LSU players understand opportunity with top-5 Arkansas next on the schedule
There’s a principle in coaching that you don’t want to weaken yourself at two positions. Yet this is the position coach Paul Mainieri and his staff finds themselves in as the team heads off to Fayetteville Wednesday to start a three game series with No. 4 Arkansas on Thursday.
The pitching staff this year has been a continuous revolving door of injuries, one that Mainieri has tried to plug with various moves all season, and that won’t stop being the case this week against one of the premiere offenses in the SEC.
LSU will once again be short on pitchers as freshman Saturday starter Cole Henry will miss a third consecutive SEC week nursing arm soreness, an injury that has plagued many of the the Tigers top pitchers at some point this season. In Henry’s absence, LSU will go with Ma’Khail Hilliard on Thursday, Eric Walker on Friday and Landon Marceaux on Saturday.
Mainieri said with so many guys out of the rotation, it leaves the team to have to rely on other players they hadn’t envisioned filling those roles when the season started.
“What happens is the guys normally pitching in the middle of the week are being forced to the weekend and the guys that have supplemental roles are the guys you’re counting on in the middle of the week. Those one or two injuries have so much more of an effect if it’s your pitchers. We’ve got five guys on the DL that we thought were going to be vital pitchers for us and it’s changed the whole depth chart.”
Noticeably absent from the starting rotation is junior Zack Hess, who made the switch to the bullpen role last week after a conversation with Mainieri on his role moving forward. While there are no real developments, Mainieri did divulge that the hope is for Hess to appear in two games this weekend against the Razorbacks, meaning a Thursday and Saturday appearance would be a likely scenario in that case.
“I think Hess stands out in a big way in the bullpen and it took us a while to get there but I’ve alway liked to have guys that stand out in a big way,” Mainieri said. “Now you just hope you can get to Hess with a lead in those later innings. That’s up to the starting pitcher and the offense to be able to get to that point.”
The Tigers (30-19, 14-10) head into the series losers of their last three games while Arkansas (37-12, 17-7) has won 12 of it’s last 14 and supplanted itself atop the SEC West.
Arkansas is one of the elite hitting teams in the SEC, batting .309 as a team good for third in the conference and led by sophomore outfielder Heston Kjerstad, who is batting .327 with 42 RBI and a team-best 13 homers.
With the injuries piling up on the pitching staff, the door has been opened for one bullpen guy who wasn’t expecting to be a weekend starter this late in the season in the sophomore Hilliard. After a strong 8-3 freshman campaign that was cut short in the regional series in Corvallis a year ago, Hilliard missed all of Fall and most of Spring trying to recover from the soreness in his arm.
Yet here he is pitching on opening night of one of the most vital series of the season, where a loss could mean a further slip in the SEC standings and postseason placements.
“It’s very exciting to be back in the weekend rotation, especially after coming back from the injury I had last year,” Hilliard said. “I wasn’t expecting to get back into the starting rotation with all the depth we have on this staff.
Hilliard said there’s added pressure to a starter when he knows many guys aren’t available out of the bullpen. The sophomore said the key in those situations is to not overextend and try to do too much and instead rely more on the defense to make the necessary plays.
“I’m pretty sure most pitchers feel that pressure but I just try to calm myself down as best I can,” Hilliard said. “Let your defense work for you and not try to go out there and get three straight strikeouts.”
The LSU offense, while not decimated with injuries, has undergone quite an interesting week as the team was limited to one run Tuesday night after seemingly finding a recent groove, posting 28 runs in the Ole Miss series this past weekend.
Shortstop Josh Smith said that’s been the most frustrating part for many of the position players this season, how a team with all the power and potential to be one of the best hitting squads in the country, can turn around and be virtually shut down by a midweek opponent.
The junior admitted the team didn’t give its best effort in Tuesday’s 12-1 loss to Louisiana Tech and that the offense needs to find ways to alleviate some pressure off the pitchers by starting off stronger in beginnings of games.
“I can’t say we went out there and tried to lose the game but we probably could’ve brought a little more to the table,” Smith said. “Last night you could just kind of feel it was a dull game, nobody was really having any fun. I think sometimes you can take the game for granted and not really have any fun.”
Smith has been battling his own demons as he has gone three straight games with an error at shortstop, something he hasn’t done his entire career at LSU. After an errant throw in the first inning on Tuesday that directly led to runs, the junior was seen practicing with his throwing delivery postgame to try and fix the issue.
In spite of the recent struggles, this is an LSU team still very much in control of its own destiny. A series win plants the Tigers right back in the mix of hosting a regional and while that’s easier said than done, Smith wants fans to know the players recognize the opportunity in front of them.
“I think this is what makes you want to come to LSU to play baseball,” Smith said. “Getting to play against a top-5 team on the road and hopefully a chance to put our name back in the SEC West standings and go from there.”