LSU Baseball's Pitching Staff Proves It Can't Be Overlooked in Start to 2022 Season
While from the outside it looked as though LSU easily breezed through four straight wins over the weekend, for coach Jay Johnson he saw improvement in his group in an extremely important way.
The Tigers won their four games against Towson and Southern by a combined score of 41-3. But for Johnson the most important element was watching as every single player approached every at bat, pitch and inning the exact way they were supposed to, not taking any opportunity for granted. That mindset extended across the roster but truly carried into four terrific performances from the pitching staff.
While LSU's offensive firepower has been well documented all offseason and certainly into the start of the regular season, the true bright spot for this team over the weekend came from the guys on the mound.
LSU's pitching staff was simply sensational over the weekend allowing just three runs in four games that included two shutouts over Towson and Southern. Johnson was ecstatic with the way this staff performed from a strike throwing perspective, getting the team ERA all the way down to a 2.87.
Blake Money, Ma'Khail Hilliard, Ty Floyd, Devin Fontenot, Garrett Edwards and Will Hellmers were just a few of the many pitchers who excelled in extended innings, something that will be required as LSU navigates a very difficult schedule throughout the season. In terms of roles, it appears that Money is locked into a starting position for now but everything after that is still very much on a game to game basis with what the Tigers need to get outs.
"I thought they were great in the strike zone with all of their pitches," Johnson said. "We seemed to have control of the count. It seemed to be 0-2, 1-2 a lot and it allowed them to be flexible to throw what they want and where they want and they executed that very well. Didn't allow any team to get momentum going. All of the staff did that, everybody did their job.
"We have faith in a lot of guys and there hasn't been enough innings to get guys out there in the way I would like to. It was great to get Devin in the game when it was 4-1 the other day and I think those things will come up more and more but I have a lot of faith in how we can line guys up coming out of the pen."
The purple and gold have a difficult midweek battle with UNO on Wednesday evening and the Privateers certainly can't be overlooked with a 5-1 start to their season. UNO is coming off taking two out of three from Kansas with Johnson calling it the "most important game on the schedule" because it's the "next game."
That's been the approach this team has taken and will continue to stick with as a foundational model for approach under Johnson.
LSU sees this weekend once again as a unique opportunity to learn a little bit more about how this team operates. Johnson compared the weekend series in Houston, where the Tigers will face three different opponents in three days, to a postseason tournament setting.
How this group responds to playing different teams on different days and at different times is very much a postseason feel for college baseball so it's a good precursor for how this team will prepare come that time later in the season. The Tigers will face Oklahoma at 3 p.m. on Friday with games against No. 1 Texas and Baylor set for Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m.
There isn't much news on the plans for this week's slate of games other than Johnson saying Blake Money will be staying in that Friday role against the Sooners in the hopes of getting the Tigers off to a good start.
"The preparation is different because you're playing multiple teams so it's a really busy week," Johnson said. "Trying to get our ducks in a row for playing four different opponents. Being comfortable with being out of routine and still being able to execute is really important so we're paying attention to that."