Series Snapshot: LSU visits Mississippi State

By Hunt Palmer

No one is confusing 6-12 with a sidelined Jake Brown as an advantageous spot.

That said, there isn’t much pressure on LSU this weekend. Jay Johnson has said the time for big speeches is over. The group has lost six straight league games and is well outside the picture of the NCAA Tournament.

All that’s in front of LSU is a chance to compete in one of college baseball’s best venues this weekend. The rest can wait.

Brian O’Connor left a very comfortable spot at Virginia where he won a national title and went to Omaha seven times. Now he’s in a pressure cooker at Mississippi State.

His team has been a part of five straight sweeps. State swept Vanderbilt in Starkville and went to Oxford and handled Ole Miss. Then they were humbled by Georgia and Tennessee at Dudy Noble Field. Last weekend was a “get well weekend” with South Carolina.

The end result is a 10-8 league record and a shot at a host site. This team could be a championship contender. It may also be as severely flawed as the six straight home losses could indicate.

LEAD DAWG

These teams have been riddled with inconsistency. Tomas Valincius is the exception.

The Bulldog left-hander is probably the best arm in the SEC. The stats and stuff back it up. Valincius is 7-1 with a 1.81 ERA. He’s fired 59.2 innings and allowed 12 earned runs on 42 hits. He’s got 83 strikeouts and 13 walks. Opponents hit .195 against him.

Georgia has been the most potent lineup in the SEC. Valincius worked 7.1 innings against those Bulldogs and allowed two runs on four hits. He struck out 10 without a walk.

The southpaw delivers from a tight, short release point and runs it up to 98 mph. He’s got multiple breaking balls. One is quick and sharp. The other is a big breaker that dives well away from left-handed bats.

He’s legit, and it will be interesting to see if Jay Johnson goes to William Patrick in right against the best arm Patrick will have ever seen. He’s the right-handed option. Would Brayden Simpson and his veteran status be a better idea? It remains to be seen.

LSU’s best shot on Friday afternoon is to get Valincius out of the game.

STATE SUPPORTING CAST

Valincius is the star.

The rest of the group has been up and down. When Valincius doesn’t start, State is 6-6 in SEC play. The lineup doesn’t walk a ton, 14th in the SEC in league action. They’re seventh in scoring as an offense.

Ace Reese is supposed to be the star on offense, and he’s only hitting .216 in league play, albeit with six homers in six weeks. The other power bats like Gehrig Frei (.254, 5 HR), Kevin Milewski (.220, 5 HR) and Reed Stallman (.231, 4 HR) have not been awesome against conference pitching.

State has its weekends like in Fayetteville and Oxford where they’re great. Arlington was an awesome showing, too. They should have beaten UCLA. But it hasn’t been a consistent group.

Duke Stone will start on Saturday for State. He’s allowed league hitters to hit .288 with a team-high 16 walks issued. Charlie Foster has a big left arm up to 96 mph, but he’s right over the top with a flat fastball. That’s why his SEC ERA is over 5.00.

BAYOU BULLPEN

It sounds wild to say this, but the bullpen may be LSU’s strength.

Casan Evans and William Schmidt haven’t been dominating. The offense is missing Jake Brown, and the defense is suspect at best.

Deven Sheerin, Grant Fontenot, Connor Benge, Danny Lachenmayer, Cooper Williams and Marcos Paz need to be used. They are throwing the ball the best despite the status of Mavrick Rizy, Gavin Guidry and Santiago Garcia.

Zac Cowan will get a high leverage spot if it presents itself, but I’m feeling pretty good about the other guys. LSU’s bullpen is going to have to eat some serious innings in front of a big-time crowd. Weirdly, I feel good about that after the last five games.