(Photo credit: @LSUbaseball on X)
By Hunt Palmer
After the top of the fifth inning on Saturday, LSU had a one-game lead in the series and a three-run lead halfway through game two.
The Tigers were outscoring Texas 13-4 and looked like the best team in the country. From that point LSU was outscored 15-4 and dropped the series.
Final from Austin pic.twitter.com/yVOIJp7GK1
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) March 23, 2025
Things can change quickly in a 30-game conference slate.
All-in-all, it was a disappointing weekend for the Tigers that exposed some weaknesses, specifically in the pitching department. After Kade Anderson and Zac Cowan handled Friday and Anthony Eyanson handed the ball off midway through the game on Saturday, LSU didn’t pitch well enough to win. And then Sunday they didn’t hit well enough to win.
That combination won’t work in LSU’s favor very often.
PITCHING PROBLEMS
The bullpen imploded on Saturday. Seven guys worked 3.2 innings and allowed seven earned runs on nine hits with five walks and one strikeout. Fifty-six of their 101 pitches were strikes.
I dove deeper.
Conner Ware, who LSU is supposed to count on to be a huge piece of the bullpen, fell behind the only hitter he faced and walked him.
William Schmidt, who LSU is supposed to count on to be a huge piece of the bullpen, got to three-ball counts on three of the five hitters he faced. He gave up a three-run homer on a 3-1 fastball down the middle, a double on a 2-1 pitch, a walk on a 3-1 pitch, and another walk on a 3-1 pitch. No one can pitch from those counts.
To his credit, Connor Benge retired the first four hitters he faced to slow the bleeding down. He worked 0-1 to all four of them. He gave up a home run on an 0-2 pitch that got too much plate. But in total he threw strike one to six of the eight men he faced.
Jacob Mayers fell behind all three men he faced, which has been an issue for him for three years.
LSU’s walk numbers were not awful this weekend. Texas did not walk on Friday and only drew two walks on Sunday. The problem is deeper than that. You simply cannot fall behind as often as LSU has.
Cowan is the softest tosser on the team. How does he get outs? He faced 11 hitters on Friday and one of them saw a three-ball count. Ten of the 11 saw a two-strike pitch.
If it seems overly simple, it is. LSU’s staff beyond Anderson, Cowan, and Casan Evans has to throw the ball over the plate.
MANAGERIAL MOVES
Jay Johnson left Cowan out there to throw 55 pitches on Friday. Cowan entered the game in the seventh with LSU up 8-2 after a four-spot in the top half.
Theoretically, he could have yanked Cowan after the seventh to try to get six out with someone else to preserve a six-run lead. And I wouldn’t have called that the wrong move. However, nailing down a road win is vital. And entering Saturday with Eyanson, Ware, Schmidt, Mavrick Rizy, Benge, and Evans is still a strong position. I thought leaving Coan out there was just fine.
Eyanson wasn’t bad on Saturday. He gave up a bunch of ground ball singles. My opinion is that Johnson has a little bit too quick a hook with Eyanson. Right now, he’s a better option than most of the bullpen because, at the very least, you know he’ll throw strikes. He’s only walked eight in 32 innings of work.
I think Eyanson giving LSU more length is a potential help to the bullpen as they try to develop roles.
I also didn’t love the double steal LSU put on with Ethan Frey at the plate on Saturday. It was 5-1 Texas with two out and two on in the sixth. LSU ran that double steal to plate a run and give up an out to end the inning. Down four runs, I don’t like taking the bat out of Frey’s hands there.
ACE ANDERSON
We can’t go any further without mentioning Anderson’s outing on Friday. He struck out eight and didn’t walk anyone.
As questionable as the bullpen is right now, finding reliable bullpen arms over a 56 game marathon is easier than finding an ace. LSU appears to have one of those. In two league starts, Anderson has 19 strikeouts and two walks.
Anderson’s 100th pitch was clocked at 95 mph on Friday night, and the next one, his last, was good for a strikeout.
STAFF SHAKEUP
The question will be asked, does LSU change up the starting rotation? I’ll listen to the argument, but I wouldn’t do it right now.
If a move is made, it’s Cowan on Sunday for Shores, in my opinion. Cowan threw 110 innings last year at Wofford. He can handle the workload. Shores excelled out of the bullpen as a freshman.
Right now, Shores isn’t missing any bats. His batting average against is .300, and we’re almost to April. He’s 16 strikeouts behind Eyanson and 26 behind Anderson.
Making this move weakens the bullpen, which I why I wouldn’t do it right now. But, it’s something to think about moving forward.
IT’S EARLY
I love the passion of LSU baseball fans. It’s wonderfully evident in Hoover every May and Omaha many Junes. It’s unfortunately evident when adversity hits. That adversity hits every single year. Right now LSU is not pitching at a championship level.
The good news is that there are no championships to be won in March. It took a couple of months for the bullpen to take shape in 2023 and 2024. Ultimately it did. That’s the hope with this talented group in 2025. The season is far from lost, and pitchers can develop and improve.
Still, after two weekends, LSU sits at 4-2 with 24 SEC games left. That’s ahead of pace. A beatable Mississippi State team comes to Baton Rouge this weekend. If the team that played the first 14 innings of the weekend in Austin shows up, LSU will be in great shape. If the latter version does, it’ll be trouble.
LSU has been more of the good version over 25 games.
