LSU’s bats fall silent against Stony Brook during first loss of the season

It’s been an up-and-down start to the season for the LSU bats.

Thursday’s 10-run performance against Northern Illinois was an up. Last Sunday’s 27 runs against VMI was a way, way up.

But Friday was decidedly not one of those days for LSU, as the Tigers were held scoreless from the second inning on in a 5-2 loss to Stony Brook at Alex Box Stadium.

“I think our team has a chance to play a style of baseball that’s capable of winning no matter what,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “I don’t think we did a good job of that today, and we’ll get them aligned for that better going into a game like this going forward.

“We haven’t seen many days like this or like last Saturday (a 2-0 win over Central Arkansas) in the two years I’ve been here. We’ve got to be better at that.”

LSU (5-1) scored two runs in the second inning on a fly ball that was dropped by center fielder Cam Santerre but recorded only five hits the rest of the game. The Tigers went the entire day without an extra-base hit.

Limiting LSU’s damage was Stony Brook (2-4) right-handed starter Eddie Smink, who surrendered just one earned run and three hits in five innings.

“That was clearly the best pitcher we’ve seen through six games,” Johnson said. “Like, not even close.”

From innings two through four, Smink retired eight consecutive batters.

“He was mixing speeds well, he was locating,” LSU center fielder Paxton Kling said of Smink. “It’s someone we’re going to have to hit, so we’re going to work on that and we’re going to learn from it today and get better.”

The Tigers produced better at-bats after the fourth inning, getting a pair of hits in the fifth and putting two runners on with two outs in the sixth. But they failed to capitalize with runs in either scenario.

They also had runners on second and third base in the seventh, but designated hitter Hayden Travinski grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The exception to the offensive issues was Kling. He was the man responsible for the fly ball that was dropped to score LSU’s only two runs, and he was credited with one RBI for what would have been a sacrifice fly. He also had a pair of singles as the only Tiger on the day with multiple hits.

Despite LSU’s struggles at the plate, it was still well within striking distance of winning the game entering the eighth inning, trailing by just a run.

Left-hander Griffin Herring, who had replaced right-handed starter Thatcher Hurd in the fifth inning, had retired seven consecutive batters entering the eighth. But he allowed two hits and a walk to start the inning, loading the bases with nobody out before getting replaced by right-hander Sam Dutton.

Dutton struck out the first batter he faced but surrendered a double down the left-field line that scored two runs, extending Stony Brook’s lead to three. He got through the inning without allowing anymore runs but the damage had been done.

“You give credit to the opponent there,” Johnson said. “No problem with his pitch execution throughout the two innings he ended up pitching.”

Stony Brook’s first three runs came off Hurd. His second start of the year was an improvement from his first outing but he was far from perfect, walking four batters and allowing three earned runs in 4⅓ innings.

However, his slider was sharp throughout the day and he recorded eight strikeouts while throwing 95 pitches in the process.

“I think it’s something to build off of,” Johnson said when asked about Hurd’s performance. “I thought he was in command of himself. I think Stony Brook did a good job of hitting some low line drives and play into the day. That was probably the difference.”

LSU will try to bounce back when the Tigers host Northern Illinois on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m., and the game can be streamed on SEC Network+.