The Tigers lost the series opener on a walk-off wild pitch on Thursday, 6-5, but bounced back with an 8-1 win on Friday and a 7-3 victory on Saturday.

Here are five takeaways from LSU’s seventh series victory in Southeastern Conference play.

Is LSU worthy of a top-eight seed in the NCAA Tournament?

The Tigers finished the regular season with a 42-13 overall record, a 19-11 record in SEC play and a tie for third place with Vanderbilt for the best record in the toughest conference in the sport.

LSU is also No. 8 in RPI after Saturday and No. 7 in KPI following Friday’s games — KPI is another results-based rating system used by the selection committee. It’s gone 20-11 against Quads 1 and 2, and has more wins than all but six teams against Quad 1.

Thursday’s loss to South Carolina may have affected the Tigers’ chances of being the No. 1 team in the country in next week’s polls. But the defeat hasn’t altered the fact that this team deserves to host a regional and super regional at Alex Box Stadium.

How much does the SEC Tournament matter for LSU’s NCAA tourney seeding hopes?

A win or two in Hoover as the No. 3 seed will only help the Tigers’ odds of earning a top-eight seed in the NCAA Tournament. But even if they lost to No. 6 Auburn, No. 11 Mississippi State or No. 14 Texas A&M on Friday, it’s still hard to imagine them not earning that coveted bid in the NCAA tourney.

Besides LSU’s strong metrics, the perception around the Tigers’ play throughout the second half of this season has been strong. They entered this week as the No. 1 team in the country according to every poll and have won four of their last five series in SEC play.

There’s a strong argument to be made that a team’s spot in the NCAA Tournament should be based on merit alone. But since the selection committee is made up of human beings and not robots, national perception and how well a program is playing lately play a big role in determining a team like LSU’s fate as a top-eight seed.

Jake Brown’s strong play against righties

The sophomore outfielder started just one game this weekend, but Brown mashed the ball when he got his opportunities to dig into the batter’s box against South Carolina.

The Louisiana native went 5 for 8 with a home run and two doubles against the Gamecocks. He came off the bench on Thursday and Friday — both nights where South Carolina started a left-hander on the mound — before going 3 for 5 at the plate on Saturday.

Like with junior Ethan Frey against left-handers, Brown has clearly found his stroke versus righties. Trying to find playing time between those two and senior Josh Pearson will be something to continue to monitor as LSU heads into the postseason.

Given Pearson’s playoff history and experience, the Tigers will need all three of them to contribute in June in order to get to Omaha.

Evaluating the weekend for LSU’s top pitchers

It wasn’t a perfect series for LSU’s top arms. 

Sophomore left-hander Kade Anderson allowed just one earned run in 6⅔ innings, but freshman right-hander Casan Evans, junior right-hander Zac Cowan and junior right-hander Anthony Eyanson struggled to varying degrees throughout the weekend.

Cowan was hit hard for the third time in three weeks on Thursday, allowing three earned runs and four hits in 1⅔ innings. He also walked a batter and hit another before allowing the walk-off run to score on a wild pitch in the ninth inning.

LSU had a two-run lead in the eighth when he entered the game.

“I don’t know if they were mistake pitches or they put good swings on it,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said, “but you’ve got to give them credit.”

Evans and Eyanson didn’t scuffle nearly as much, but neither were at their sharpest against the Gamecocks.

Evans walked a batter and barely threw more than half of his 27 pitches for strikes on Friday, and Eyanson admitted on Saturday that he didn’t have his best stuff, eventhough he only gave up two earned runs.

Eyanson walked three batters and only had five strikeouts against the lowly Gamecocks.

“I was waiting for an outing like that to happen where I didn’t have my best stuff and just had to mentally grind,” Eyanson said.

The top of the order gets going

LSU’s attack is at its best when freshman Derek Curiel, junior Daniel Dickinson and junior Jared Jones are clicking on all cylinders. And that was on display this weekend, especially on Saturday.

It was a big weekend for Dickinson and Jones. Jones went 6 for 13 with three home runs, moving to third on LSU’s all-time homers list on Friday. Dickinson was 5 for 12 and blasted a homer on Thursday and Saturday.

Curiel, LSU’s leadoff hitter, joined the party on Saturday after going 0 for 8 with a walk through the first two games of the series. He bounced back with a 3 for 5 performance in the series finale.

“I just tuned some things up, made some adjustments mentally,” Curiel said, “and just locked back into my plan and just had fun.”