Dominating! That’s the best way to describe LSU’s three wins in Jacksonville, Florida, this past weekend.
Now the three teams that LSU beat, Indiana, Notre Dame and UCF at the JAX College Baseball Classic might not get into the NCAA Tournament, but they didn’t have a chance against the top ranked Tigers.
LSU’s approach at the plate was outstanding as they drew 25 walks for the weekend, including 14 on Friday in a 14-7 win over Indiana. Notre Dame head coach Shawn Stiffler said LSU puts pressure on you, by not swinging at pitches out of the strike zone.
The Tigers were also really good on the mound with 31 strikeouts.
Here are my five big takeaways from the weekend in Jacksonville.
William Schmidt
Sunday’s start might have been William Schmidt’s best outing in an LSU uniform as he threw five shutout innings, allowing just three hits and striking out seven. The most important statistic is the number of walks he gave up, which was only one. Walks have been an issue for the right-hander, but he located his breaking pitches which complimented his 95 mile per hour fastball.
Cade Arrambide
LSU has a lot of star players; Jake Brown, Derek Curiel and Steven Milam, but head coach Jay Johnson said to me prior to Saturday’s game that Arrambide might be LSU’s best player by the time the season ends.
Arrambide reached base six times on Friday, including four walks. He then hit mammoth home runs on Saturday and Sunday. His defense continues to improve and he’s developing into a big-time major league prospect.
Seth Dardar
Second base was one of the big position battles entering the season, but Dardar seems to have the job for now. He made a couple of nice plays defensively over the weekend and he’s off to a good start at the plate hitting .364. For the weekend he drove in four runs and had a couple of doubles.
But when Chris Stanfield recovers from his injured hand and can return to left field, Dardar might have to share time with Brayden Simpson at second base.
Tanner Reaves is another option at second or third base. But he struck out twice on Friday and made an error and didn’t see the field the rest of the weekend.
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Ethan Plog and Devin Sherrin
Both pitchers entered Jay Johnson’s circle of trust with good outings on Saturday. Notre Dame was trying to claw their way into the game when Plog and Sherrin got key outs late in the game. Sherrin walked the first two batters he faced in the seventh, only to get the next two guys out to end the inning. Sherrin came back in the 8th inning to strike out the side.
Jay Johnson said if Plog and Sherrin can be pitchers he can count on, it only raises the ceiling for this team.
Mason Braun
The freshman from Indiana continues to push for playing time. He came off the bench on Friday and went 3-for-3 with two RBIS and drove in another run on Sunday and finished the weekend 4-for-5. Plus, he had a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt. He’s hitting .421 on the season.
Up next:
LSU continues to cram the non-conference games in before SEC play starts. The Tigers will host McNeese on Tuesday and then will play four games from Friday to Monday hosting Northeastern and Dartmouth on alternating days.