{"id":256807,"date":"2026-04-19T12:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/256807\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T12:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:23:11","slug":"lsu-baseball-loses-to-texas-am-on-saturday-dropping-series-lsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/256807\/","title":{"rendered":"LSU baseball loses to Texas A&M on Saturday, dropping series | LSU"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday night, Jay Johnson<\/a> reset expectations for the 2026 season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not only did LSU<\/a> need to play better, but it also had to learn how to play better. That meant shortening up swings and hitting the ball low and hard with two outs. It also meant playing sound defense and executing with two strikes on the mound.<\/p>\n

There was no need to talk about the mental side of the game. Johnson had already conducted that conversation with his team countless times. This was about getting better on the field, whether that would be this year or next. Making the NCAA Tournament felt like a secondary topic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a process of winning here that we have not been connected to as a team. And it bothers me,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAnd so, I’m going to coach as hard as I can on baseball-specific stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we’re going to struggle and fail, we’re going to create some value out of that. And that’s not where we want to be, not where we expect to be, but that’s where we are right now, and that’s what we have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

But LSU didn\u2019t learn how to play better and flip the script in one night. The Tigers were outclassed by Texas A&M (30-7, 11-5 SEC) for a second consecutive day on Saturday at Alex Box Stadium, falling 7-2 and suffering their sixth loss in seven games.<\/p>\n

Since an 8-0 start to the year, LSU is 15-17 over its past 32 contests.<\/p>\n

\u201c(We) got beat today by a good offensive team, (and) a pitcher that pitched well,\u201d Johnson said, \u201con a team that\u2019s flowing a little bit better than we are and played better today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s result was a similar story to what has plagued the Tigers for most of this season. They fell behind after a slow start at the plate, made mistakes in the field and struggled to finish innings with two outs on the mound.<\/p>\n

The abnormal part was how the Aggies knocked around sophomore right-handed starter William Schmidt. In his sixth start in Southeastern Conference play, he allowed seven earned runs and seven hits in 5\u2153 innings.<\/p>\n

He walked four batters, but his biggest problem was how hard he got hit. Schmidt allowed four extra-base hits, including two home runs. The defense didn\u2019t cost him any runs, but senior second baseman Tanner Reaves also dropped a throw at second from catcher Cade Arrambide on a stolen base attempt.<\/p>\n

LSU also gave up three wild pitches. Those plays \u2014 wild pitches and passed balls \u2014 are signs of a struggling team, at least in Johnson\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a bad sign. You want to look at struggle? Literally, look at those two stats,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019ll show you the team that\u2019s either playing clean or struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The seven runs Schmidt surrendered placed LSU\u2019s offense in a hole that it never came close to working its way out of. Steven Milam hit a solo home run in the second inning, but that was the Tigers\u2019 only run-scoring hit of the night.<\/p>\n

They went 1 for 10 with two outs and had just one runner reach second base.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is frustrating going from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows,\u201d Milam said. \u201cBut, you know, that\u2019s baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

LSU (23-17, 6-11) isn\u2019t totally out of the NCAA Tournament picture. Since last Sunday, the Tigers have moved up 14 spots in the RPI \u2014 a schedule-based metric used by the NCAA Tournament committee to help determine the field. Their remaining schedule also gives them plenty of opportunities to earn big wins over top RPI teams.<\/p>\n

But Johnson\u2019s tenor and message on Friday told a different story, and so did Saturday\u2019s result.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now (it\u2019s about), how do we play better? Because if I’m going to have players that are going to continue on here,\u201d Johnson said on Friday, \u201cwe have to make some value out of this part of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

LSU and Texas A&M finish their three-game series on Sunday. First pitch from Alex Box Stadium is set for 1 p.m., and the game will be available to watch on ESPN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Friday night, Jay Johnson reset expectations for the 2026 season. Not only did LSU need to play…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[32566,27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-256807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-hardwall","9":"tag-texas","10":"tag-texas-headlines","11":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}