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For one 2025 national champion LSU baseball team, last weekend’s games ended any remote chances that they will qualify for the upcoming playoffs with a chance to repeat.
For the other 2025 national champion LSU baseball team located in the northwest corner of Louisiana, their chance for a title repeat is very much alive and well today.
This weekend also featured the quiet return of one of the PGA Tour’s most popular golfers as he won for the first time in eight years. Plus, the NBA’s Indiana Pacers attempt to tank and receive a top draft pick backfired in a big way on Sunday.
The LSU Tigers baseball team went 0-3 at Georgia – won’t defend title
Omaha will not be the final destination for this year’s 2026 LSU baseball team in June. The 2025 national champions just dropped three straight games in Athens, Georgia over the weekend.
The Georgia Bulldogs downed the Tigers 11-8, 13-8, and (yikes) 12-1 after the infamous 10-run rule was invoked in Sunday’s finale. That weekend sweep also gave the Dawgs the 2026 SEC regular season title.
UGA is now 41-11 overall and a very impressive 21-6 in the SEC.
LSU’s depleted pitching staff (giving up 5 ½ runs every nine innings) served up an assortment of tasty treats to Georgia’s eager batters all weekend. The Tigers fell to 29-24 overall and a woeful 9-18 in the SEC.
Those 18 SEC losses are the most ever for an LSU baseball team. It’s hard to believe Coach Jay Johnson’s baseball team has fallen this far after winning the national championship in 2025.
LSU’s regular season mercifully ends at home this weekend in Baton Rouge as the Florida Gators (34-18 and 15-12 in the SEC) visit Alex Box Stadium. LSU remains in 14th place in the 16-team SEC. Only South Carolina (7-20 in the league) and Missouri (6-21) have worse records.
In Shreveport, the defending NAIA baseball champion LSU-S Pilots are peaking at the right time
Last year’s LSU-Shreveport baseball team set an all-time college baseball record by becoming the first team to win every single game they played. The 59-0 Perfect Pilots of 2025 have lost 12 times during 2026.
However, they also have 41 wins, too.
LSU-S will host four other top regional teams in the NAIA opening round playoff series beginning today (Monday, May 11) at Pilot Field in Shreveport.
LSU-S is a nifty 31-4 at home this year. The odds favor the Pilots advancing into the second round of the NAIA playoffs next week.
Unlike their big brothers down in Baton Rouge, LSU-Shreveport’s pitching has been exceptional again in 2026. The Pilots’ team earned run average is just 3.35. Pitching ace Brock Lucas has posted a 10-2 record and allowed just 1.83 runs per nine innings.
Best of luck to the LSU-S Pilots as they try to bring home a second consecutive national baseball title to Shreveport!
Louisiana Softball – ULM women robbed of an NCAA playoff spot while LSU received the #16 overall seed
Fans of the ULM Warhawks sports teams haven’t had a lot to crow about in recent years. The women’s softball team, though, has been a recent exception.
The Warhawks won their first-ever Sun Belt regular season softball title recently after posting a 19-5 league record.
Last weekend’s Sun Belt Conference tournament #1 seed ULM won its opening game against UL-Lafayette. The Warhawks then dropped a 3-1 decision in the semifinal round to #5 seed and eventual tournament winner South Alabama. UL-Monroe finished their season with a 38-20 record.
Sunday night’s NCAA 64-team women’s softball selection show placed Sun Belt tournament champion South Alabama into the field as expected. However, the Sun Belt also received two additional spots in the NCAA tournament as well.
Both Marshall University (regular season #2 in the conference) and Texas State (regular season #3) received an NCAA invitation. Marshall finished with a 37-17 record. Texas State went 38-20.
Why didn’t the Sun Belt’s regular season champion ULM receive one of those two NCAA tournament spots?
The Warhawks were the hottest team in the conference over the last two months having won 19 of their final 22 games.
Yes, all three at-large Sun Belt teams (ULM, Marshall, and Texas State) had very similar records. Shame on the NCAA for leaving ULM’s regular season champions out of this year’s post-season tournament.
In Baton Rouge, the LSU Tigers somehow wrangled the #16 overall seed and will host a four-team regional event this weekend at Tiger Park. Coach Beth Torino’s team is 37-17 overall and has won nine of its last 12 games. LSU just qualified for the softball postseason tournament for an incredible 20 years in a row.
The Women’s College World Series will be held at Devon Park in Oklahoma City from May 28 through June 4.
Golf – 45-year old Brandt Snedeker won for the first time in nearly eight years!
The sport of golf can be played well into your senior years. However, it is rare to see very many winners on the men’s or women’s professional golf tours after they reach their mid-40’s.
Hall-of-Famer Sam Snead still holds the men’s professional record after winning the Greater Greensboro Open in 1965 at the age of 52.
Two-time Ryder Cup golfer Brandt Snedeker had already been selected to become the captain of this fall’s President Cup team.
The honor generally goes to a popular PGA professional golfer whose playing career has already peaked. Being the team captain usually means spending a lot of time handling team selections, tournament details, the media, and such. Most team captains don’t have a lot of time for their own golf game.
The 45-year old Brandt Snedeker had lost his PGA Tour playing card a few years ago after several seasons filled with injuries and poor results on the golf course. Snedeker was having to rely on sponsor exemptions in order to be added into several events over the past few seasons.
The likable Brandt Snedeker from Tennessee wanted to prove to himself and his family that his golf game was still good enough to win on tour again.
His 18-under par total at Sunday’s Myrtle Beach Classic PGA Tour stop was good enough to secure a one-stroke victory over a 36-year old winless golfer. Mark “Hard Luck” Hubbard bogeyed the 18th hole to finish in second place.
With his win, Brandt Snedeker earned a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and a place in this weekend’s PGA Championship outside of Philadelphia.
Nicely done and welcome back, Sneds!
Indiana Pacers flunked the NBA Draft ping-pong ball lottery on Sunday
Do you remember which team the Oklahoma City Thunder beat in the NBA Finals less than a year ago?
Me, either.
Last year’s #4 East seed Indiana Pacers surprised many with a late-season charge to win the NBA’s Eastern Conference title in 2025. Indiana then fought gamely in the NBA Finals against #1 overall seed Oklahoma City before losing in Game #7 at OKC.
This year’s Indiana Pacers suffered a series of injuries during the first half of the NBA season. The team went on to establish franchise records for the longest losing streaks in Pacers’ history during the second half of the season.
You could say that the Indiana Pacers were “tanking” on purpose in hopes to receive one of the top NBA draft picks in June. The league “rewards” bad teams by giving them the highest odds of receiving a top draft pick.
Indiana lost with vigor. This team lost and lost and lost.
The Pacers dropped 13 games in a row from mid-December into January.
They topped their own futility mark with a 16-game losing streak from February into March.
In what would turn out to be a colossal mistake, the Pacers also made a multi-player trade with the Los Angeles Clippers in February during a losing streak.
As a part of the deal, Indiana’s #1 draft pick for next season would be sent to the Clippers only if Indiana should be assigned a draft selection worse than #4 overall.
Not to worry, right?
Indiana finished with a franchise worst 19-63 record. It firmly placed the Indiana Pacers as one of the top three worst teams in the NBA this year.
The NBA’s draft lottery rules assign an equal 14% chance of getting the top draft pick to the three biggest losers. This season, those teams were the Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, and Brooklyn Nets.
The next best odds (11 ½ %) were assigned to the Utah Jazz and Sacramento Kings. Memphis (at 9%) was sixth. The other eight non-playoff teams received a descending percentage chance with #14 Charlotte having a minuscule ½% chance of receiving the #1 draft pick in June.
What could possibly go wrong for Indiana?
Plenty.
After the Washington Wizards’ ping-pong ball drawing gave them the #1 overall draft pick in June, Indiana was hoping to grab that #2 spot.
Alas, the second-worst team in the NBA this year watched in horror as their ping-pong ball drawing fortunes went horribly wrong. The Pacers didn’t hear their name called until the #5 draft position.
As a result, Sunday’s ping-pong ball fiasco also handed Indiana’s 2026 first round pick over to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of this February’s trade.
Indiana won’t receive a first round selection in this June’s NBA draft. Instead, the Pacers will receive Los Angeles’ first round pick in the year 2031.
Indiana Pacers’ President of Team Operations Kevin Pritchard later apologized to the team’s basketball fans. He said, “I’m really sorry to all our fans. I own taking this risk.”
He sure does!
This also spotlights the NBA’s convoluted system of incentivizing lousy basketball teams to “out-lose” each other during the second half of the season.
The worst teams (generally) receive one of the top three or four draft picks.
In this case, the Indiana Pacers (historically a very competitive franchise) got burned trying to tank during the second half of the NBA season.
The team intentionally (but would never admit) dropped a record number of games this season convinced that they would be a statistical shoo-in to receive a top three draft choice in June.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently commented that the league’s draft lottery system is slated to receive an overhaul in 2027 to prevent teams from “tanking”.
He said, “You should assume for next season that your only incentive is to win games.”
Right, Commish!
I’m not from Missouri, but you’ll need to show me before I believe that the NBA has an effective plan to end the league’s tanking issues!