LSU baseball only needed three games to get through the Baton Rouge regional, and that's the most it could possibly play in the second weekend of the SEC Tournament.
So why might the Tigers go to a different set of arms this time around out of the bullpen? Well, LSU liked how it matched up with certain pitchers if things got to a winner-take-all game, and they decided to save them.
Some of those names who could emerge in the matchup with Kentucky, according to Jay Johnson, include Blake Money, Javen Coleman and Bryce Collins.
"One of my messages after the game on Monday was, there’s guys that didn’t pitch this weekend that if we want to do the things that we want to do and accomplish it, they’re going to have to pitch," Johnson said this week. "Whether it’s this weekend and hopefully beyond that, for us to be where we want to be, and I have great confidence in those guys."
Another reason for those players lack of opportunity in the regional was the efficiency of the pitchers on the bump. Paul Skenes threw a complete game in the win over Tulane. Ty Floyd only went three innings due to a weather delay, but Thatcher Hurd followed that up with an impressive five-inning, 12-strikeout performance in the initial win over Oregon State. Gavin Guidry finished off both wins. Riley Cooper started the third game, with Nate Ackenhausen, Griffin Herring and Guidry combining to finish it off.
"The offense producing the way that it did in Game 6 allowed us some flexibility to be patient with those guys and then reset them. And that’s not always a bad thing, too," Johnson said. "This time of year, if you can get a pitcher a little bit of a break, the next time out they’ve got a chance to be pretty good. And I’m excited about the guys that we didn’t use, that we could use this week.”
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MORE FROM JAY JOHNSON
ON KENTUCKY'S PITCHING STAFF
“The strength of them is the number of guys they have that make a contribution," Johnson said. "I think they have five or six guys that have around 50 innings. That’s a lot. And then they have some other pieces that they like to use in short stints and they use them well. It’s one of the reasons they’ve had a great season and won a lot of games.”
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ON WILDCATS' SMALL-BALL APPROACH
“Just creating awareness for the players and understanding what they do, what the game calls for them to do to be successful, how to get them off track. And we’ll cover all those things and we do that every week. They’re just one of those teams that I’ve had a lot of experience against but maybe teams in the SEC haven’t had experience against because it’s definitely a style and a brand of baseball they’re very committed, that they do really, really well that’s not seen out here a whole lot. But having an opportunity to play against it for three games is helpful and won’t be a surprise and we’ll be very prepared to deal with it for the weekend.”
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ON IMPROVED LSU DEFENSE
“I’m pretty confident and comfortable with where we’re at. We’ve adjusted a few things, in terms of how we’re structuring the field and the defense and guys are executing that. We’re in a good spot right now. … Just doing everything we can to put ourself in the best position to play good defense and pitch to good defense, and I feel really good about how we did that this weekend.”
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PLAYER REACTIONS TO WES JOHNSON NEWS
LSU's pitching coach is heading to Georgia to become the new head coach, news that broke shortly after the Tigers' regional victory.
“Oh yea, we’re dialed in. It’s the way of the world now. You don’t get to choose things all the time," Johnson said. "We had a plan … and my plan was to let them know Monday morning at our meeting. We actually had already scheduled the meeting. But then, you know, just to get that, OK, this is what’s happening and it’s out. I thought it was important that they heard it from me and Wes than anybody else, and we did the best we could with that. It stinks a little bit from the standpoint of, they just won a championship, and that’s what it should be about. And I think Wes would tell you that, too.
"But we dealt with it well, I thought, we had another meeting and briefly talked and we’re locked and loaded for now and moving forward with those pitchers. We’re good to go. Having great player leadership helps with guys like Paul and Ty. … We’ll be dialed in. With young people the good thing about them is nothing usually lasts too long, and that’s a good things. That’s a really good thing, and we’re in a good spot with all of that.”
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