Jaguar baseball lose season opener 6-1 to LSU, face USC, UCLA. BCC

For Southern, its 6-1 debut loss to LSU Tuesday night revealed what the Jaguars need to improve on most going into this weekends series in Los Angeles.
The Jaguars (0-1) struggled driving in just one run on three hits, leaving men on base when it needed it most late in the game.
LSU (3-1) took command early with a 1-0 lead as Ryan Schimpf stole home plate when catcher Michael Thomas dropped a pitch from Chase Richard midway through the first inning and never looked back. The Tigers then stretched the lead to 3-0 on hits from Micah Gibbs and Leon Landry before Chad Jones grounded out ending the inning.
“I thought our guys did a good job against Malloy and got some big hits to give us a lead early in the first inning,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri.
The Tigers laid two more runs on the Jaguars in the second getting out to a 5-0 advantage on a Schimpf bunt which scored D.J. LeMahieu and Michael Hollander after SU saw its first three batters retired at the top of the inning.
“I knew we had some concerns on the hitting side prior to us playing,” said SU coach Roger Cador. “It appears that we aren’t at the level of hitting I would like to see.”
SUs defense put the clamps down holding LSU scoreless until the sixth when LeMahieu scored on a Hollander double, but couldn’t get its offense out of neutral as Ryan Verdugo had nine strikeouts in five innings pitched.”In spite of all the strike outs tonight I still feel we have a chance to be a good hitting team,” Cador said. “There are some adjustments we need to make, but we’ll be OK.”
SU threatened in the eight loading the bases against Ben Alsup, and scored a run cutting LSU’s lead to 6-1, but saw Charles Hall pop-up to end the inning with two men left in scoring position.
Juan Mujica and Jordan Palmer grounded out before LSU reliever Nolan Cain struck out Thomas to end the game.
SU went seven innings without a hit, with Victor Franklin’s single in the fourth and a pair of singles by Franklin and Jesse Olivar in the eight. SU also had 11 batters to strikeout as Verdugo retired the side three out of five innings pitched.
“There are a lot of things we can improve on, but mainly we did not swing the bat well,” Cador said.SU pitchers Jarrett Malloy and Chase Richard didn’t do so bat either, allowing seven hits and four earned runs against a loaded LSU team.
“Give credit to the Southern pitchers¬, I thought they did a really good job,” Mainieri said. “They looked good to say it was their first game. When we play them in April, I’ll be a nervous wreck getting ready for that game because I know they will be ready to play.”
Notes
Tuesday’s game had 1,606 fans in attendance with temperatures dropping to 55 degrees as frigid winds blew through Alex Box Stadium.
SU will be on the road Friday-Sunday for the inaugural Urban Classic held in Los Angeles and televised live on ESPN2. The weekend series features SU vs. Southern Cal Friday, Bethune-Cookman vs. SU, Saturday and SU vs. UCLA Sunday.
“The competition tonight was better than average, but we’re going to be facing that the next five games,” Cador said. “We might as well be prepared for it.”