LSU Baseball to Shake Up Starting Pitcher Rotation Against Tennessee
Paul Mainieri hasn't been afraid to shakeup his offensive starting lineup this season but when it comes to the pitching rotation, Mainieri has remained consistent. That is before this weekend.
During an appearance on Off the Bench, Mainieri said that the Tigers will throw Landon Marceaux on Friday and Jaden Hill on Saturday, mixing up what has been an extremely productive staff all season. Part of the reason Mainieri has elected to switch up the pitching staff is because he felt he extended Hill a little too long last week against Mississippi State and wanted to give him the extra day's rest.
"Jaden didn't do anything to lose the Friday night job, he's pitched tremendous but I did empty his tank last week," Mainieri said. "I probably pitched him an inning too long and because I really pushed him I wanted to give him an extra day's rest.
"That combined with I just think Landon has been our best pitcher. I've decided to move him to Friday and we had to do it now because next week, everybody's on a one day shorter rest because we start our series with Vanderbilt on Thursday."
Marceaux has been absolutely fantastic in his 33.1 innings of play as he has not allowed an earned run all season. He's also struck out 36 batters and has pounded the strike zone all season.
What's made him even more impressive is that when he gets in sticky situations, he's been able to pitch himself out of trouble.
"It's not about making big pitches with no one on base. How do you make pitches, can you rise to the occasion with people in scoring position and luckily I was able to do that," Marceaux said.
Photo courtesy of LSUsports.