay, look. I'm patronizing a little bit. If you have followed me, my content, whatever, for any length of time, you know how I feel about this. This is baseball. And some of you don't like that explanation. But LSU has been playing baseball since 1893. The first ever athletic event in LSU history was a baseball game between LSU and Tulane back in 1893. First ever athletic event. LSU in more than 100 years, 130 years of athletics, has never had an undefeated season in baseball. It just doesn't happen, man. I mean, I guess LSU Shreveport did it last year, and that's awesome, which is so wild and crazy. But you're going to lose games, man. you're going to lose games. This is baseball. It's what happens. Some of you don't like that explanation. You don't think LSU should ever lose to McNeese, but it happens all the time. And the great Skip Burtman is swept at home by Houston in 2000, a year where they won the national championship. LSU lost a home series to Maine in a national championship year under Skip Burtman. You lose games. It happens. So when a game like this happens, I tend to look at, okay, what did I see? What did I like? What did I not like? What were they doing? And I don't necessarily need to delve into, you know, the midweek games matter. We've had that conversation for a decade now when I started that whole thing when LSU lost in 2017 to South Alabama. And the thing I pointed out at the time was there were none of the pitchers in that game that were going to throw for LSU and Omaha. And none of them did. It's the midweek is more about getting guys at bats, experience, mound time for young pitchers, figuring out roles. And along the way, you're going to win way more than you lose. But it's baseball, and there's times that things like this are going to happen. So I want to go through the game a little bit. But more importantly, I want to go with what my takeaways from this game were because I think that's really what we're looking for. And this is a game where, I mean, LSU, it started really good. I mean, LSU in the first inning, Marcos Paz got the start, who, by the way, Marcos Paz is a guy that, but for having surgery in high school, never would have showed up on a college campus. This is a guy who, mark my word, book it here on Tuesday, February the 24th at 10.38 p.m. Central Time, I'm telling you, is going to be a weekend starter for LSU. Not this year necessarily, but in his career he will be, and he'll be a dominant one. He's a guy who's an upper 90s guy that everyone in the scouting world thought would be a straight-to-the-pros guy, but had surgery, arm issue surgery, ends up on LSU's campus, and that's going to be the LSU's great benefit. But this was his first start, and sometimes that's not going to go great. Now, in the first inning, it did go great. He went fly out, fly out, strike out for a 1-2-3 first, and it was awesome. And then York homered in the bottom of the first to put LSU up 2-0, and you thought, oh, this is going to be really good. This is kind of how it looks in midweeks. And then in the second inning, it completely got away from Marco's pause, and a lot of it was things that he maybe could have controlled. He got a strikeout to start the inning, so you're feeling good, but then he goes single, ground out against two outs, two outs, one on, and he goes walk, hit by pitch, bases loaded walk, and it's over. Just that quick. And when you look at Paz, his stuff is amazing, and he's going to be great. But I had a conversation with William Schmidt on my radio show on Monday. And he talked about you know I asked him the biggest difference year one to year two And aside from his you know just his physicality and being a bigger player you know gaining 20 pounds He talked about like the nerves and just understanding It's like you go, you throw the first pitch, throw to the first hit. And you're like, okay, I've done this before. And for some of these guys, it just matters a lot. No matter how big of a prospect you are, you go from throwing 197 to 100 against high schoolers to pitching on the mound at Alec Bucks Stadium wearing the LSU uniform. And some guys take that easily and some guys don't. Some guys are Derek Curiel that can start from their first game in college and be a near 400 hitter and get on base in literally every game. And some guys are Cam Johnson who are supremely gifted players who just struggle to throw strikes. And it takes them a couple of years. So it's the benefit of a midweek is a guy like Marco Paz, who's this insane physical specimen with this incredible ability, needs those experiences, which is why midweeks matter for him, is to go get mound time in a game that you lose and it's not going to hurt you. And that's always been the point about midweeks. It's not to say that any competitive environment you should try to lose or you shouldn't try to win. Of course you should. But it's to say losing that game isn't going to prevent LSU from reaching any of its goals. Midweek games are far more about getting guys like Paz mound time, experience. In this ballgame, y'all, if you're not looking at the box score and I'm looking at it right now. LSU through Paz, Williams, Dothi, Rizzi, Lockenmeyer, Rickon, Garcia, Cowan, Sheeran, Newt. Wait, like, Paz, Williams, Dothi, Rizzi, Lockenmeyer, Rickon, Garcia, Cowan, Sheeran, Newt. 10, 10, 10 pitchers. 10 pitchers in this ballgame. 10. The only way you're ever throwing 10 in a conference game or a regional game, a postseason game, is if you're up 10, down 10, and you're just getting through it. So I'm just not going to overreact to that. I'll tell you, the thing I thought was actually an interesting decision was not starting Zach Cowan. Because Cowan did start in the midweek last week against Nichols. And he didn't do great. and then he didn't pitch this past weekend down in Jacksonville. So I thought they'd give him the ball and maybe let him extend a little bit. That didn't happen. Now, Cowan did get into the game, and he faced two hitters in what was the – in the seventh, he went out there, and he faced two hitters, and he got a fly out, and he walked the guy, and then gave away to Sheeran, who was awesome, by the way. And so if I asked you this, and this might be my biggest takeaway of the entire game, If you go Paz, Williams, Dothi, Rizzi, Lock and Meyer, Rickon, Garcia, Cowan, Sheeran, Newt, there's 10. I said, who do you think are the guys that are going to be the most significant contributors moving forward? I would probably tell you Sheeran, Cowan, and Garcia. Cooper Williams probably that mix as well. And Rizzi. But guys like Paz, Dothie, Lockenmeyer, Rickon, maybe Newt, we'll see, are guys that you're just trying to get experience to at this point. Williams pitched two-thirds of an inning. Faced four hitters. He did hit a guy, but he had a strikeout and gave up a hit. Rizzi went two-thirds of an inning, walked a guy, hit a guy, not great. Garcia, I thought, was huge in this ballgame. One of my really big takeaways was Garcia. He faced two hitters, struck them both out. And I think that is massively important. I'm sorry, he faced three. He gave up a hit and struck out two. Cowan, we just talked about, and then Sheeran was fantastic. Sheeran went an inning in two-thirds, and he faced the minimum, struck out two. And Sheeran was awesome and continues to prove that he's a really reliable and awesome endgame type option. So that's more what I look at because I'm looking at this point. Who do you think you're going to be able to rely on when you get into really key moments? So as to say, if you're in a three to two ball game on a Saturday in conference play against A&M, like, and you need two outs, who are you going to give the ball to in the ninth? Well, herein is starting to establish himself really is that guy that you can count on because every time he's been out there, he's been that guy, right? That's the value of a lot of these games. So let me really quickly step aside so I can get all my elements in. I want to come back. I do want to talk about this game. There were a couple of key moments in the game that I thought were certainly impactful, and we'll get to that as we continue. It is Locked on LSU. Thanks for being here. It's your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Mazda, moving the game forward. For those who show there's more to the score than what's on the screen. I don't know. In this game, LSU loses to McNeese 7-6, so you kind of look at where was a lot of the good. I mean, the only player with multiple hits was John Pearson, who actually had a homer in the eighth inning that drew LSU within seven to six. So we can go with John Pearson in this moment. And these are models of what it takes to raise the bar, the extra work off the field, dialing in every detail, giving it the extra fire, the grit, the never quit. 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Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now. Support the show by saying you heard about Indeed on Locked on LSU. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. So a couple other things. that I wanted to dive into. I thought it was so important in the second and the fourth inning, which were the only two innings of the ball game where McNeese scored runs. And the reason I think it's important to note both of these, one of the things that Jay Johnson talks about often is, look, you're going to give up runs. It's baseball. It happens. But when you do, you need to limit damage. You need to be able to hold them to a single run. Like over the weekend, we saw some of those instances where maybe there was an uprising, but you were able to get guys on. Maybe a guy came in, but you were able to limit damage. That didn't happen. The two, McNeese only scored in two of the nine innings. But in both of them, the innings got away from LSU in large part because of some of the self-inflicted wounds that McNeese was able to take advantage of. So in the second, Paz let off the inning by striking out Stringfellow, but then they went single, ground out. So again, two outs, one on two outs, and it went walk, hit by pitch, bases loaded, walk. You allowed them to get on the board without putting the ball in play. That's a problem. Like, that's a self-inflicted wound. So then Williams comes in, hits a guy with the bases loaded, another runs in, and then gives up a single to allow another run. So all that to say, yes, I mean, he's had a couple of hits in the inning, but that was compounded by your inability to throw the ball over the plate. And maybe in this entire game, the one that I was most concerned about was Cooper Williams, because that's a guy from the left side who they are really counting on to be an impact guy. And the stuff is plenty good enough, but he's got to throw it over the plate. He didn't in this game. So you start to look at where is that impactful left-hander out of the bullpen going to come in. And I think maybe just maybe that's where a guy like Garcia comes into play, which I want to talk about in a second, but think about the fourth, the fourth, where they put up the three spot started when Fontenot was hit by a pitch. So you opened that inning with Dothie hitting Fontenot. So runners on, nobody out. You bring in Rizzi who promptly walks the guy. So you have automatically given them two base runners. Then you get a ground out, hit by pitch. Again, they have three guys that have gotten on base without allowing a base hit. That's a problem. So then they go sack fly to score a run, and then a single, which scores another run. The point being, in their two innings with the crooked numbers, they had, let's see, a hit by pitch, a walk, hit by pitch. And then in the second, they had walk, hit by pitch, walk, hit by pitch. You gave them seven base runners. They scored in two innings. In those two innings, you gave them seven base runners. Like most nights when LSU scores six, now they out hit McNeese eight to seven. Most nights, if you get six runs on eight hits, you're still going to win the ball game because your arm talent should be plenty good enough to do that. This wasn't one of those because on this day, your pitching staff walked six and hit five. You gave them 11 base runners in this ballgame. Now, you look and say, okay, well, who gave up those base runners? Well, Paz walked two. Rizzi walked one. Lockenmeyer walked one. Rickon walked one. Cowan walked one. Hit by pitch. Paz, Williams, Dothie hit two. Rizzi hit one. I mean, it's why I look and go Williams hitting a guy, Cowan that walk, Rizzi walking a guy, hitting a guy. Those are the ones that I'm most concerned about because those are guys you think you're going to count on this year. And you need them to be better than they were in this ballgame. Now I also thought something that was a positive was after LSU scored in the fifth sixth and eighth LSU was able to throw up a zero, which allowed them to get back in the ballgame. Because after going up 2-0 in the bottom of the first, Mignes put up a fourth spot in the second, a three spot in the fourth. They were up 7-2. And then LSU put up the two spot in the fifth, then put up a zero in the sixth. They added a run in the sixth, probably put up a zero in the seventh. Pearson's Homer in the eighth, then threw up a zero in the ninth. I think that was impactful. The ability after LSU scored runs to get back in the game to throw up zeros. That was a good response by the pitching staff. And I really thought in the sixth, it was so important what Garcia did. Because keep in mind at that point, they go up seven to two. You put two spot in the fifth, so it's seven to five. They go out there on the sixth, and they go, strikeout, double, walk. So now you've got first and second with one out, and Garcia comes in. And you need to throw up a zero because you just inched closer. And what does Garcia do? Strikeout, strikeout, boom, to end the sixth, out of the jam, to throw up a zero that allows you to gain some momentum. That was a really, I thought, impactful moment in this game for Garcia, the Oregon transfer coming in in that moment. So, look, there were some things that you liked a lot. Do I wish the offense had gotten going more in this game? Sure. You know, but I'll also look, and I was, you know, I'm watching the game, and in the ninth inning, Serna struck out on a 69-mile-an-hour pitch. Y'all, the odds of LSU seeing a 69-mile-an-hour pitch in conference play or in the postseason, I mean, that's a 69-mile-an-hour pitch is something that I would have seen as a seventh grader. What are we talking about? it's when you're used to seeing not 95 from everybody you face and especially when you do an interest squads and all of a sudden you're out there against a lefty you know topping out in the low mid 80s it's just a hard thing to adjust to I know nobody likes that that that explanation everyone wants to be mad because they lost a game to McNeese and it's embarrassing and all that stuff But there's just literally an example in every season in the history of LSU baseball where you can point to LSU losing a game like this. So more so what I would say is congrats to former Tiger Justin Hill in his 13th season at the helmet, McNeese, on a great win where LSU wasn't at their best. McNeese made enough timely pitches and had enough timely at bats to capitalize on LSU's mistakes, the gifts that LSU pitching gave them in this ballgame. And they want a really significant game, a game that for them, for RPI purposes, is a really significant thing. And for LSU, the loss, that's not going to hurt them. I don't know I'm going to hear the whole midweeks games matter and all that stuff. If you want to talk about from a competitive standpoint, do you want to win every time out? Of course you do. In baseball, it's not realistic. And losing this game doesn't hurt you a lick. As I've said a million times every year, LSU or any team in the SEC can lose every single midweek game they play. Can lose all of them. You can go 0 for in the midweek. If you're 20 and 10 in conference play, you're a national seed. It's the nature of it. It's how it works. so this loss isn't going to hurt LSU. If anything, maybe it's a bit of a wake-up call and something for, hopefully, Jay Johnson, Nate Geske to learn from as they start to enact some of the lessons and some of the information they got from watching this game and this team lose in this game to maybe help them as they move forward. So Tigers lose for the first time this year. Their 16-game winning streak dating back to last season is over, So they'll lick their wounds and they'll get back after it this weekend for a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday round robin weekend out at Alec Box Stadium. Hopefully it's a good weather weekend out at the box. The Tigers have a round robin with Dartmouth and Northeastern. So Friday against Dartmouth, Saturday against Northeastern, Sunday against Dartmouth, and then back on Monday night against Northeastern. midweek game next week, Sacramento State, Creighton, and then they're opening up against Vanderbilt in conference. So getting close to conference play, another opportunity to watch the Tigers, albeit in a loss on Tuesday night against McNeese. And you know the drill. As long as the Tigers are playing baseball, we'll be here talking about it on Locked on LSU. So do me a favor. If you're watching with us live here on YouTube, thank you so much for being here with us. Please smash that like button, subscribe to the channel. If you're on podcast, please subscribe on your favorite podcast app, rate us, leave a review. I mention this often, but I really appreciate it. If you are watching live on YouTube or if you're watching on demand on YouTube, thank you. Please still, even if you watch on YouTube, which is amazing, please still go subscribe to the audio podcast on your favorite podcast app. That's just a massive way that you could help us. So I'd appreciate it greatly. Okay, until next time, it is Locked on LSU, your team every day. you can just move through life or you can find the things that move you it's your choice choose joy choose the road choose your shot take it choose to get in there choose your calling choose your path just choose we craft cars for those who choose to do more than simply move you know who you are Mazda, move and be moved
