Baseball Loses Seventh Straight; Football and Recruiting Notes

BASEBALL

Florida swept LSU this weekend, and the Tigers have now lost seven games in a row.  The team is not pitching well.  They are not hitting well.  And they are not running the bases well.  They are in a funk, and I suspect they are going to snap out of it pretty soon.  Paul Maineri's teams typically bounce back from adversity like this.   Unfortunately, this particluar slump has killed any chance LSU had of earning a Top 8 national seed.  If the season ended today, LSU would probably not even host a Regional. 

Coach Maineri tried to shake things up by starting Matty Ott on Sunday, but Ott got roughed up pretty bad.  I suspect Ott will return to the bullpen next weekend. 

So what is wrong with the team?  LSU was very successful in close games earlier in the season.  Lately, the Tigers have been on the wrong end of most of those games.  What has changed? 

Since Trey Watkins went out with an injury, the lineup has been unsettled and just hasn't felt right.  Also, Anthony Ranaudo's injury earlier in the season has set him back and he hasn't been fully comfortable yet.  Those two things stand out as the biggest contributing factors to LSU losing three of their last four SEC series.  The good news is that Watkins should return to the lineup before the end of the season and perhaps his return will spark the offense heading into the post season.  I'm also quite confident that Anthony Ranaudo will soon regain the form of one of the nation's top pitchers. 

LSU now sits at fourth place in the SEC West; however, they are only three games out of first place.  LSU has three SEC series remaining on the schedule.  They play Vanderbilt at home, then travel to Lexington to play Kentucky before returning home to face Mississippi State.  All three teams are behind LSU in the SEC standings.  LSU faces Southeastern at the Box on Tuesday. 

FOOTBALL

Jackass Season has reared its ugly head.  Backup center T-Bob Hebert was arrested Saturday morning for DWI.  Coach Miles has not made any statements about Hebert's arrest, and it's unclear what his future will be on the team. 

Several sites have reported that incoming freshman Tyrann Mathieu is now fully academically qualfied.  A few other incoming freshmen still have some work to do.  I'm not certain, but I believe that Brandon Worle, Alfred Blue, and Jahkari Gore are still working to be eligible. 

RECRUITNG

Klein Oak (TX) High school teammates Nathan Hughes and Max Stevenson both announced verbal commitments to Oklahoma over the weekend.  LSU was recruiting both players and had offered both guys. 

According to Tigerbait.com, LSU has offered West Palm Beach quarterback Jacoby Brissett.  Brissett has great size at 6'5" 235 pounds and is on Rivals.com's 250 Watch List.