LSU baseball takes 2nd straight SEC series, winning 2 vs Auburn

BATON ROUGE — Make it two in a row.

For the first time this season, LSU baseball didn't wake up Sunday morning and wonder if it was going to win an SEC series. It locked up its second straight conference series win over Auburn Saturday night in dramatic fashion, walking off with a 3-2 victory off Josh Pearson's RBI single in the ninth at Alex Box Stadium.

Auburn (21-22, 3-18 SEC) did put a sour spin on things, defeating LSU, 7-5, to salvage a game Sunday afternoon.

"Today, I mean, I don't have a great answer other than we didn't win those tipping point moments," LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson said Sunday after his team's defeat.

LSU (28-17, 7-14 SEC) opened the series with a 5-0 victory as starter Gage Jump continued to set the table for the club in that game one starting position.

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After his performance Friday, Jump said he believed he paved the way for the series win for LSU after pitching seven shutout frames, giving up just two hits with six strikeouts. The sophomore lefty currently rides a 14-inning scoreless streak.

Luke Holman followed Jump's lead, navigated a small rocky stretch in the middle of his outing to finish at 6⅔ innings, two runs off two hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.

The Auburn series was the best one-two starter performances from LSU during SEC this season.

LSU baseball in trouble when it has to patch things up on the mound

Johnson gave the nod to freshman Kade Anderson to start game three of the series Sunday and things got ugly quick. Anderson was roughed up from the beginning, giving up five runs on four hits as LSU blinked and looked up at a five-run deficit.

Even standout reliever Griffin Herring gave up two runs to Auburn. He had given up one run in his last 20 innings pitched but allowed two runs off a season-high five hits in 4⅓ frames with four strikeouts.

"We knew Griffin only had a certain amount of pitches available," Johnson said after LSU's loss Sunday. "All of those guys that pitched were going to have to pitch at some point today and it clearly didn't work. I thought Jump completely dominated them the other night and (Anderson) is the most like Jump. It was a one-time through the order type-plan and it's tough to swallow, five runs in two outs."

Auburn ranks at or near the bottom of just about every statistical offensive categories but got to LSU and its best reliever when it got deeper in the bullpen and rotation. Auburn touched them up for a series-high 13 hits on Sunday.

Jay Johnson says LSU baseball playing better as games go on

"It's not just the winning, we've stayed with the game. We're just getting better as the game goes along," Johnson said Saturday. "Of all the good teams I've had, that's always a common thread. It's taken a little while but we're starting to get there."

Prior to the Missouri series, the theme for the Tigers would be to either peak early in SEC games then fizzle out late or never quite get going to their standard during the course of the contest.

Against Auburn, LSU's offense displayed its improvement in that regard. On Friday after three scoreless innings, it struck first and eventually piled up five runs in the win. Johnson's team came back Saturday, answered early when Auburn scored first and then the lineup had their best at-bats in the final three innings, highlighted by Pearson's walkoff hit.

LSU finding two-out offense at right time

There's only 11 regular season games remaining and in order for LSU to make a push at making the SEC Tournament field and possibly the NCAA Tournament, generating offense with two outs needed to happen.

While Auburn is not a great pitching team, LSU seeing itself push across runs late in innings and games, something SEC opponents have haunted LSU with the last six weeks, could be key for this team as this season winds down.

LSU scored 10 two-out runs in three games versus Auburn, which includes Pearson's game-winning hit and three total go-ahead hits.

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After the series win this weekend, LSU baseball has played its way into the 12-team field if the season ended today.

LSU is currently tied with Ole Miss at 11th in the league standings with a 7-14 SEC mark, now ahead of Missouri and Auburn. LSU and Ole Miss will play a series at Alex Box Stadium to close out the regular season May 16-18.

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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: LSU baseball takes 2nd straight SEC series, winning 2 vs Auburn