No. 1 LSU tangles with Tide as Tigers seek three solid pitching starts
In just more than a month from now on June 2 barring an imaginable meltdown. No. 1 nationally ranked LSU will likely host an NCAA regional and then probably advance to host a Super Regional.
That would put the Tigers two victories away from advancing to their first College World Series since 2017 when they lost to Florida in the finals.
Yet starting with this weekend’s three-game SEC series vs. Alabama beginning Friday at 6 p.m. in Alex Box Stadium, there’s plenty of baseball left for the Tigers (32-8 overall, 12-5 SEC West) to strengthen fissures before they become huge cracks in the armor.
The most notable is shaky starting pitching, which until the Tigers’ sweep at Ole Miss last weekend, had been an unpredictable grab bag in the last two games of an SEC series after college baseball’s strikeout leader Paul Skenes dazzles in openers.
The job of LSU’s starting pitchers, particularly in the first two games of a series, is to last a minimum of five innings. The fewer relievers used means stockpiling them if needed for the third and final game of a series.
Skenes, as usual, did his job in a 7-3 game one win over the Rebels. He lasted six innings as LSU just had to use one reliever (Griffin Herring) in the last three innings.
.But the surprise of the weekend was Tigers’ head coach Jay Johnson only had to use two pitchers in LSU’s 8-4 game two win after starter Ty Floyd delivered a career-high 8.1 innings. Using just four pitchers in the first two games allowed Johnson to trot out five pitchers in LSU’s dramatic 7-6 game three win that gave the Tigers’ their first SEC sweep of the season.
“You can't execute a college game better than he (Floyd) did last Saturday, which was huge for our team,” Johnson said.
Floyd, a junior right-hander from Rockmart (Ga) High who has 46 career appearances and 18 starts in three LSU seasons, concurred with his head coach.
“It was probably the best outing of my career here,” said Floyd, who struck out eight Rebels, walked one and allowed five hits and three runs (all earned). “It’s hard in this league holding a team hitless or scoreless. But having the offense behind me like we do, it's incredible knowing if I give up one or two runs that our offense is going to come right back.”
When Johnson took over as head coach in June 2021 for the retiring Paul Mainieri, he had to quickly assess returning players that would form his first team in 2022.
Floyd was freshman in Mainieri’s final season, throwing 24.1 innings in 20 appearances. He was 0-2 with a 4.44 ERA, but Johnson saw something in Floyd’s 39 to 14 strikeouts-to-walks ratio.
“Ty was a guy that did okay as a freshman,” Johnson said, “but you could definitely see the raw talent. “We needed to get him more game experience last year. His last seven appearances were really good.”
Floyd finished his sophomore campaign 5-4 with a 3.77 ERA, 70 strikeouts and 23 walks. He had 16 appearances and started 10 games. Still, Johnson believed Floyd had the stuff to become a full-time starter this year.
That thought was put on hold for a week or so after early season pitching staff injuries forced Johnson to use Floyd twice as a reliever. By the third weekend of the season, he was a starter.
But once in SEC play, Floyd has seemingly been up and down from start to start.
He efficiently allowed Arkansas one earned run on three hits while striking out seven and walking one in 6.1 innings in a 12-2 seven-inning LSU run rule win. The next weekend, Tennessee battered Floyd for four runs on six hits, including three homers in five innings.
It was the start of three straight games (the others were South Carolina and Kentucky) in which Floyd allowed a combined 13 runs (11 earned) on 13 hits with 9 strikeouts and eight walks. Yet Johnson said he could see improvement in each Floyd outing.
“He’s an undefeated pitcher in the SEC going into April 27,” said Johnson of the 6-0 Floyd, who has an ERA of 3.80. “That just tells you how good he is. And he just keeps getting better.”
Floyd said his improvements from last year to this season have been mental and mechanical.
“There's a couple of huge mechanical fixes like changing some pitch grips on breaking balls,” Floyd said. “But also it was just having that ultimate confidence in myself knowing that I'm able to get all these hitters out when I’m pitching.”
Floyd, who has had three pitching coaches in his three LSU seasons (Alan Dunn in 2021, Jason Kelly in 2022, Wes Johnson this year), credits Johnson for expanding his game.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned from Wes is the analytical side of it,” Floyd said. “He’s so advanced in his knowledge of that stuff. He knows how to translate that to us.”
Johnson has armed Floyd and the rest of the pitchers with knowledge of the way their different pitches move and how and when them to use them effectively.
“Paul Skenes is throwing 100 (miles per hour), but he’s also got 22 inches of horizontal break on his fastball,” LSU catcher Alex Milazzo said. “Ty’s place in the (strike) zone is a little bit different, he’s got a higher spin rate.”
Floyd and his fellow hurlers know they aren’t on Skenes’ level and don't pretend to be.
“Everybody wants to be Paul, everybody should want to do that well,” Floyd said. “But the biggest thing for me and (game three starter) Christian (Little) is trusting our process and executing our pitches.”
No. 1 LSU (32-8 overall, 12-5 SEC West) vs. Alabama (30-12, 9-9 SEC West)
WHERE: Alex Box Stadium
WHEN: Game 1 Friday, 6 p.m. (SEC Network)
LSU – Jr. RH Paul Skenes (7-1, 1.97 ERA, 59.1 IP, 12 BB, 115 SO)
UA – So. RH Luke Holman (5-2, 3.15 ERA, 45.2 IP, 18 BB, 53 SO)
Game 2 Saturday, 6 p.m. (SEC Network+)
LSU – Jr. RH Ty Floyd (6-0, 3.80 ERA, 47.1 IP, 18 BB, 48 SO)
UA – Sr. RH Garrett McMillan (1-1, 3.38 ERA,10.2 IP, 6 BB, 10 SO)
Game 3 Sunday, 1 p.m. (SEC Network+)
LSU – Jr. RH Christian Little (2-1, 4.08 ERA, 28.2 IP, 14 BB, 35 SO)
UA – Gr. RH Jacob McNairy (5-1, 3.92 ERA, 43.2 IP, 8 BB, 40 SO)
THE SERIES: Alabama leads the all-time series with LSU, 200-177-3. LSU has won 13 of the 15 SEC regular-season series versus the Tide since 2007, including a 2-1 series victory last season in Tuscaloosa. Alabama’s series victories since 2007 came in 2011 at Tuscaloosa and in 2016 in Baton Rouge. LSU has a 36-13 mark in games played vs. Alabama since 2007 (31-13 in regular-season games, 5-0 in the SEC tournament).
THE LEAGUE RACE: LSU is in first place in the SEC Western Division with a 12-5 mark and the Tigers have a 1.5 game lead over second-place Arkansas (11-7). LSU is third in the overall SEC race, one game behind first place South Carolina (13-4) and 0.5 game behind second-place Vanderbilt (13-5).
Alabama (9-9) is tied with Texas A&M for third place in the Western Division, 3.5 games behind first-place LSU and two games behind second-place Arkansas
LSU
The Tigers are No. 1 in the nation in shutouts pitched (7), No. 2 in on-base percentage (.447) and No. 2 in slugging percentage (.570), No. 3 in scoring average (9.9 runs per game), No. 4 in runs scored (397) and hit-by-pitch (90), No. 5 in strikeouts pitched per nine innings (11.4) and hits allowed per nine innings (7.19) and No. 10 in batting average (.320).
LSU centerfielder Dylan Crews is No. 1 in the nation in batting average (.485), on-base percentage (.636) and runs scored (66); Crews is No. 2 in walks (45) and No. 7 in slugging percentage (.841). Third baseman Tommy White is No. 1 in the nation in RBI per game (1.83), and he is No. 3 in total RBI (66). Pitcher Paul Skenes leads the nation in strikeouts (115), strikeouts per nine innings (17.44) and WHIP (0.74). He is No. 3 in hits allowed per nine innings (4.85), No. 4 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.58) and No. 13 in ERA (1.97).
ALABAMA
The Crimson Tide s No. 2 in the league with a .308 team batting average, trailing only LSU, which is hitting .320 on the year. Alabama has hit 73 home runs, a total that ranks No. 6 in the league. The Tide is No. 3 in the league in team ERA (3.77) and No. 9 in fielding percentage (.975).
Infielder Drew Williamson leads Alabama in RBI with 43 and has 10 home runs this season. Infielder Colby Shelton has a team-high 16 homers, and he is second on the club in RBI with 35. Alabama’s hitters have struck out only 295 times, which is the third-best total in the league.