Florida showing LSU road map back to championship level

By Hunt Palmer

Nothing in college baseball shapes a team like a 1-2 punch.

A formidable duo on the mound helps teams win series which make up 75 percent of the regular season. It can seize control of a regional and win a super. LSU boasted the best in the country last year, and runner-up Coastal Carolina may have featured the second.

LSU never found it in 2026, and Florida came to Baton Rouge with one of the best in America. Aidan King may be the SEC Pitcher of the Year, and Liam Peterson dominated for all seven innings of a win on Friday.

“One thing that would jump out about King and Peterson is they’re incredibly physical,” said LSU head coach Jay Johnson. “Peterson does not look like the same human being physically as a freshman. And so those guys physical development, they can add strength so that they can have durability in terms of outings and throughout a season is going to be really important. Strength and ability to move, so they can have command of their body, so they can command their delivery, so they can command their pitches, so they can have deception, so they move well. We’ve got a lot of work to do with a lot of guys. I hope that’s a lesson that they look out on the mound and see from those two pitchers.”

Both William Schmidt and Casan Evans have SEC ERAs over 5.00. Cooper Moore missed eight SEC starts with injury. What looked like a real strength to LSU’s team in preseason conversations and early season action has not become that.

Evans and Schmidt have been serviceable, not dominant.

Last season, Evans dominated. He pitched to a 2.05 ERA as a high-leverage reliever. In the regional, he saved the season with six brilliant innings against Little Rock. In Omaha, he silenced UCLA for four innings. Essentially that same Bruins roster is 47-6 and 27-2 in Big Ten play this year.

In 4.2 more innings this year, he’s allowed 28 more earned runs.

“He’s pitched well at times and hasn’t done as well as he wants to at times,” Johnson said. “Continues to show up to work. The arm soreness thing, I just felt like it was in his best interest to proceed with caution there, and I’m glad that we did. I think he looks healthy which is great. We’re going to take a real hard look, and not that we’re not always, but shaping all of these guys to exactly what they need to be.”

LSU needs its pitching staff to perform at a far better level in 2027. Through 29 league games, the Tigers have allowed 10-plus runs 12 times. Florida, by comparison, has only allowed 10 once in an SEC game.

Trotting out King and Peterson every week helps ensure that. Peterson’s 11-strikeout effort certainly didn’t allow LSU to think about a 10-spot on Friday.

“That guy’s gonna make a lot of money here in a couple weeks,” Johnson said. “I’m just using that as an example of a player that probably went all in on (the weight room and development). And again, it doesn’t mean it’s been perfect, but like it’s every player’s choice to get as good as you want to be. And it’s our job to try to give them the resources. I think we do that with a strength coach. I think we do that with nutrition. We will continue to do that because that’s what we’re here for.”

LSU has a track record of development. Paul Skenes is the headliner, but Ty Floyd, Gage Jump, Luke Holman, Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson became high draft picks after excellent seasons as a 1-2 punch.

“A lot of guys have moved on to professional baseball successfully, and those guys have worked very hard to get there,” Johnson said. “This grouping of players, if there’s a few that can do it, which there are, I hope it’s a a motivating type of deal because that’s what the top of the draft looks like tonight.”