Wrapping up LSU baseball's second weekend, 7-1 start

LSU wrapped up another four-game weekend, now with eight games in the rearview to start its season with seven wins. After dropping its game on Friday to Stony Brook, 5-2. The Tigers bounced back with two straight wins to close out the weekend and improve to 7-1.

Here’s a rundown of the updated season stats, plus quotes from Jay Johnson on his team through eight games.

At the plate

Strong games at the plate on Thursday and Sunday sandwiched some struggles on Friday and Saturday, giving Johnson plenty to think about as the team moves into the third week of the season. The new faces continue to find their footing and the conditions in the first two weeks weren’t ideal for balls leaving the park, but the Tigers remain confident in their approach with the talent on hand.

“It’s the game,” Johnson said. “Nobody wants to hear it but it’s not going to happen all the time, easily, so that’s why the work is important and the intent is important. Having motivated guys that are willing to show up at 8 am and work every day is awesome. As long as they keep that mindset we’ll have hope. It’s going to get harder, so we have to be better.”

Through eight games, Steven Milam continues to lead the team in batting average (of players with 10+ at bats) as the freshman infielder has been incredibly consistent with his game so far. Jared Jones continues to lead LSU in total bases and slugging percentage, now with four home runs on the year and a triple. Paxton Kling is batting .400 with a home run and eight walks in 20 at bats.

Brady Neal is another player with elite power, with 15 at bats this year and a home run and two doubles, even though he’s only batting .267. Mac Bingham is batting .333 early on, giving the Tigers another bat to trust in the middle of the lineup. Tommy White is getting on base, but hasn’t had that pop to his bat yet with 10 hits on 30 at-bats, but only one home run and one double.

LSU’s Fielding

It was another extremely clean weekend from LSU, with only one error in four games. Michael Braswell is the only player with errors in the field, but Johnson has full faith in his defense this year and knows his combination of playmaking and athleticism will help this team at shortstop. Steven Milam moved around and was excellent as well the entire weekend. 

On the mound

Luke Holman once again delivered a gem on Saturday and he’s now up to 12.1 innings pitched on the season with zero runs allowed and only five hits with one walk and 18 strikeouts. The rest is still getting worked out a bit. Gage Jump had his first start on Thursday, which was solid, then Thatcher Hurd allowed three runs in 4.1 innings in the loss on Friday, then Javen Coleman started on Sunday and was quality in four innings.

LSU pitched nine guys on Sunday, and at least three in the other three games as well.

“We couldn’t be in a better spot. I don’t think anyone got overused this weekend. You don’t get a lot of games where you can get guys in and develop them, so you have to do that. We’ve got good depth right now.

Bright spots [on Sunday], Coleman getting his pitch count up and only really making one mistake, that’s a good sign. For as old as he is, he still doesn’t have a lot of college innings under his belt. The luxury we have with the depth to be able to put a pitcher of Javen’s caliber out there in game four of the weekend is awesome. It’s a really good thing for our team.” 

Fidel Ulloa continues to deliver, while Cam Johnson is still finding his footing in college ball. 

Next up for LSU

LSU will face Rice on Wednesday night in its first mid-week game of the year, then it’s off to Minute Maid Park for the Astros Foundation Classic. It’s a three-game stretch against Texas, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Texas State which runs through the weekend.

Johnson hinted at potentially Kade Anderson getting a start on Wednesday against Rice in Houston, which would make sense as he didn’t throw this weekend. 

“Moving ahead, we’ll leave [Monday] afternoon and get over there and have a good day practicing on Tuesday, then we’ll play Rice on Wednesday,” Johnson said. “Reckling Park is one of my favorite parks in the country. I have some good memories there with past teams and I look forward to taking this team there.”

Along with the value of facing quality competition, there’s an excitement for Johnson in the recruiting aspect as well. He never stops building for the future and he views this as a chance to show Texas recruits what he’s got.

“The Astros Minute Maid games are cool,” Johnson said. “It’s probably the most important recruiting area for our program, because there are a lot of great players there, including two of our signees that we’re trying to get here. Hopefully our recruits in the area will show up and see that this is an opportunity they shouldn’t bypass for any amount of money.”