By Hunt Palmer
After a convincing sweep of Purdue Fort Wayne over the weekend, LSU turns its focus to the midweek for a pair of in-state foes.
First up—Southern.
The Jaguars travel across town for Tuesday matinee at 2:00 having won two of three games in the Cactus Jack HBCU Classic in Houston over the weekend.
Southern beat Texas Southern 8-3 in the opening game, lost a 20-10 slugfest to rival Grambling on Saturday and closed the weekend with a 12-2 drubbing of Prairie View A&M.
LSU has some arms yet to see the mound and a host of position players scrapping for more at bats. These two games will offer plenty of opportunities for production.
PITCHING PLANS
Jay Johnson can go a lot of different directions on the mound. Three arms LSU figures to use in significant roles this season didn’t pitch over the weekend. Junior Gavin Guidry, Wofford transfer Zac Cowan and JUCO product Conner Ware are fresh and ready.
All three are very capable of going two or three innings to help chew up some outs in a busy week.
Cowan started 17 games and threw 110 innings last year as the Terriers’ ace. Guidry and Ware were stretched out preseason. I don’t believe Johnson would hesitate to go to those guys early in the game. If things get out of hand, anyone can finish the late innings. If things are tight, I don’t think he would mind seeing Mavrick Rizy, Casan Evans or Connor Benge in a tight, late spot.
All three of those initial names will pitch over the next two days. I can’t imagine holding them for a week.
MONSTER MIDWEEK?
As LSU rolled up 32 runs over the weekend, one piece to the offensive puzzle never really got going—Steven Milam.
The sophomore shortstop was just 2-for-11 over three games. That should raise all of zero concern, but I’m sure he’d like to kick start things with a multi-hit game or two in the midweek against sub-par pitching.
CATCH AND THROW
Sometimes these chilly early season games can produce sloppy defense. LSU didn’t succumb to that over the weekend. Some of that was the big strikeout numbers, and some of it was steady defensive play.
Milam made the plays he needed to at short. He and Daniel Dickinson combined for nine assists. The outfield defense was very good, as well. Derek Curiel and Chris Stanfield both made nice plays.
Championship teams are good on defense, and LSU needs to continue with that strong play early in the season.
