By Hunt Palmer
This weekend offers three competitive baseball games for LSU.
Jay Johnson likes that. But he likes the other stuff, too.
His team gets to pack up and hit the road. They’ll have to do that eventually to play for a national championship. The games are at a neutral site. So are the ones for a national championship. They’ll have to prepare for three teams in three days. That’s a possibility in a regional on the way to a national championship.
Johnson’s actions are always intentional, and taking the team on the road to a Peak Events tournament like this one is very much strategic. The Tigers played in Round Rock in 2023. That team won it all. They played in Frisco last season and, you guessed it, won it all. A betting man would probably be wise to wager on Las Vegas next season.
These weekends are not responsible for LSU’s postseason success, but Johnson sees the value in what they present.
OPPONENTS
The Tigers open Friday with Indiana. The Hoosiers are 1-3 after being swept at North Carolina and thumping Bradley in their home opener this week.
The starting pitcher for the Hoosiers is former Missouri southpaw Tony Neubeck. He had Tommy John surgery two seasons ago, and last year he may have had the roughest SEC season of them all for the 3-27 Tigers. He appeared in 10 games with four starts and posted an ERA of 16.62. That’s not a misprint. He allowed 36 hits and 32 earned runs in 17.1 innings of work.
LSU saw him in 2022, Johnson’s first season, when he started game one of the LSU-Missouri series and worked six innings of three-run ball. Last week against the Tar Heels, he threw four innings and didn’t allow a run on one hit.
Notre Dame is next up on Saturday. The Irish took 2-of-3 at Florida Atlantic over opening weekend and didn’t play a midweek game. After losing the opener 7-1 to the Owls, the Irish won 14-1 and 7-1 the following two days to take the series.
LSU will see a second lefty starter on the weekend in Caden Crowell who went three hitless innings last Saturday. He did walk four hitters while striking out three.
And Sunday, UCF awaits. Perhaps a pair of familiar faces do, too. Last weekend, the Golden Knights started Camden Wicker on Sunday. If that name sounds familiar, Wicker was the No. 2 to Zac Cowan at Wofford in 2024. He faced the Tigers in an elimination game on Sunday in Chapel Hill when he was just a freshman. He struck out six in four innings, but the Tigers tagged him for three runs on seven hits. Jake Brown had an RBI single. Wicker is a talented hurler and stands 6-foot-7 to create tough angles.
On the back end of the UCF bullpen, Chandler Dorsey has returned to the Sunshine State. He started his career at South Florida and transferred to LSU. He appeared in five games last year and reentered the portal. Dorsey was called on to save the Knights’ midweek game at Miami this week and hit four batters in the ninth to blow the lead.
ROTATION REACTION
Casan Evans needs to throw the ball better on Friday than he did a week ago. It needs to start with a lot of strike ones, and the hard contact needs to be minimized. Indiana scored six runs over the first two games against the top of the North Carolina staff and only had two extra base hits the whole weekend, both doubles. That’s a weak offensive effort.
It’s always going to start with the fastball and changeup with Evans, and the curveball will come along. It’s important that he has a couple of good starts entering SEC play. Last week doesn’t qualify.
Cooper Moore‘s absolutely does. That sinking fastball and mirrored straight change baffled Milwaukee, and it should do the same against Notre Dame
Sunday is a TBA for LSU with William Schmidt‘s name coming to mind first. Of the eight position players who have started all four UCF games, four hit left-handed and four hit right-handed. So, it doesn’t appear that the splits are severe enough to have to go with Cooper Williams for a left-handed option.
I really think Johnson just wants to have Schmidt available in case he feels that’s the guy who gives LSU the best chance to win on Friday or Saturday out of the bullpen.
SOUTHPAW SETUP
LSU will see a pair of lefty starters on Friday and Saturday. That’s going to make Johnson’s lineup decisions interesting.
Moving Trent Caraway to second with John Pearson at third and Omar Serna or Brayden Simpson at designated hitter is the best way to get as many right-handed bats in the order as possible. That would sit Seth Dardar, Mason Braun and Tanner Reaves (assuming Stanfield can play left, which is a significant question mark).
Pearson’s defense is a concern for me, so I’d be more inclined to play Caraway at third and Simpson at second with Pearson at designated hitter. But, the way things have gone, Pearson may get more looks.
HOW TO WATCH
Fans can pay $29.99 to watch on D1Baseball’s stream. You do not have to purchase a D1Baseball subscription to watch. For the $29.99, fans can watch the other three Peak Events tournaments in Frisco, Round Rock and Las Vegas in addition to the other Jax Classic games.
First pitch Friday is scheduled for 1 p.m., Saturday’s game begins at 11 a.m., and Sunday’s matchup is set for 2 p.m.
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