By Hunt Palmer
LSU cranks up the first of four Thursday to Saturday SEC series with a renewal of the rivalry with Mississippi State.
Both teams dropped their series last weekend against the newcomers to the league. LSU lost games two and three in Austin to the Longhorns, and State dropped games two and three in Norman to the Sooners.
The opening weekend told a different story, though, as did the non-conference. While LSU swept Missouri, Texas went to Starkville and took all three from the Bulldogs. LSU cruised through non-conference play while Mississippi State lost four times, twice in the midweek and twice in the Astros Foundation College Classic.
At 1-5, is State on the verge of digging a pretty serious hole? On the flip side, are LSU’s pitching concerns going to linger deep into conference play?
Those are some of the questions that may be answered this weekend.
HOLD THE PICO
The biggest positive for Mississippi State this season has been the emergence of lefthander Pico Kohn as the ace. He came on late last season and ended up working seven strong innings against Virginia in the Charlottesville Regional, striking out eight. Now in his senior season, the 6-foot-4 southpaw is pitching his best.
On the seasons, he’s got 53 strikeouts and just seven walks. And he’s only allowed eight extra base hits in 35.2 innings.
Kohn has a silky-smooth delivery and a fastball in the low 90s. It’ll sneak up to 94 early in the game. He throws a tight slider and will fade a changeup away from right-handed hitters.
Last weekend at Oklahoma he outdueled Kyson Witherspoon who will probably be a Top 10 pick in this summer’s MLB Draft. In six innings of work, Kohn didn’t allow a run and yielded just two hits. He struck out 10 and walked just two in a game Mississippi State won 2-1.
Kohn is clearly State’s best arm. And Chris Lemonis is going to hold him for Friday’s Game 2. Whether that is to keep Kohn on normal rest or to avoid Kade Anderson on the road, that’s the decision State has made.
Evan Siary will take the ball for the Bulldogs. He’s basically an opener. This year, Siary has made one start in six appearances.
His season-long is three innings. He’s done that twice, once against Old Dominion, once last week against Oklahoma. The Sooners tagged him for three runs on four hits in those three innings. Last year LSU knocked Siary around for three runs on five hits including two homers in Starkville.
Siary is a 6-foot-1 right hander with a low 90s fastball and a slider. He’s far from an elite arm.
Jay Johnson told Off the Bench this morning that Anderson will go for the Tigers. That’s a big matchup advantage for LSU. However, Kohn vs. Eyanson favors the Bulldogs at this point. That puts a little heat on LSU to go take the first game of the weekend.
OUTS AND BASES
A weekend is just a collection of outs. Some pitchers start games. Some close them. Some get the outs in between. And LSU is in the process of figuring all of that out. I’ve got some baseline numbers that I think should be goals for LSU.
Anthony Eyanson and Chase Shores need to get 27 total outs for LSU. They can chop those up any which way. Eyanson for 5.2 innings. That’s 17. Shores could get one out in the fourth at that point. Mission accomplished. LSU’s bullpen isn’t proven enough yet to keep pulling those guys in the third and fourth innings. So, 27 for those guys.
Conner Ware got one out last weekend. He needs to get six this weekend.
Zac Cowan and Casan Evans need to get 15.
That’s 48 of the 81 outs LSU needs to get. If you pencil Anderson in for 18, that’s 66, and you can get the other 15 depending on score and situation.
And then the walks and hit by pitches. That’s the other number I’m looking for. Can LSU limit that number to 10 in three games? It’s ambitious. It was nine in Austin last week. Opening weekend against Purdue Fort Wayne it was three. It was 10 against North Alabama. So, it’s doable, but you’ve also seen weekends like Omaha (15), Frisco Classic (15) and Missouri (20).
If LSU keeps it to 10, the Tigers should be in good shape.
LINEUP LOOK
Ace Reese has been really good for Mississippi State offensively. He’s got eight homers and had a two-homer day in Oklahoma last week. And Hunter Hines is as physical a hitter as there is in the league. Sometimes you catch Hines on the seven-strikeout weekend. Sometimes, like LSU last year, he hits a pair of towering homers in one game.
Noah Sullivan is leading the team in hitting at .395 with four long balls.
State is fifth in the league in team batting average and eighth in homers. They’re 12th in the league in runs per game.
Some teams in the SEC are just killing the ball—Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama.
LSU hasn’t seen one of those yet. State doesn’t qualify either, though there are some good bats in this lineup.
SERIES SCHEDULE
- Thursday: 7:00pm SEC Network
- Friday: 6:30pm SECN+
- Saturday: 2:00pm SECN+
