After dropping the weekend series to Texas A&M last weekend, the LSU Baseball team came into this weekend needing a series win over Arkansas. The Tigers are still jockeying for a Top 4 seed in the SEC Tournament and a Top 8 seed for the NCAA Tournament in order to host a Regional and a Super Regional. The task at hand isn't easy for the LSU Baseball team as Top 10 Arkansas came to Baton Rouge fresh off of a massive sweep against Texas.
For LSU Baseball, however, anytime you have Kade Anderson on the mound, you have a chance at winning even on nights where he doesn't have his best outing. On Friday, Kade Anderson had just struck out his 10th batter of the game with LSU trailing 3-2, but the fear of losing the game took the backseat. After the strikeout, Kade Anderson immediately called out to the dugout and was holding his left wrist, which had LSU fans going through the worst-case scenario.
Fans started to ask if it was the right decision to push Anderson on a night where the game was delayed and on a week where Anderson was pitching on shorter rest by a day. The overall fear for LSU fans was over how long Kade Anderson would be out because without Anderson the entire dynamic of LSU's pitching staff changes, as does the outlook on the postseason.
Anderson would throw a few warmup pitches but, Jay Johnson and the coaching staff turned the game over to Chase Shores allowing Anderson to go get looked at. When Kade Anderson returned to the bench it was seemingly a good sign for the Tigers but, the entire fanbase was awaiting Jay Johnson's official word.
After the game, all of the fears the fanbase had proved to be overreactions as Jay Johnson revealed Anderson had a cramp which was the best-case scenario.
While LSU can start Kade Anderson next week, if there's any lingering concerns from this outing the Tigers should push Anderson's start as LSU's next series begins on Thursday rather than Friday against South Carolina. The Gamecocks have had an abysmal season and while you take every opponent seriously, Anderson is far more important to LSU down the line than the final start of the regular season.