One of the strong points of LSU’s (13-7, 1-1 SEC) pitching staff has been the bullpen. Saturday night saw that same bullpen fall apart against Mizzou (15-4, 1-1 SEC) and led to a 12-6 win for Mizzou.
Beau Jordan put LSU on the board in the bottom of the fourth with a sac fly, scoring Antoine Duplantis. That 1-0 lead didn’t last long though with Brett Bond responding with a two-run bomb out to right field.
Things truly went off the rails for the bullpen in the eighth when three straight runs were caused by either walks with the bases loaded or a hit by pitch. Eventually, Mizzou put up a total of eight runs highlighted by a two-run single by Trey Harris.
LSU was able to respond in the bottom frame with a pair of solo shots from Jake Slaughter and Zach Watson, but the deficit was too big of a hill to climb.
Caleb Gilbert dropped to 2-1 on the season, allowing two runs off of seven hits, walked one, and struck out four in four and two-thirds innings.
LSU will look to take the rubber match on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1:30 pm.
-Clint Domingue