Michael Bacigalupi
By Hunt Palmer
Every win is precious for LSU down the stretch, and Zac Cowan figures to factor into more of them moving forward.
The senior right-hander has been crucial to LSU’s successes over the last two seasons. Last Tuesday he worked four shutout innings against Southeastern Louisiana, and he backed that up with six scoreless frames on Sunday. For the week, Cowan hurled 10 innings and allowed just four hits and two walks. He struck out 14.
“He’s awesome,” said LSU head coach Jay Johnson. “It was 10 scoreless innings and two wins this week. Should be hands down SEC Pitcher of the Week. I’ve talked about him for two years, how important he is to our program. And to me, that was awesome. Super proud of him and pitching staff all weekend was great and no outing better than that one today.”
Cowan has been asked to close. He’s been asked to start. He’s been called on in the midweek and in the College World Series. His heartbeat always remains slow, and he throws strikes. On Sunday, he started 15 of the 20 hitters he faced with strikes.
Johnson considered lifting Cowan after five innings on Sunday. He was on four days of rest after 73 pitches on Tuesday and had topped 70 through five innings.
Cowan took the mound in the sixth and retired the side in order on six pitches.
“We needed strikes, we needed to mix, we need chase. He has all of it,” Johnson said. “The type of pitcher he is can bounce back. He does a good job taking care of himself, and I’m really proud of him today. You know, him getting us the sixth (inning) was amazing…It was great for the fans to acknowledge and appreciate him as they should. What a performance today.”
LSU has won nine SEC games, and Cowan has pitched in four of those. Johnson said Sunday that Casan Evans feels good and is throwing but was not on the active roster for the weekend. His status for next week at Georgia is still to be determined.
That means Cowan’s role falls into that category, as well. Deven Sheerin is likely the closer if LSU has a chance to win one of the first two games. Cowan falls right behind him. If he’s not needed on Friday or Saturday, Cowan could get the ball Sunday as he did against South Carolina.
After a bumpy start to the season, Cowan has pushed his ERA down to 3.63 for the season and has 44 strikeouts against only nine walks. He has not hit a batter and only has two wild pitches on the year. Those two statistics have plagued the Tiger pitching staff.
The veteran won’t be shooting up many draft boards this summer, but he’s as valuable a pitcher as LSU has at this point in the season.
More LSU Stories
