Week 1: LSU Baseball in Review

Week 1: LSU Baseball in Review

LSU - (3-0)

W – Maryland (1-0)
W – Maryland (5-1)
W – Maryland (14-3)

Pitching: LSU starting pitching this weekend was flat out phenomenal. Both Aaron Nola and Ryan Eades pitched lights out against the Terps. Nola struckout 9 in 6 2/3 innings too get the shutout victory against the Terps. Brent Bonvillain pitched well on Sunday, but seemed to tire out a bit in the middle of the 5th inning. I do not think Bonvillain is the long term solution for Sunday, unless he can seriously improve his stamina. I think he is much better suited for middle relief.

LSU’s relief pitching looked as strong as it did last year, and will only get better when Rumbelow returns. Cotton had 2 appearances on the weekend, including Friday night, where he earned his first save of the season. It looks as if Mainieri will use Berry in a “Bertuccini” role. Berry always worries me when he comes in the game. He seems to serve up some meatballs from time to time. Berry gave up a line drive to the gap in CF/RF, but Laird made a great play on the ball to bail us out. That ball would not have been caught last season. I loved the approach Mainieri took on Sunday. We saw a slew of new pitchers on Sunday, each of them getting an inning of work. I was extremely impressed with Nate Fury and Will LeMarche. LeMarche has great potential, but needs to work on his control a bit. His fast ball was topping out around 95 mph.

Hitting: Chris Sciambra batted lead off and coincidentally led the team in hitting this weekend, including going 4 for 4 Friday night. That’s the type of leadoff production LSU is looking for and it looks like they’ve found it in Sciambra. Quick question, was anyone NOT impressed with Alex Bregman this past weekend? He looked like the next great Tiger baseball player. Bregman had a great weekend at the plate going 3 for 3 on Sunday while reaching base all 5 plate appearances. Bregman also showed off some speed by stealing 2 bases. While it was a chilly weekend at the box, LSU managed 29 hits and hit 2 home runs against the Terps, including a 3 run bomb by Ross on Sunday to bust the game open.

Overall, I’m pleased with what I saw. Hopefully we will get some better offensive production as the weather begins to warm up.

Pitcher of the Weekend: Aaron Nola

Hitter of the Weekend: Chris Sciambra