(Photo Credit: @LSUbaseball on X)
By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY
I think The Road to Omaha goes through Baton Rouge. And I think Jay Johnson managed that quarterfinal win over Texas A&M perfectly.
And I think LSU got some good fortune.
That’s all opinion. The fact is that LSU beat Texas A&M, 4-3, on Friday night and advanced to the SEC Tournament semifinal to play Ole Miss.
Johnson made the decision to go to Anthony Eyanson in the seventh inning with a one-run lead. He may have done that to preserve a lead with his next best arm. He may have done that to nail down the last win in a top eight resume. He may have done it to make sure Eyanson got work before LSU was eliminated. Either way, it worked and accomplished the mission.
It wasn’t uneventful, though.
To lead off the seventh, Gavin Kash laced a line drive that held up for Chris Stanfield in center, but Stanfield whiffed it. It rolled to the warning track. Kash trotted to third. He scored the ensuing ground ball to third base, but Ben Royo was called out for interference running into first so Kash had to return to third.
With one out, A&M got a safety squeeze down, but Kash stopped midway between third and home plate. Eyanson made the throw to first for the second out. He got Hayden Schott swinging to leave the tying run at third.
LSU never added to the lead, but Eyanson nailed it down.
He retired the Aggies in order in the eighth and got a ground ball out with two on to close the game in the ninth.
Kade Anderson threw 84 pitches and Eyanson threw 46. They’re both ready to go next Friday.
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LSU’s offense wasn’t great. The Tigers scored two in the first on an Ethan Frey fly ball that was dropped at the warning track by right fielder Jamal George. It was scored a double. It wasn’t. George just missed it. It would have scored a run via sacrifice fly, but it resulted in two.
Frey did it himself two innings later with a two-run homer.
LSU getting four hits wasn’t great. LSU scoring in two of eight innings against a depleted A&M staff wasn’t great. LSU winning the game and putting a top eight seed on ice was great.
Anderson was fantastic. He struck out eight of the first nine and kept the ball in the ballpark. If he does that, LSU will be just fine.
On to Saturday.
THE SCORECARD
Kade Anderson’s line: 6IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 12K, 84 pitches, 62 strikes
Anthony Eyanson’s line: 3IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 4K, 46 pitches, 30 strikes
Ethan Frey: 2-for-3, HR, 2B, 3RBI
LSU only got four hits and drew one walk.
With runners on third and less than two out, LSU was 2-for-2, and A&M was 3-for-6.
LSU, again, played errorless baseball
WHAT’S NEXT
LSU will play Ole Miss Saturday at 1:30 pm CT. The Rebels are still working toward a host site. LSU will have to turn to Casan Evans, Jaden Noot, Chase Shores, Mavrick Rizy and co. Win or lose, LSU is going to be a top eight seed on Monday.
