(Photo Credit: @LSUbaseball on X)
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
One of Jay Johnson’s core philosophies is keeping one of his top pitchers in the bullpen.
On a night when his ace didn’t have it, that top bullpen arm nailed down a come-from-behind win in Game 1 against Mississippi State.
Zac Cowan entered on the heels of an LSU eruption that flipped a 6-2 deficit to a 7-6 lead. He silenced the Bulldogs over the final four innings, allowing just one baserunner and punching out seven. LSU beat Mississippi State 8-6 at Alex Box Stadium.
Mississippi State had scored in all five innings prior to Cowan’s entrance.
The five-run fifth swung things LSU’s way.
Derek Curiel and Jared Jones drew walks, a big mistake from State with a four-run lead. Daniel Dickinson tomahawked a 3-2 fastball out of the ballpark to left to cut the lead to one, and after Josh Pearson singled to right field Steven Milam drove a ball into the seats in left to give LSU a lead the Tigers never relinquished thanks to Cowan.
State threw punches early, especially at Tiger starter Kade Anderson.
Ace Reese clubbed a no-doubt two-run homer in the first. Ninth hitter Joe Powell ambushed a fastball for a solo shot in the second. Hunter Hines yanked a missile out to right in the third. Anderson kept fighting, but he couldn’t quite hang a zero. In the fourth, a leadoff walk, a single and a sacrifice fly plated State’s fifth run and made it 5-1. Nolan Stevens did the last of the damage with a two-out RBI double down the line in left off Connor Benge.
That was it for State. And their bullpen couldn’t make a 6-2 lead stand.
One of the risks in throwing an “opener”, like State did with Evan Siary, is that there will ultimately be a lot of outs to record once he exits. Siary confused Tiger hitters for three innings. That matched his season high. State then went to four relievers who couldn’t hold the lead.
LSU added some insurance thanks to State’s generosity in the eighth. Tanner Reaves singled to lead the inning off. Then Chris Stanfied bunted him to second base. Two wild pitches brought Reaves home to make the lead two.
Cowan retired the side in order in the bottom half to finish the game.
LSU got on the board in the second with a two-out, first and third double steal. The call on the field at home was out, but it was overturned to safe as Brown’s hand snuck onto the plate under the catcher’s tag.
As for Anderson’s struggles, it was mostly command. He fell behind early and had some big misses we did not see last week in Austin.
Reese’s homer was on a 2-0 pitch. Hines’s was a 2-2 pitch, but it was a slider that hung up and out over the plate. Anderson battled to get 13 outs. He’ll need to be a little bit sharper moving forward, but his offense bailed him out.
That said, every win in the SEC is a good one. The Tigers find themselves 5-2 with two more home games remaining this weekend.
THE SCORECARD
Zac Cowan’s line: 4IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 7K, 59 pitches, 40 strikes
Derek Curiel: 1-for-4, HR, 2R
Daniel Dickinson: 1-for-4, HR, 3RBI
Josh Pearson: 2-for-4, R
Steven Milam: 1-for-4, HR, 2RBI
LSU was 2-for-12 (.167) with runners in scoring position
LSU was 0-for-2 getting a runner home from third with less than two outs. Stanfield sqeezed back to the mound, and State got Jake Brown at home. Curiel struck out in the ninth, but the wild pitch covered for him
LSU did not have a two-out RBI.
THE QUOTES
Jay Johnson on Zac Cowan…
“Put the momentum of the game in our dugout is the thought every time I bring him in the game. He was awesome. I’ve been trying to tell everybody that for a while, that that’s the guy they should be talking about. He’ll just keep throwing zeros.”
Johnson on Daniels Dickinson getting to a 96 mph fastball to hit the home run…
“It was cool to see how happy he was. Obviously, he hit a three-run homer, he’s happy. But he knew he executed what he needed to to get to that swing. That’s the dork coach in me that likes those kinds of things. That’s as excited as I’ve ever seen him coming in. He’ll do it forever. He’s got a lot baseball in front of him. There’s not many guys in the country that could do that. He’s well thought of for a reason.”
WHAT’S NEXT
LSU and State will lock heads in Game 2 Friday evening at 6:30. Mississippi State will throw ace Pico Kohn. He’s 4-0 with a 2.52 ERA. He’s fired 35.2 innings and struck out 53 with seven walks. Last week he outdueled Oklahoma ace Kyson Witherspoon to win 2-1.
LSU will go to right hander Anthony Eyanson. Cowan won’t be available. The rest of the bullpen will be. Of course, that was the case last weekend in Austin, and the Tigers came up empty.
