LSU Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
LSU used nine relievers over the weekend and 10 pitchers on Tuesday.
The first month of the season is a proving ground for pitchers vying to lock down roles on the team for SEC play and beyond. This 2026 staff features over a dozen capable arms and just a handful of proven veterans returning in a similar spot.
Gavin Guidry has pitched in huge, late-inning spots. He’s doing that. Zac Cowan was lights out for much of the season last year. He’s scuffled out of the gates this year but has a long track record. Mavrick Rizy led the Tigers in appearances last year and figures to take on a similar role this time around.
William Schmidt and Casan Evans are stepping a notch to the weekend rotation.
Perhaps the most intriguing early emerger is Deven Sheerin. The fireballing right-hander has been stellar in his last two outings and really the young season as a whole.
Deven Sheerin & His 99 MPH Fastball 😳@DevenSheerin | SECN + pic.twitter.com/8J4SiJHqOq
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) February 15, 2026
In Jacksonville, Sheerin walked the first two he faced to force in a run, but he responded with a huge base-loaded strikeout and a weak line drive to extinguish the threat. In the next frame, he struck out the side on 14 pitches featuring a snap dragon slider with his mid 90s fastball.
Tuesday, Sheerin retired all five men he faced including a pair of strikeouts. That’s 10 in a row he’s set down with six Ks.
Over five innings this season, Sheerin has not allowed a hit and has 10 punchouts. Asked about what he would have liked to have back on Tuesday night, Jay Johnson mentioned going to Sheerin prior to the seventh.
“Probably should have reverse engineered the game in hindsight,” Johnson said. “I should have gone to Deven in the second inning just to stop the bleeding there.”
That shows confidence in Sheerin above the rest of the group that was summoned to the mound on Tuesday night.
With Cowan and Grant Fontenot off to bumpy starts and Guidry being monitored closely coming off the back injury, Sheerin becomes an even more vital piece to LSU’s puzzle.
Over the last two seasons, Griffin Herring and Chase Shores have become multi-inning closers. Cowan and Evans held that role, too. With Sheerin’s starter pedigree, he’s a strong candidate for those responsibilities moving forward.
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