PALMER: Previewing game two of the CWS finals

By Hunt Palmer

OMAHA, Neb.—Saturday night’s duel won’t have aged 20 hours as two stellar arms take the mound Sunday afternoon.

Anthony Eyanson will try to pitch LSU to a title. Jacob Morrison aims to keep Coastal’s season alive. Both right handers have been sensational this season.

Coastal is 17-1 when Morrison pitches, and LSU has won eight in a row when Eyanson toes the slab.

Plus, both talented bullpens are fully loaded. Only Dominick Carbone pitched in relief on Saturday night, and those 30 pitches won’t preclude him from trying to save Coastal’s season.

Conditions figure to be sweltering and blustery once again. Power has been in short supply in the College World Series. Their have been 13 homers hit in 13 games, and four came in one game between Oregon State and Louisville on Tuesday. That makes nine in the other 12.

LSU and Coastal Carolina have combined for two home runs in the tournament and Jared Jones has both of them.

That means these two teams are looking to string hits together against a Coastal staff that is second in the country in ERA and an LSU staff which leads the nation in strikeouts.

Offense isn’t going to come easily.

SCOUTING STARTERS

Eyanson has surged late in the season and will finish the year third in the nation in strikeouts. He’s 21 short of Liam Doyle for second, partly due to the fact that two of his final four outings were shortened. He came on in relief in the SEC Tournament and worked only three innings in Omaha.

His best pitch is that hard curveball that he balances with a sharper, tighter slider. When teams are chasing, it’s lights out. West Virginia did a better job of laying off the big breaker and got Eyanson out after five inning in the super regional. UCLA swatted a few ground balls through holes in the first inning on Monday to tally a three-spot in the first. Eyanson had settled in the next two innings before the rain came.

Morrison is a workhorse.

He’s 6-foot-8 and weighs nearly 250 pounds. He features a fastball in the mid 90s and a serious slider that is his out pitch.

He used that slider to cripple an Oregon State offense that has eight right-handed starters in it. At one point he retired 16 in a row. LSU will at least be able to counter with Derek Curiel, Jake Brown and Steven Milam from the left side. Jay Johnson will have to determine if he wants Ethan Frey in the lineup or another lefty bat in Josh Pearson to give him Frey as an option off the bench.

That’ll be the decision. I imagine it will be an easy one—keep Frey in the lineup.

After Saturday, I can’t imagine Michael Braswell coming out of the lineup based on the defense he played in crucial moments. Tanner Reaves is left-handed, but LSU keeps winning with 0-for-3 efforts from Braswell.

RESTED RELIEVERS

Coastal head coach Kevin Schnall would love for Morrison to get the ball to ace closer Ryan Lynch. The right-hander has allowed two earned runs in 31 innings this year. He has only gotten six or more outs three times and hasn’t since April 11, but Sunday is different for the Chanticleers. I find it hard to believe the games slips away from Coastal without Lynch getting involved at some point.

Matthew Potok, Darin Horn and Hayden Johnson all have at least 18 appearances and an ERA at 3.00 or better.

Coastal has its ace on the hill, but the bullpen is rested and ready.

LSU should feel similarly. Casan Evans threw 68 pitches on Tuesday. He’s had four days of rest and can go three innings. Chase Shores has now had three days off. Zac Cowan threw 84 on Wednesday. He will likely be held for Monday, but the work he did against Arkansas on Wednesday can absolutely give Johnson the confidence to deploy Evans in a tight game, even if LSU is losing, because Cowan can be trusted to start Monday.

Cooper Williams and DJ Primeaux are also ready from the left side.

INFIELD EFFORT

As I watch this College World Series unfold, it’s just very obvious to me that the game is won on the ground. That means offenses hitting the ball low and hard and defenses making the plays, both routine and sensational.

Coastal elected to take the safe play in the first inning on Frey’s ground ball to shortstop. Instead of getting the force at second which might have been bang-bang, Ty Dooley threw on to first. Milam’s single in the next at bat plated a run.

We know Wehiwa Aloy’s decision to go to third instead of trying to start a double play on Wednesday was massive.

So were the picks Milam and Dooley made all night at short on Saturday. Errors, walks, bunts, passed balls and hit batsmen are just massive when you consider how good these pitching staffs are. LSU’s infield defense is sensational. It needs to stay that way for 48 more hours.

SEPARATE STAKES

The game is going to be managed differently by both coaches. Schnall’s decisions are easy—win now. Johnson can manage with Monday in mind as he did on Sunday of the regional when he held Evans and Wednesday when he made a move to potentially force Arkansas reliever Cole Gibler into the game against Brown which would have made it tough to bring Gibler back on Thursday in a win-or-go-home spot for both teams.

That makes early runs crucial once again.

LSU can put Coastal on full tilt early with a two or three run lead. Coastal can usher some of LSU’s lesser arms into the game with a three or four run lead.

EDGE LSU

It’s quite doable to suggest that Coastal can matchup LSU pitch for pitch on Sunday with Morrison and that rested bullpen.

Johnson’s ability to either deploy Evans with a lead or save him to start Monday with Cowan ready as well tilts this series in LSU favor.

Riley Eikoff is a gritty veteran arm for Coastal, and he’d likely start Monday. But he’s not in the class of Flukey, Morrison or LSU’s Evans. LSU’s path to a win one is significantly more palatable than Coastal’s to win two straight with LSU’s arms available and a game to play with.