LSU’s pitching staff rebounded Tuesday night from a rough weekend in Starkville. The 5th ranked Tigers held Louisiana Tech to five hits in an 11-1 run rule victory over the Bulldogs. Seven pitchers took the mound and only one gave up a run was the starter, Javen Coleman. Coach Jay Johnson liked what he saw from his pitchers.
“They were not good at all this weekend, I thought they were really good tonight,” said Johnson. “I’m really, really pleased with that effort from the mound tonight. It’s good because it’s going to give us more options on these SEC weekends. It was encouraging sign against a really good team.”
Griffin Herring was the winning pitcher. After a couple of rough outings early in the season, Herring has pitched very well his last four times out. On Tuesday night against the Bulldogs he pitched 1.2 innings and struck out two.
Sophomore right-hander Aidan Moffett pitched a scoreless inning. The Mississippi native has made five appearances and has yet to give up a run. Johnson has said he would like to get Moffett more innings.
Johnson is also encouraged with what he’s seen from highly touted freshman Cam Johnson. The big left-hander from Maryland went two-thirds of an inning, allowing a hit and striking out one.
Johnson really struggled in his first two relief appearances. Command was the big issue. But on Tuesday night, 10 of his 16 pitches were strikes. Coach Johnson likes how Cam Johnson is developing.
“I think he is starting to develop, and it was only a matter of time, because we saw it all fall long, it’s a steep hill to show up at this place, but he’s starting to climb that mountain in a really good way.”
Tuesday was also a good night offensively. Josh Pearson stayed hot with two more hits. Tommy White is red-hot as he blasted his fourth home run in as many games. Hayden Travinski and Jared Jones also went yard.
The big negative was three more errors from the Tigers. That’s nine in the last four games. Michael Braswell committed another one. Javen Coleman had one and White, who has played spectacular defense at third base, made an error.
The Tigers have a couple of days to clean up their defensive issues before they face 6th ranked Florida this weekend.
