By Hunt Palmer
College baseball’s postseason politely asks teams to win their first two games of every round.
It’s not a demand. LSU navigated the losers’ bracket to the championship series in 2017 and 2023. That just takes some additional work.
Staying in the winners’ bracket reduces games played and therefore innings pitched.
It makes life easier.
There’s no more predictable way to win the first two games of a tournament stage than to have two great pitchers start those games. The way Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson have thrown the ball during SEC competition, LSU looks poised to enter NCAA play with as good a one-two punch as any team in America.
“They are a tied for first reason that we are where we are right now which is a great spot in the landscape of college baseball in 2025,” said LSU head coach Jay Johnson. “The stuff is awesome. They’re going to both pitch forever, as long as they want to. The other part is the character of both of them.
“Whether it’s Mike Krzyzewski Duke basketball, Nick Saban, they’ll talk about when your best players are your best workers and most in tune and most deliberate in how they work, they prepare, that has an amplifying positive effect on your team, and that’s Kade and Anthony. So, their impact goes far beyond Friday and Saturday night. But, it’s been about as good as you could ask for.”
LSU is 11-2 when Anderson starts games this season. The sophomore southpaw has helped the Tigers to wins against elite college arms like Kyson Witherspoon, Liam Doyle, Jared Spencer and Zach Root.
Witherspoon and Doyle will likely be taken in the first 15 picks on the MLB Draft this summer. Texas only lost one of Spencer’s six SEC starts before injury—the one to Anderson and LSU. And Root came to Baton Rouge fresh off an outing where he shut out No. 1 Texas over eight two-hit innings.
LSU may see comparable arms in June, but maybe not. Those are among the best in the nation, and Anderson and LSU beat them all.
Not to be outdone, Eyanson did all he heavy lifting in LSU’s lone win in College Station two weeks ago. The offense couldn’t really solve Aggie starter Justin Lamkin, so Eyanson fired a complete game allowing just one run with 14 strikeouts to get LSU in the win column.
As an encore, he mowed down the SEC’s most statistically dominant offense on Saturday with six shutout frames including 11 more strikeouts.
Eyanson also struck out 12 Mississippi State Bulldogs on Friday in March as LSU’s hitters matched up with State ace Pico Kohn. LSU won a 2-1 contest that night.
Every week Anderson tries to set a bar, and Eyanson tries to match it. Or better.
“Some friendly stuff,” Eyanson joked about their competition. “I’ll keep that between us. We just push each other to be the best, and I think that’s every pitcher and player on this team is pretty competitive.”
Johnson singled out Eyanson’s drive on Saturday after the senior right hander silenced Arkansas.
“He’s a ridiculous competitor,” Johnson said. “So, there’s always a way out with Anthony. My heartbeat stays low any type of traffic because of the competitor he is. I think what he’s done, he’s executing all of his pitches all the time, so it’s really hard to do anything with and feel convicted in the box.”
Eyanson didn’t have to navigate much traffic on Saturday. The only frame that got sticky with the third when a pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out for Wehiwa Aloy and Logan Maxwell, the No.’s 3 and 4 hitters in the Hogs lineup.
Eyanson dispatched them on strikes using 10 pitches. Arkansas left the bases full.
“I treat every hitter the same,” Eyanson said. “In that moment I was just trying to slow down, execute right there. It worked.”
Everything Eyanson has done has worked lately.
In his last four SEC starts, he’s worked 26.2 innings, allowed 20 hits, four earned runs, with 11 walks and 45 strikeouts.
“I think, as of recently, I’ve been just going out there and just throwing the ball,” Eyanson said. “Obviously, you’re going to miss as a pitcher. That’s going to happen but just focusing on the conviction I throw with has helped me a lot.”
The duo sits second and third behind Doyle in the SEC strikeout race. Anderson is behind only former Tiger Samuel Dutton in strikeout-to-walk ratio. Eyanson’s three home runs allowed on the season are best among SEC pitchers with at least 66 strikeouts. He’s got 116 to nearly double that mark.
LSU is 20-6 when either Anderson or Eyanson takes the ball. Considering they match up with the best two arms in the opposing dugout every week in the nation’s toughest conference, that record stands tall.
LSU’s lineup feels that.
“It’s awesome,” said sophomore outfielder Jake Brown. “There’s just no other way to describe it. It’s kind of like a deep breath of relief because I mean those guys go out there every time and get the job done. You know what you’re getting with them—two consistent competitors. It’s a large testament to the work they put in. We know when those guys are going, we can beat anyone in the country.”
