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With the season on the line, LSU fell to TCU 8-4 to end its 2015 campaign:
LSU did finally break its winless streak in the new TD Ameritrade, so this year's trip to Omaha isn't a total loss. But this was an LSU team that was #1 for almost the entire year. Almost the entire lineup is going to turn pro over the next few weeks, and we could have a near total rebuild on our hands, save for the genius that is Alex Lange on the mound. It appears that the window for this team will likely close for a bit.
The game was back and forth early, with the Tigers striking first. In the top of the first, Jake Fraley walked and then stole second. Kade Scivicque knocked him home with a single to the right side to give LSU a 1-0 lead.
TCU came out hot in the second. Evan Skoug lead the inning off with a single, and a single and a walk then loaded the bases. After striking out Nolan Brown, Paul Mainieri pulled starter Zac Person for Hunter Newman, the first of many pitching changes for LSU. Mainieri used eight pitchers in the game, none of whom faced the entire TCU lineup. On Newman's first pitch, Garrett Crain hit a two-run single that would give the Frogs a 3-1 lead. The Tigers tied it up in the next inning when Fraley hit a triple to drive home Alex Bregman and later scored on a wild pitch.
Austin Bain, who came in after Newman, ran into some trouble in the fifth. A walk, balk, and another walk put two Frogs on base, and Skoug hit a double to send one home and put runners on second and third. Bain then gave way to Jake Godfrey, who gave up a two-run single in the only at bat he pitched. Hunter Devall cleaned things up from there, but now the Tigers were in a 6-3 hole.
After TCU put two more on the board in the seventh, LSU faced a five run deficit. The Tigers did get a run home with one out in the ninth thanks to back-to-back doubles from Chris Sciambra and Andrew Stevenson, and a Mark Laird single and stolen base put runners on second and third. Jared Foster then struck out on three pitches, and that was it for the Tigers.
Given LSU's No. 1 ranking in the polls and its roster of talented veterans, exiting before even getting to the final of its half of the bracket is something of a disappointment. There is no shame in having TCU be the one to knock the Tigers out, but only coming away with a single win, and against the weakest team in the field, was not what LSU had in mind.