LSU Baseball: Pitching Reigns Supreme

Yesterday we began the review for LSU’s weekend sweep of Arkansas, but I was so impressed with just the Tiger’s bats, I forgot to include the pitching. Let’s be fair, there hasn’t been too many instances to show optimism towards the offense, so forgive me for the excitement.

Even though the pitching staff want included, technically they deserved their own article. On Monday, the pitching staff earned the “staff of the week award” from insidepitching.com’s website. They staff as a whole held an Arkansas team that averaging six runs per game in their first six SEC game to only three per game on the weekend. The starters went deep into each game. Let’s take a look at how well the starters performed last weekend.

If you hadn’t followed the team all year could you tell by the stats who is going to be a first round draft pick in the MLB draft next June? No, that the point. When LSU can send out pitchers with the talent of these three, they have a chance to win each game. The one stat that jumps out to me is the starters only allowed four walked against 88 batters faced. The three were consistently throwing strikes and Arkansas could not connect. Arkansas only batted .147 against the starting three.

Gausman started the weekend throwing smoke at the Hogs. His 12 strikeouts was a career high and he hit 99-MHP multiple times on the radar gun. His five runs allowed all came in one innings and even though he earned them, it was an odd inning. How would Eades top the 12 strikeout performance by Gausman? By throwing the best game on the year by a starter. He shut down Arkansas after allowing a run in the second innings. Eades, who normally struggles with control, used pin-point accuracy recording eight strikeout and only allowed one walk. Austin Nola continues to show that he is the next big thing for the LSU pitching staff, but still shows some he has some growing pains. Even though he recorded the lowest WHIP, two of his three hits allowed were home runs. Nola did leave the game Sunday with a shoulder injury. Paul Maineri commented Monday that Nola’s injury isn’t serious, but he will miss this weekend’s series at Florida.

The starters were nearly flawless, but are only half the story. Both Saturday and Sunday the starters left the game while the score was tied. For LSU to win both the bullpen had to deliver…and they did, look below.

The bullpen was a potential weakness for the team heading into the season, but with performances like this, it could be a strength. Only one run and one walk allowed in crunch time is huge. Like the starters, the pen threw strikes at a high rate (68 percent) and recorded 11 strikeouts. The Razorbacks only batted .167 against the bullpen.

Chris Cotton was the only Tiger pitcher to see work on multiple days. It is fair to say that the coaches have the most confidence in Cotton’s demeanor on the mound, but as you can see everyone (except Berry) had strong performances. I was a bit surprised that McCune did not see any action on Saturday or Sunday. If he is trying to be the closer, shouldn’t he get some action in close games? Maybe that back half of the bullpen isn’t set just yet.

Overall the staff continued to improve and gain confidence, both will be needed traveling to Florida to being their series on Thursday.

Yesterday we began the review for LSU’s weekend sweep of Arkansas, but I was so impressed with just the Tiger’s bats, I forgot to include the pitching. Let’s be fair, there hasn’t been too many instances to show optimism towards the offense, so forgive me for the excitement.

Even though the pitching staff want included, technically they deserved their own article. On Monday, the pitching staff earned the “staff of the week award” from insidepitching.com’s website. They staff as a whole held an Arkansas team that averaging six runs per game in their first six SEC game to only three per game on the weekend. The starters went deep into each game. Let’s take a look at how well the starters performed last weekend.

If you hadn’t followed the team all year could you tell by the stats who is going to be a first round draft pick in the MLB draft next June? No, that the point. When LSU can send out pitchers with the talent of these three, they have a chance to win each game. The one stat that jumps out to me is the starters only allowed four walked against 88 batters faced. The three were consistently throwing strikes and Arkansas could not connect. Arkansas only batted .147 against the starting three.

Gausman started the weekend throwing smoke at the Hogs. His 12 strikeouts was a career high and he hit 99-MHP multiple times on the radar gun. His five runs allowed all came in one innings and even though he earned them, it was an odd inning. How would Eades top the 12 strikeout performance by Gausman? By throwing the best game on the year by a starter. He shut down Arkansas after allowing a run in the second innings. Eades, who normally struggles with control, used pin-point accuracy recording eight strikeout and only allowed one walk. Austin Nola continues to show that he is the next big thing for the LSU pitching staff, but still shows some he has some growing pains. Even though he recorded the lowest WHIP, two of his three hits allowed were home runs. Nola did leave the game Sunday with a shoulder injury. Paul Maineri commented Monday that Nola’s injury isn’t serious, but he will miss this weekend’s series at Florida.

The starters were nearly flawless, but are only half the story. Both Saturday and Sunday the starters left the game while the score was tied. For LSU to win both the bullpen had to deliver…and they did, look below.

The bullpen was a potential weakness for the team heading into the season, but with performances like this, it could be a strength. Only one run and one walk allowed in crunch time is huge. Like the starters, the pen threw strikes at a high rate (68 percent) and recorded 11 strikeouts. The Razorbacks only batted .167 against the bullpen.

Chris Cotton was the only Tiger pitcher to see work on multiple days. It is fair to say that the coaches have the most confidence in Cotton’s demeanor on the mound, but as you can see everyone (except Berry) had strong performances. I was a bit surprised that McCune did not see any action on Saturday or Sunday. If he is trying to be the closer, shouldn’t he get some action in close games? Maybe that back half of the bullpen isn’t set just yet.

Overall the staff continued to improve and gain confidence, both will be needed traveling to Florida to being their series on Thursday.