Matters went from bad to worse for the  baseball team Monday against .
Playing in the shadow of the LSU women's basketball loss to Iowa in the Elite Eight, the Tigers baseball team went 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position and 2 for 23 with runners on base.
LSU allowed eight runs and six hits after five innings and made three errors that resulted in four unearned runs to a team that entered the day two games below .500.
The Tigers also scored seven runs and drew 11 walks themselves, but it wasn't nearly enough to avoid a 12-7 defeat at the hands of Southern at Alex Box Stadium.
"Awful game," LSU coach Jay Johnson said. "Super-disappointed."
The loss was a new low point for the Tigers, who entered Monday's contest having lost their last five games in Southeastern Conference play.
"We just were completely unprepared to play tonight," Johnson said.
The avalanche of Southern (12-13) runs began after LSU right-hander Christian Little gave up a single and a walk before getting replaced by left-hander Justin Loer.
With LSU (20-10) already trailing by one, Loer got a strikeout but then allowed a bases-clearing double to Ryan Ollison that put three runs on the board, giving the Jaguars a 6-2 lead.
Loer's struggles didn't end there, either. He then allowed a two-run home run to Donny Sandifer that extended the Jaguars' lead to six.
LSU later whittled the Southern lead to two heading into the ninth inning, but the Jaguars capitalized again, scoring three runs on a fielding error from shortstop Steven Milam at shortstop and a throwing error from catcher Brady Neal, extending the lead back to five.
No earned runs were charged to right-hander Thatcher Hurd in the inning but he also allowed a hit and a walk before getting replaced by right-hander Aiden Moffett who recorded the final out of the ninth.
"The baseball problems are a lot in themselves but we've got a lot of, you know, whatever you want to call it, mindset, character (things) that we're gonna have to work through right now," Johnson said. "There's no other way around it."
The Tigers couldn't get their offense rolling until the fourth inning. Two walks and an error set up a sacrifice flyout from Ben Nippolt and a sacrifice bunt by Alex Milazzo that put two runs on the board, cutting Southern's lead to 3-2.
Then, after the Jaguars scored five runs in the top of the fifth inning, LSU answered with runs three of its own, getting a run-scoring groundout from Hayden Travinski and a two-run home run from Neal.
LSU scored another run in the sixth inning on a wild pitch and a run in the eighth on a sacrifice flyout by Jared Jones.Â
"We have to get better at everything relative to competitiveness, concentration is certainly a part of that," Johnson said. "Those are just all excuses. You either can or you can't, whether it's mental or physical.
"This is not intramural or recreational sports. You're either good enough or you're not."
Left-hander Kade Anderson started for LSU but was far from his best. He recorded six strikeouts but surrendered two walks and a three-run home run to Tyeler Hawkins in the second that handed Southern its 3-0 lead.
Anderson finished the inning but then was replaced by right-hander Sam Dutton, who settled in, throwing 2â…“ scoreless innings before handing the ball off to Little in the fifth.
"I'm not going to make them do anything," Johnson said. "I mean, this is a real privilege to play here and either you're going to do it or you're not."
LSU is back in action at 6 p.m. Thursday when it hosts Vanderbilt in the opener of a three-game series at Alex Box Stadium.