Michael Braswell elected to play a fourth year of college baseball instead of chasing a professional dream.
He doesn’t play every game for LSU. And it doesn’t bother him.
“I don’t really care. Honestly,” Braswell said on Saturday. “I want us to win. I came back to go to Omaha. Whether I play or not, I want to contribute to winning. And I want, to get us to Omaha. Everybody is playing great. I’m handling it pretty well.”
Braswell entered Saturday’s game 3-for-26 over 15 games. That’s a .115 clip, not exactly the hot start a senior would expect after leading LSU in hitting over the course of 30 SEC games a season ago.
Braswell leaned on his pre-conference struggles a season ago to battle through it.
“Same thing happened last year,” Braswell said. “A lot of people don’t remember, but I started off non-conference play batting like .220, .210 so it’s not really a big deal to me. Whenever this happens, you just have to put in the work, get in the lab and work on mechanics and make sure my timing is good. Work with Chief (Coach Mark Wanaka) and make my corrections.”
LSU’s depth doesn’t allow for many struggles. At almost every position on the field, there is a capable option when someone falters. Tanner Reaves excelled during Braswell’s early bumps, hitting .333 with a pair of home runs.
Missouri’s rotation features a trio of left-handed starters. That allowed Braswell a change to step up.
He reached base twice on Friday via a walk and a hit by pitch. In his first two plate appearances on Saturday, he was asked to lay down squeeze bunts. The first, a suicide squeeze, he dropped down deftly back to the pitcher. The second, a safety, he executed perfectly and reached first base as an insurance run crossed the plate.
“I thought Michael played great,” head coach Jay Johnson said. “There’s a lot of ways to contribute to winning how we design baseball around here, and nobody contributed to winning today more than Michael.”
In his third at bat, Braswell got to swing away. And swing away he did, battling to a full count and spoiling three two-strike pitches before rifling a two-out RBI single into left on the ninth pitch of his at bat. That seventh Tiger run proved to be the difference in the game as LSU hung on to win 7-6.
“Over the last few games it feels like my (at bats) are getting better and better,” Braswell said. “Xavier I hit a ball really hard and took some good ABs. Trying to keep that momentum going. And I feel like today was a really big step for me. I feel like the more and more you get going in SEC play, I feel like I’ll be where I need to be.”
The production shows up in the box score, but Braswell’s leadership is every bit as impactful. The Georgia native is embarking on his fourth and final SEC slate. He spent a pair of years at South Carolina and now is working through his second season in Baton Rouge.
On a team full of newcomers treading through the SEC waters for the first time, Braswell’s leadership and influence can be felt daily both in the dugout and on the field.
Saturday he walked calmy over to freshman pitcher William Schmidt who was in the middle of the biggest outing of his baseball life.
“The guys who are on the bump are guys who have never played in SEC play before,” Braswell said. “Schmidt, right, we all know the talent. We all know what he has and what he can do. He got out of it the first inning he was in there. The second inning he kind of faltered a little bit, and I just went out there to tell him to just relax and take a deep breath and make good pitches.”
Schmidt had surrendered a home run and a pair of walks as the game tightened to 7-6 in the seventh. The visit was meant to be lighthearted, and it turned humorous, even in a one-run game with nearly 10,000 in the seats.
“When I walked out there, he said, ‘I’m good.’ I said, ‘you don’t look that good.’ Braswell joked. “And it was funny. I just tried to calm him down. Just trying to keep the kids a little settled. You know, because we’re going to need them a lot this year.”
LSU may not need Braswell every game. When they do, he’ll be ready.
