LSU’s fall is winding down.
Two scrimmages against opponents are in the rearview. The Tigers played a two-day marathon against Samford in Biloxi and won a pair of games with Troy. One more Friday night matchup at 5:30 p.m. with Southeastern Louisiana, followed by a 12:30 p.m. game on Sunday, will take place at Alex Box Stadium.
There have been some young standouts as well as some veteran players being eased into action. Everything baseball coach Jay Johnson does is calculated, and the staff is comfortable with where the team is entering the middle of November.
THEY LIKE LUCAS
Freshman Lucas Nawrocki continues to impress. LSU got a steal here largely because the two-way star is probably not six-feet tall. If he were, he probably wouldn’t be at LSU.
Over the weekend, Nawrocki had three hits including a triple and a homer. He also fired a scoreless ninth inning with three strikeouts to allow LSU to come back and win in the bottom half.
He’s crushing the baseball and dealing from the mound, and it’s likely he’s going to impact both sides of the baseball early in his freshman season.
That hasn’t happened at LSU in Johnson’s era.
ROTATION RETURNERS
Every player on the roster was on a schedule this fall, and Casan Evans’s was to pitch the back half of the fall. He’s healthy. It’s all about building toward the middle of February.
Evans’s performance in Biloxi was stellar. He was up to 98 miles per hour and got through the first inning on seven pitches with two strikeouts. The Tiger staff is very excited about Evans’ development.
In four scrimmage innings, he’s got 10 strikeouts. It’s obvious LSU will need him to be better than he was as a sophomore if this team is going places.
As far as William Schmidt goes, he’s still missing bats. He worked a pair of scoreless innings against Troy on Sunday. That’s not the question with Schmidt. It’s holding that effectiveness for five or six innings. We won’t be able to see that until late February or early March, but he’s gained weight and is throwing the ball hard.
BINO’S BACK
Notre Dame transfer Bino Watters sat out the early fall. He was eased back in two weeks ago, and has really impressed the staff with his approach. In his first scrimmage, he drew three walks on good takes. Remember, ABS is in play.
He delivered a walkoff single Sunday to the opposite field, his third hit of the first game. Watters is as polished a bat as LSU has, and that’s been evident in his first at bats in purple and gold.
