South-Carolina
3 Takeaways From LSU Baseball’s Doubleheader With South Carolina
LSU baseball has been searching for a conference win for three weekends now, but after rain swept into Baton Rouge Friday, LSU would have to wait until Saturday for its chance to claim that win against South Carolina.
The issue is that meant the Tigers would play a doubleheader, something this team has yet to face. And the last thing this LSU team needs is an irregularity in its schedule.
LSU didn’t let it affect them, earning a 6-1 win in Game 1 and a 7-3 win in Game 2.
So now that the Tigers secured the series, it goes for the sweep on Sunday. But more importantly, LSU can take these three things away as it finishes the regular season and tries to earn a spot in the postseason.
The Fewer Pitchers, The Better
LSU’s starting rotation has been plagued by injuries, with Casan Evans and Cooper Moore missing multiple weekends this season.
And LSU has felt that.
With those losses, nearly every game has become a bullpen game, leading to LSU averaging five relievers per game across the last three weekend series losses. And the bullpen has been inconsistent, with nearly everyone having multiple rough outings this season.
This weekend, LSU got everything it could ask for from its starting pitchers.
With William Schmidt moving up to the starter role in Game 1, he went six innings before being replaced by Grant Fontenot, who went the rest of the way for the Tigers.
Game 2 was the same story. LSU had Marcos Paz carry the team through five innings of one-run baseball, and he was replaced by Deven Sheerin, who tossed four innings, allowing two runs in the top of the ninth inning.
Freshmen Keep Raking
Freshman William Patrick was just one of two players with multiple hits in Game 1, continuing a hot streak of games from him.
Another freshman who stepped up on Saturday was Mason Braun. He had one hit and three walks in Game 1 before blasting a two-run home run to advance LSU’s lead in Game 2. He’s been a major contributor all season as a freshman, earning starts as early as opening day.
Don’t overlook the freshman in the pitching staff either, with Paz earning a weekend start in Game 2. His outing was layered with confidence, allowing just one hit, one earned run and three walks while striking out eight.
Offense Finds Its Footing
For a while it felt like LSU would never find an offensive identity, with head coach Jay Johnson just asking his team to go back to basics and focus on just finding the baseball with the bat and not trying to optomize their swings for launch angle and find hits to the backside of the field.
Against Mississippi State last weekend, LSU scored eight runs in every game in one of the most consistent offensive weekends since February.
That carried over into this weekend, scoring six and seven in each of the games on Saturday.
Steven Milam, Derek Curiel and Cade Arrambide all had multiple RBI in Game 1 versus the Gamecocks, but they’ve been stars at the plate all season.
Arrambide launched a late home run for LSU, adding to its strong lead.
Seth Dardar got his time back in the lineup in Game 2 after dealing with some injuries the last few weeks, and he took advantage of his at-bats, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
LSU has found its offensive identity that Johnson was begging for all season, allowing small ball, sacrifice plays and two-out hitting to score instead of relying on home runs.
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