LSU Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
John Pearson walked and laced a line drive single in three at bats on Friday.
He scored LSU’s third run.
On the season, Pearson has three hits in six at bats including a walk off homer on Wednesday that cleared the Alex Box left field bleachers. It’s been a great sophomore start.
After Pearson’s early contribution on Friday, Jay Johnson went to his bench for left-handed hitting Mason Braun when Indiana went to a right-handed reliever. Braun responded with three hits and a pair of RBI after the fifth.
That third spot in the order finished the game 4-for-5 with a walk, two runs driven in and two runs scored. I’m not going to look it up, but I’d venture that there aren’t many elite level teams pinch hitting for their third hitter midgame and getting three more hits out of it.
The depth Jay Johnson has built on this team allows for optimum matchups on a daily basis. Pearson, Trent Caraway, Brayden Simpson, Chris Stanfield, Steven Milam, Cade Arrambide and Omar Serna match up favorably against left-handed pitching.
LSU faced a righty starter on Monday, and seven of the nine offensive starters were left-handed. That included Zach Yorke, Seth Dardar and Milam on the infield, all of whom throw right-handed. Ethan Clauss and Jack Ruckert have been used as defensive replacements on the infield this year. They both hit left-handed, too.
So do Jake Brown and Derek Curiel on the outfield, and both could be All-Americans this year.
Starting 6-0 isn’t going to warrant any sort of celebration in Baton Rouge. No one is claiming that lopsided wins over Milwaukee, Kent State, Nicholls and Indiana merit a top eight seed or a trip to Omaha.
That said, we’ve seen enough baseball to have a reasonable idea of what we’re looking at here. The offensive talent and versatility on this 2026 squad is obvious. The team is getting on base at a .493 clip with 14 homers in six games. The team OPS is 1.157.
LSU’s ability to line up Curiel, Brown, Braun, Milam and Yorke against a right-handed reliever was devastating on Friday. Google tells me 90 percent of the population is right-handed. That won’t be the last time that group flips a game in the late innings. Earlier in the game, Pearson beat up on a left-hander, and Milam drove the game’s first run in as a right-handed bat.
Better pitching is on the way. Vanderbilt is first on the SEC docket, and they threw a combined no hitter this week. Oklahoma’s arms, led by former Tiger Cam Johnson, have dazzled early.
There will be time to further assess this group. However, early on the depth and versatility is really showing off in the Tiger dugout.
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