By Hunt Palmer
These are the doldrums for college baseball fans.
There are three weeks between this preview and the first conference game. The newness has worn off, and significant matchups feel far away. That can be a danger zone for highly ranked teams like LSU. I think you saw that in the midweek when No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 LSU, No. 5 Georgia Tech and No. 6 Arkansas got beat.
For Jay Johnson and LSU, hopefully that was a wake up. Big picture, it was the latest first loss in Johnson’s tenure. So, no big deal. But, LSU played poorly on Tuesday in terms of strike throwing and decision making. Friday can erase that with some clean baseball.
This is a bit of a round robin weekend at The Box. LSU plays Dartmouth on Friday and Sunday. Northeastern is the opponent on Saturday and Monday. Meanwhile, both teams will play Grambling throughout the weekend. LSU will not.
KNOW THE FOE
Dartmouth is three games into its season. They won their opener with Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday with four in the eighth and one in the ninth to win 7-6. Then they lost Saturday to host Gardner Webb and Sunday to FDU.
They’ll start freshman Izzy Parski on Friday. He was their Opening Day starter and went 3.2 innings against FDU. He allowed seven hits and four earned runs with two walks and three HBPs in his college debut. More importantly, he’s right-handed. That means he’s going to have to deal with Derek Curiel, Steven Milam, Jake Brown, Zach Yorke and co. very early in his second college start.
Northeastern has established a really strong program. The Huskies were 48-9 entering NCAA Regional play last season. They’ve made three regionals in the last five years. They had six draft picks last summer. That said, they may not have replaced them. Northeastern enters the weekend having been outscored 83-27 in six games, all losses. They’ve allowed 10-plus runs in five of six games. Minnesota run ruled them on both Saturday and Sunday of last week.
The Huskies looked like a solid team to schedule based on their year-over-year results, but they show up in Baton Rouge with a team ERA of 15.00.
ROTATION READY
Jay Johnson has only announced Casan Evans as Friday’s starter. Northeastern hasn’t announced for Saturday, so LSU hasn’t either. But it would be a huge upset if Cooper Moore and William Schmidt didn’t go on Saturday and Sunday.
Pitch counts are getting elevated this week, and the most important thing is that all three starters are effective enough to hit their counts. That probably means 90 or a bit over that. I’d like all three to pitch into the sixth this week. That’s not a requirement to win games, but it’s a sign of growth as SEC play approaches.
Evans’s outing is the most important in my view. He has just been okay through two weeks. He’s allowed nine hits and six earned runs through 8.1 innings. That’s just not an “ace” effort. LSU grades on a seriously strong curve in that department. Paul Skenes is the best pitcher in baseball. Gage Jump is knocking on the door of the big leagues, and Kade Anderson was the third pick in the draft. Unfair as it may be, that’s the standard at LSU.
Evans hasn’t lived up to that through a tiny sample size. Friday night needs to be a step forward.
EARN INNINGS
Chris Stanfield is not going to play this weekend. That opens time for Brayden Simpson and Tanner Reaves in left field. They need to seize it.
Truth told, Seth Dardar has earned a lot of playing time at second base, and Stanfield is going to reclaim his job in left field when he’s healthy. That really only leaves designated hitter available for Simpson, Reaves, Mason Braun, John Pearson and Omar Serna.
All of those guys are going to play at some point over the next 10 days. Beyond that, it’s SEC time. I’d expect the rotation to shrink a little bit.
I think Braun and Pearson are making statements with their bats. Not that the others are playing poorly, but those two are going to get swings at the current rate. I also think Serna is going to play because of his position. They’re going to get Cade Arrambide off his feet once or twice a week as he’ll DH. That means Simpson and Reaves need to swing it well if they want to keep playing.
That better start this weekend.
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