Xavier presents final pre-conference challenge for LSU

By Hunt Palmer

Rarely does the No. 2 RPI team in the country visit for a midweek game.

That happens Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium, but it doesn’t really matter.

The RPI is insignificant at this point on the calendar, skewed by scheduling quirks including massive road trips for northern teams and soft, home non-conference schedules for the nation’s elite.

Credit Xavier. The Musketeers have played a brutal early season slate. They split four games against a ranked Stanford team, played two against Oregon State, lost a midweek game at Tennessee and were swept in a weekend set at Vanderbilt last weekend.

This won’t be a Quadrant 1 game come June. However, Xavier won’t be intimidated by the stadium and the uniform in the other dugout Tuesday night. They’ve played some national powers in the last four weeks. That’s nothing new.

Offense has been a problem for Xavier early on. Only two Musketeer hitters are over .260 early on. Jake Lambdin is hitting .357, but only one of his 20 hits has gone for extra bases, a double. Carter Hendrickson has three homers and an on base average of .500. But those two have really been it so far.

For LSU, tonight is very much about the pitching plan and the continuation of an offense that has really hummed all season long. Missouri comes to town in about 48 hours to get the real grind started.

PITCHING PLANS

William Schmidt and Conner Ware have handled the midweek starting for LSU of late.

Schmidt was awesome last week against North Dakota State. He got his pitch count up to 73 over four one-run innings. Ware was knocked around the previous day but did get up to 59 pitches a week after throwing 60 on the nose.

My contention is that Jay Johnson would like to have both of these guys ready for an SEC weekend, especially one with significant weather in the forecast which is currently the case in Baton Rouge.

Because it’s a one-game midweek slate, it makes sense to knock Schmidt and Ware down to two innings apiece and around 35 pitches. That will be enough to keep them sharp after a weekend off but fresh for Missouri.

If one of LSU’s weekend arms were faltering, I’d see keeping one of them up around 60 pitches as an insurance policy. Right now, I don’t think that applies.

Casan Evans didn’t pitch this weekend. I would be stunned not to see him at some point later in the game.

START STRONG

Johnson never wants to see a start like last Tuesday against North Dakota State. That very much applies to Tuesday. Much of the lineup variation and fifth-inning pinch hitting luxury fades starting Friday (not all of it, LSU will still use its depth). With Michael Braswell and Ashton Larson really struggling, I imagine Johnson will sit them to start the game but would like a spot to get them an at bat or two in the middle to later innings.

He’ll need a lead for that.

Tennessee scored 13 on Xavier midweek pitching. Indiana scored eight. A couple of big early innings could really make the substitution patterns easy for the coaching staff so that all systems are firing on Friday.

FULL FOCUS

If there’s one game on the schedule that could be dangerous as far as a letdown goes, it’s Tuesday. Xavier is old, tested and played (and won) in The Box last year. Sunday, they started four seniors and four juniors. They will be ready to play. LSU can easily get eyes wandering toward Friday. I know mine are.

Johnson is great with things like this. He will certainly relay this entire message to his team. Ultimately, it’ll boil down to how the Tigers play in the game.

First pitch is set for 6:30.