Last June feels much farther away than 10 months ago for LSU baseball.
Jay Johnson and his team hoisted the College World Series national championship last summer. Less than a year later, the Tigers have reached a historic low for the program.
LSU (24-21, 6,-15 SEC) suffered its third straight SEC sweep at Mississippi State this weekend. The nine-straight conference losses is a program record.
LSU BASEBALL COVERAGE LSU baseball vs Mississippi State game score – Live updates
Here are three takeaways from LSU's series loss to the Bulldogs.
LSU's postseason hopes have been hanging by a thread for a while now. And without any wins in SEC play for the last three weeks, the Tigers have slowly watched not only wins turns heartbreaking losses but also their chances of making the NCAA Tournament melt to almost 0%.
After dropping all three games at Mississippi State and the remaining conference games left on LSU's schedule including series against No. 5 Georgia and No. 22 Florida, the feeling is that the Tigers are going to have to find a way to win the SEC Tournament in Hoover next month to have any shot at getting into a NCAA regional.
In all three games against the Bulldogs this weekend, the Tigers led by at least three runs. For the first time all season, LSU was able to get off the fast starts in each game, scoring in the first inning in three straight games.
But also for the first time in a couple of weeks, LSU's bullpen couldn't maintain the advantage the offense had built. The relievers gave up 24 runs across 17 innings against Mississippi State. LSU allowed 14 runs in the seventh inning or later.
The Tigers let six separate leads get away over the weekend.
Despite the team's three losses, the future for the Tigers looks bright.
A few freshmen were thrusted into the starting lineup due to injuries, but they showed that they were not afraid of the big stage. LSU's freshmen combined to go 24 for 53 (.453) with nine RBIs and 13 runs scored against Mississippi State
Omar Serna Jr. and Mason Braun particularly had a strong series for LSU. Hitting at the top of the order, both did plenty of damage and increased their team's chances of winning. Serna led the team in hitting going 8 for 14 and had two RBIs and two runs in every game against the Bulldogs.
Braun reached base nine of 15 plate appearances. He scored at least one run in each game and across the three games, Braun hit 7 for 13 with two RBIs.
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Takeaways from LSU baseball's 3rd straight SEC sweep at Mississippi State