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Three Observations from No. 22 LSU Baseball’s Houston Road Trip

Tigers pitching staff remains elite, offense still a work in progress

It's the same story with LSU baseball seemingly every year. The Tigers get off to a sluggish or less than stellar start and the sky is suddenly caving in. 

After dropping it's final two games of the weekend in Houston, including a 12-inning spurt where they couldn't cross home plate, there are some pretty glaring, obvious issues that exist within this team.

In the past, it's been a struggling pitching staff or lack of bullpen depth that's been early cause for concern and this year it's been the inconsistent and sometimes downright poor hitting that has LSU (7-5) fans flustered. This past weekend seemed to reach a boiling point so here are a few takeaways from the Tigers rocky weekend in Houston.

The offense remains in a state of flummox

Let's get this one out of the way right off the bat. LSU's struggles at the plate are concerning and it seemed to reach its peak this weekend when the Tigers failed to score a run in the final 12 innings of baseball.

Over those 12 innings, LSU went a combined 2-of-36 at the plate with 14 strikeouts. The strikeouts are perhaps most concerning of all as the LSU batters were fanned 34 times in the three game series. 

It's easy to chalk these early struggles up to a lack of discipline at the plate or swinging for the fences as opposed to swinging for contact. There's a grain of truth in both but the issue lies with young players adjusting to the college baseball elements.

Wiping out Sunday's no-hit performance, LSU has three batters that have shown to be reliable at the plate. Third baseman Zack Mathis, right fielder Daniel Cabrera and first baseman Cade Beloso are batting well over .300 but unfortunately just not receiving that much help behind them. 

"I've never been no hit in my entire life. It feels pretty bad, honestly. Feels like we just got dominated," Beloso said after Sunday's loss.

Mainieri came into last week with a set lineup in mind with the hopes of getting some other guys into a rhythm. Centerfielder Giovanni DiGiacomo had a decent week and freshman Cade Doughty strung together three hits but outside of that the young guns have been struggling to see and put the ball in play. 


Even a veteran hitter like Saul Garza has gone through a nasty 10-day stretch that’s seen him go 3-for-26 at the plate.

As a result, Mainieri might be forced into even more lineup turnover this week as LSU tries to find a consistent pulse on offense. The sky isn't falling yet as SEC play is still two weeks away but these hitting woes need to be addressed before that time comes. 

Starting pitchers proving to be the backbone of the 2020 season

For all the warranted criticism the LSU offense received this weekend, the exact opposite can be said about starting pitchers Cole Henry, Landon Marceaux and AJ Labas. The three combined to allow five earned runs in 20 innings, walking three and striking out an astounding 23 batters. 

Even in eventual losses, Marceaux and Labas' performances were the two biggest factors that kept LSU within striking distance in both games. Just one swing of the bat was all it took for Labas to pick up the loss Sunday after throwing seven innings of hitless baseball against the Sooners.

"Our starting pitchers are all outstanding and we've got two guys coming out of the bullpen that we can rely on that are really good," Mainieri said. 

Bullpen guys like Jaden Hill and Devin Fontenot combined for four scoreless innings and seven strikeouts. Hill, in particular, was phenomenal in his three innings of work to close out an unbeaten Texas team on Friday night.

In 7.2 innings of work this season, Hill has allowed just one hit out of the bullpen and struck out 14 batters while Fontenot has allowed just one run in his four innings on the mound.

As disappointed as LSU fans will be about the offense, they should be equally excited about the high quality pitching displayed on a weekly basis.

Paul Mainieri isn't going anywhere

As is the case with every slow start to a season, the head coach shoulders most of the blame and it's usually warranted. The Mainieri criticism continues to be in a class of its own and it's important to put his success in proper perspective.

Every year is Omaha or bust for LSU, that much is a given. But it's also an unrealistic point of view to have. Since LSU's last national championship win in 2009, only two teams (Vanderbilt, South Carolina) have won multiple championships. 

Nine of the last 11 championship winners have been from different universities and in the 11 years since LSU captured its last championship, only once have the Tigers not made the postseason. LSU has made it to Omaha three times in that span, have appeared in six Super Regionals and won four SEC tournaments. 

Mainieri is two wins shy of career win No. 600 while at LSU and you don't get to that point if you don't know how to coach. It's easy to point the finger at the coach and Mainieri certainly isn't blameless. However, fans that want the second greatest coach the program has ever had out the door need to think long and hard about the answer to one question.

Who is a better alterntive?