By Hunt Palmer
LSU’s first weekend of preseason practice concluded on Sunday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
Cooper Williams, Dalton Beck, Kade Woods and Dylan Thompson did the pitching, and what appeared to be the first team played together.
Cade Arrambide caught. Jared Jones played first. Daniel Dickinson manned second. Steven Milam and Michael split the game at third base and shortstop. The outfield from left to right was Derek Curiel, Chris Stanfield and Josh Pearson.
It was not a banner day defensively for the Tigers.
Arrambide fired a bunt into right field in the first inning and struggled to keep pitches in front of him. Jones mishandled a pair of hard hit one-hoppers to first. Both would have been tough on the official scorer, but a junior first baseman needs to make both plays. Milam spiked a routine throw from shortstop that Jones expertly picked out of the dirt.
Braswell did make a really nice play while over at third base. He ranged hard to his left and fired across his body to make the out. Milam and Braswell have split time between third base and shortstop. That may continue leading up to Opening Day.
Williams did show why the coaching staff is so high on him. He’s got an ideal 6-foot-4 frame and smooth delivery. His fastball was between 90 and 93 mph, and he threw two different breaking balls effectively.
Beck showed a good enough left-handed breaking ball to get Jake Brown and Pearson, both lefties, swinging.
Arrambide was excellent in his two at bats, hitting a pair of balls right on the screws. The first was a 107 mph line out to center, and the second was a towering double that one-hopped the wall in left center.
Tanner Reaves, a talented JUCO bat, homered to deep right center. That one traveled 386 feet.
Stanfield singled sharply in his first at bat and then laid down a gorgeous suicide squeeze bunt on a pitch that was down and out of the zone. The hope is that the LSU staff can develop Standfield from a steady offensive player to a well above average SEC bat in the same way Braswell made huge strides last season after coming over from South Carolina. The outfield is crowded, but it feels like Stanfield may have the inside track in center field.
Off the field, literally, the new seating that has been added where the bullpens used to be looks really nice. It’s built into the ground and will feature comfortable seats with a generous area to rest food and drinks just feet from the field of play.
LSU will continue workouts on Monday with a 3:00 scrimmage.
