Recent history is on LSU's side to turn in successful outing at SEC tourney
As LSU baseball departs for Hoover, Alabama for the SEC Championship tournament starting Tuesday, there’s a familiarity and expectation that the Tigers will have a successful showing.
The recent history has been kind to LSU (34-22, 17-13) as the team made a championship appearance against Ole Miss in 2018 as an eight seed and won it the previous year over Arkansas 4-2, the sixth time the Tigers had won the tournament under coach Paul Mainieri.
This year, LSU enters as a five seed and will be taking on South Carolina, the 12 seed on Tuesday night in a single elimination game that, if won, would buy the team a few extra days in Hoover. The Tigers are currently on the bubble for hosting a regional in the NCAA tournament so even two or three wins could solidify their spot to host after having to travel to Corvallis, Oregon a season ago.
Senior Antoine Duplantis has experienced it all in his previous three trips to Hoover, going down memory lane of some of his most cherished recollections from the tournament.
“I remember in 2016 we were a fifth seed and we had Tennessee on that Tuesday game and won off a clutch homerun from Greg Deichmann,” Duplantis said. “We’ve had some great victories, that really long game against Florida that went 16 or 17 innings. I’ve had a ton of great memories in Hoover and hope to make some more.”
Duplantis is not exactly sure why the team has endured so much success at the SEC tournament but said maybe it’s because that tournament sets the tone for postseason baseball and that LSU always rises to the occasion.
“Every year I’ve gone we’ve had a lot of success and hope we continue that this week,” Duplantis said. “It’s always a lot of fun playing at Hoover and winning a few games can help set up a better postseason run for yourself. Just having all the SEC teams in the same place makes it a really fun tournament.”
The Tigers will continue to be short on pitchers with Jaden Hill and Trent Vietmeier both making the trip but not expected to pitch. Mainieri said it’s highly unlikely Vietmeier will pitch again this season while Hill endured another setback that will keep him out of the rotation this week.
There was a certain level of hope that the freshman, who hasn’t pitched in a live game since Feb. 23, would make his long awaited return to the mound sometime this week, but started feeling sore again, forcing the team to rest him.
“Jaden up until two or three days ago we were hopeful he’d be able to pitch a little bit in the tournament,” Mainieri said. “But he didn’t feel quite as good as Cole Henry has felt. We’re still holding out hope that maybe next week or the week after he’ll be available but we just don’t know.”
Mainieri did reveal that freshman Cole Henry will make his return to the mound by starting on Tuesday against the Gamecocks, with the hope that the freshman can go a maximum of three innings. It’s been five weeks since Henry last pitched and Mainieri said he pitched a simulated game over the weekend that went 25 pitches and went great.
“He was a little rusty last week but today [Monday] he looked a little more sharp and I think he’s ready to go out there and compete and do the job,” Mainieri said. “It’s important that he gets out there this week because it’s a precursor for the NCAA tournament. Hopefully by next week he’ll be able to extend to as many as five innings, which would give us a bonafide three starters for the NCCA tournament.”
LSU has also settled in on an infield that has started the last few weeks and played quite well as a defensive unit. An injured ankle to Cade Beloso moved Chris Reid over to first, allowing Mainieri to insert Hal Hughes at third base and Brandt Broussard at second.
While Mainieri acknowledged that the lineup is maybe not LSU’s best offensive lineup, the improvements at the plate by Hughes and Broussard in recent week leaves him confident in the rotation that he’s stuck with.
“We kind of stumbled into that,” Mainieri said. “I think it’s our best defensive infield because Reid gives you a little bit more of that infielder skill because of his range. I’m going to stick with that lineup at least tomorrow night but nothing is etched in stone.”
Catcher Saul Garza has also been a revelation of recent, bringing his batting average up to .257 with five homeruns after spending most of the season under .200 at the plate.
“I’m so excited about that and I hope he can keep it going,” Mainieri said. “When we recruited him, we had such high hopes for him. Remember he was hurt for most of fall practice and when he was able to start swinging a bat, he still wasn’t ready to catch yet. I was hoping once he started catching that his pitch recognition would improve and I think it’s starting to happen for him. He’s confident, more comfortable and is seeing the ball a lot better so I hope he can keep it up.”
The Tigers are set to arrive in Hoover tonight but will not practice before Tuesday night’s outing against South Carolina, which starts at 8 p.m.