LSU Baseball Hoping Offensive Momentum Can Continue Into Critical SEC Stretch
After digging themselves into a pretty sizeable hole, there isn't much room for error for LSU. The Tigers were able to find some success this last weekend at Kentucky, taking two of three from the Wildcats and win the series.
For much of the season and certainly the case for the conference schedule, the Tigers have relied on their pitching to keep the team in games but LSU flipped the script and received contributions up and down the lineup to produce a successful offensive weekend. Dylan Crews, Tre' Morgan, Cade Doughty and Gavin Dugas have been the most consistent hitters on the roster but other players are starting to round into form at just the right time for the Tigers.
The two that come to mind first are shortstop Jordan Thompson and designated hitter Cade Beloso, who went a combined 13-of-21 at the plate against Kentucky. Thompson's average has shot up to .299 after being in the low .230 range for much of the season. Beloso, after coming dangerously close to that sub .200 mark, really seemed to find a rhythm against the Wildcats and brought home a team leading seven RBI in the series.
"He had been in such a rut and this game, it plays with your mind," Mainieri said of Beloso. "When you're struggling you're wondering if you're ever gonna get another hit. He stuck with it and he broke out of it. I thought he swung the bat really well this whole weekend, got some big hits. It made such a big difference to our team to get him hitting.
"He's starting to hit the ball the other way. The more he's able to hit the ball to the opposite field, the more success he's going to have," Mainieri said of Thompson. "The more unshiftable he'll become which will open up more holes for him. One thing about Jordan Thompson is he loves the game, works really hard at the game. He's just obsessed with it and that's one of the reasons I've stuck with him through the tough times."
Mainieri also mentioned the contributions of Giovanni DiGiacomo and Hayden Travinski those first two nights as extreme positives for this offense moving forward. Conisistency is the next step to seeing this offense take its game to the next level.
He did see some fatigue set in on a few of those guys as Travinski started to wear down towards the end of game two and he wanted to play it safe with DiGiacomo by resting him for Sunday's finale. But getting more consistent at bats from eight of the nine starters is a lot better than what has been shown previously during the SEC schedule.
"That gave us four additional hitters in our lineup to go along with the four that have been pretty consistent for most of the year," Mainieri said. "What a difference it made for our team. All of the sudden you feel like you have good balance in your lineup and the pitcher has to work really hard to get through us and it showed."
LSU's gauntlet of opponents doesn't let up in the next few weeks as No. 5 South Carolina travels to Baton Rouge for a three game series, followed by a trip to No. 6 Ole Miss and a home series with No. 1 Arkansas. The path to climbing their way back up the SEC standings is there but it starts with more consistent offensive trips.