Three impact players for LSU in Omaha

By Hunt Palmer

LSU’s quest for an eighth national title begins in the College World Series on Saturday night.

The Tigers managed to pave The Road to Omaha through Alex Box Stadium, and it paid off. Now it’s time for college baseball’s biggest stage. Twelve members of this LSU roster were here two years ago, but only two of those are likely starters against Arkansas.

LSU has played great baseball all season long, and that will have to continue to finish the job. Many a great team has stumbled in Omaha, and some flawed, hot ones have won it.

I’ve got three players in mind who need to play a huge role for the Tigers over the next week and a half.

KADE ANDERSON, SOPH, LHP

Based on his answers in Thursday’s press conference, Anderson is going to get the baseball to open the College World Series against Arkansas. That’s a monster spot. Yes, LSU navigated the losers’ bracket in both 2017 and 2023, but it’s a brutal climb. And both of those started after a game two loss as opposed to a game one loss.

Only four teams in the last 45 years have lost their openers and come back to win the entire tournament. There’s a reason for that. A week-long highwire act post-loss is almost impossible.

Anderson did his job in the first matchup with the Razorbacks. He worked 5.2 innings of three-run ball with 10 strikeouts. He kept LSU close, and the Tigers won the game late. Perhaps more importantly, the injury that forced him out of that game was just a cramp in his wrist area.

This Arkansas team is fourth in the country in OPS against left-handed pitching. Liam Doyle learned that the hard way last weekend. Anderson is going to need to exploit an offense that is susceptible to the strikeout. He’s going to have to wiggle out of some jams with the punchout, and he’s done that all year.

But if we’re talking about winning the whole thing, Anderson is going to have to win another one. That could be Thursday to get LSU to the final like Paul Skenes did two years ago. It may be in game one of the final if LSU sweeps its bracket in three games.

Teams don’t win titles without their top arm shoving in Omaha. That’s got to start with Anderson.

If Jay Johnson decides Anthony Eyanson is the call because of his success against Arkansas last time out and his ability to bounce back on short rest is more desirable, that still puts Anderson in a spot to save the season or seize control of the bracket on Monday.

DEREK CURIEL, FR, OF

Some days Charles Schwab Field plays like a band box. Some days it plays like Yosemite. Either way, walks and line drives play. That’s Curiel’s game. He was red hot to begin the season. Then he scuffled a little bit.

Johnson called him “the engine of the offense” after the regional. It’s true. In LSU wins this season, Curiel is 71-for-179 (.397). In losses, he’s 12-for-60 (.200). That’s impossible to ignore.

In last week’s super regional, it was Curiel’s three-run homer that kick started LSU’s scoring on Saturday and his ringing leadoff double on Sunday that did the same.

The home run off Griffin Kirn came out of the sixth spot in the lineup because Curiel has had a hard time with left-handers this season. Something tells me Curiel won’t be in the six hole on Saturday night. Even if he is, LSU will need his production in any style of game throughout the College World Series.

CHASE SHORES, SOPH, RHP

It’s possible Sunday’s stellar outing from Shores was enough to make him the first closer LSU uses in Omaha. Zac Cowan has scuffled in four of his last five outings, and Shores could morph into 2017 Zack Hess on the Charles Schwab Field mound. If that’s the case, he’ll obviously be tasked with getting massive outs.

Even if Shores is not called upon in relief Saturday or Monday, which is hard to believe, it’s easy to visualize him as a starting option in the Nate Ackenhausen/Caleb Gilbert role in the middle of the week as LSU tries to navigate the losers’ bracket. Keep in mind, Russell Reynolds and Thatcher Hurd have starter championship games in LSU’s last two trips because No. 1 and No. 2 starters had been burned (and Eric Walker got hurt).

The point is, depth of a pitching staff is always tested in the College World Series, and Shores is as promising a depth piece as LSU has.

You can bet the tall Texan is going to be asked to play a huge role. It’s just not defined until the games start to play out.