Tigers look to bounce back vs. UNO

By Hunt Palmer

Three midweek games remain, and LSU has to win them all.

The first is Tuesday when UNO makes the drive over from the New Orleans Lakefront to tangle with the Tigers. LSU is reeling. Being swept on consecutive SEC weekends will do that. So will bad injury news which keeps piling up.

Trent Caraway and Seth Dardar have missed the last week. Cooper Moore won’t return. Chris Stanfield is banged up. Pile that in with the dismal SEC record, and things look bleak for LSU right now.

The small bright spot has been the performance of the bullpen the last four games.

LSU held Northwestern State to two runs last midweek, and the bullpen held some strong Aggie bats down on Saturday and Sunday. Deven Sheerin won’t be available for LSU on Tuesday after firing a season-high 61 pitches on Sunday, but the other Tiger relievers should be available.

BREAK OUT THE BATS

LSU’s offense was awful over the weekend. A 1-for-17 mark with runners in scoring position simply won’t get it done.

Mason Braun is really fighting it. He’s 1-for-14 with six strikeouts over his last five games. Stanfield is 2-for-18.

UNO pitching is allowing opponents to hit .300 on the season. There’s no real excuse not to go out and hang 8-to-10 runs on the board. Houston Christian scored 24 runs on UNO pitching over three games this weekend. Troy bashed its way to 10 runs last Tuesday.

I’m not sure much positive can come from slugging against a Southland team, but perhaps it can be a pick me up after two brutal SEC weekends.

PRIVATEER PREVIEW

This UNO club comes in 17-25 overall and 7-14 in Southland play. The have not played an SEC, ACC or Big 12 team this season. The headliner on the schedule was a trip to Hattiesburg to play Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles won that game 3-2.

One statistical note on this group is the fielding numbers. UNO has only made three errors in its last 13 games. That’s strong work.

Offensively, the best bat is Dylan Biddick. The Lafayette High product is leading the team in batting average, on base percentage, slugging, OPS, doubles and walks. He’s also got seven homers. Only one other UNO hitter is above .300 for the season, so expect LSU to be careful with Biddick if the game is in the balance.

FREE BASES

LSU has actually played decent defense over the last week.

There have been lapses, sure. There were multiple wild pitches over the weekend that set up scoring chances. John Pearson failed to pick up a short hop that was ruled a hit, and he misfired a throw.

It’s not perfect, but it’s been a little bit better. That’s the most important aspect of Tuesday game when it comes to winning and losing. If LSU can throw the ball over the plate and catch it, UNO will have trouble keeping up. If the door is swung open by walks and hit batsmen, UNO can get a few hits and make things uncomfortable.

We’ve seen this all season in midweek games.

At this point, anything positive that’s going to come from LSU’s season is going to come on the weekends. Beating a Southland squad doesn’t clean up SEC sweeps.

First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m., and Baton Rouge listeners can find the game on Eagle 98.1, the Flagship Home of LSU Athletics.