No, we clearly did not. We benched Katz and Rhymes after one at bat for a Senior Day ovation; Laird played one defensive inning; Bregman, Ibara, McMullen and Ross never set foot in the game; Stevenson and Moore were the only two starters who played more than one inning, and Moore is only starting because we were resting Jones who could have played if we needed him (according to Mainieri).

ETA: also, Mainieri apparently didn't even stick around for the end of the game. *NOT* a priority.

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The guys playing today were trying to prove something.

Absolutely agree. The guys out on the field were busting their asses to win and nearly pulled it off against a top 20 team pitching their super-hot ace. But that does not mean at all that winning this game was a priority for LSU. If it had been, the guys I just mentioned would have been in the lineup.

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Also, a pitcher never goes out to the mound thinking it's okay if I give up a few runs, because we don't gain anything by winning.

Certainly not. Eades had a bad day, and they roughed him up a little and Paul was ready to pull him early anyway.

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The coaches limited themselves by how they subbed guys in and out early in the game

Do you think that was some sort of tactical error, like they didn't know exactly what they were doing and had specific reasons for doing it exactly the way they did? It was like an NFL team that has clinched homefield advantage through the playoffs resting their starters in Week 17 against a team fighting for a playoff spot.

Everyone knew coming in that winning this game was way far down on the priority list for Mainieri, behind working out his backups, resting his starters, and trying out some pitching arms that don't usually get to see much SEC-caliber opposition. But our backups are pretty badass, and knocked the crap out of a great pitcher, and made a good game out of it anyway. Success all around, basically.