***LSU-Florida weekend matchup***

PITCHING

Friday Night Starters



LSU- Kurt McCune (3-0; 1.11 era; .125 b/avg; .664 whip; 17 k’s and 5 bb in 24.1 ip)

Put McCune in the pleasant surprise department for LSU in the young season. The freshman RHP landed in the starting rotation when Tyler Jones was suspended and has since become the Friday night starter. He’s not the hardest thrower although his fastball can reach the low 90s , but he relies on a mixture of control and harmless contact that goes for outs.




UF- Brian Johnson (4-0; 1.12 era; .146 b/avg; .625 whip; 25 k’s and 3 bb in 24 ip)

A sophomore LHP with two very generic names but not a very generic arm. In fact he’s a machine on the mound. The guy hadn’t even been scored on until his last outing where he gave up 5 straight two-out hits in the fourth. He will be the best pitcher the tigers have seen in the early season. Oh, he bats and plays first base too so even if you’re sick of him after Friday, you’ll still see him around the entire weekend.

Saturday Night Starters



LSU- Kevin Gausman (2-0; 3.28 era; .195 b/avg; .950 whip; 27 k’s and 6 bb in 24.2 ip)

A freshman RHP that is the hardest thrower of the LSU staff and has the greatest potential. He’s a pitcher that overpowers batters with strikeouts but is still working on control, as is noted by the homeruns and walks given up thus far this season which account for the “high” era. (Which for a college pitcher really isn’t terrible.)




UF- Hudson Randall (2-0; 1.08 era; .187 b/avg; .720 whip; 19 k’s and 1 bb in 25 ip)

Another day, and it’s another great stat line for a Florida starting pitcher. The odd thing here is that Randall a Sophomore RHP has only been credited with 2 wins and one of them came in his worst outing of the season in which he only gave up 5 hits but 3 runs scored. His season highlight came against Miami where he and reliever DeScalafani one hit the ‘Canes.


Sunday Starters


LSU- Ben Alsup (3-1; 2.01 era; .203 b/avg; 1.267 whip; 17 k’s and 11 bb in 22.1 ip)

The Veteran of the group, Alsup, is a control oriented RHP with an interesting pitching history at LSU. Alsup as a younger pitcher struggled until about midway through the 2010 season in which he dialed in to become one of the more consistent pitchers on the staff. He’s had a good start this season although maybe under the radar because let’s face it, his style of pitching is not going to overly impress fans. He’s susceptible to getting into trouble (11 walks, yikes!) but has thus far found ways to pitch out of it. He stays very composed on the bump and is truly one of the leaders of the team.



UF- Karsten Whitson (3-0; 2.21 era; .236 b/avg.; 1.095 whip; 22 k’s and 5 bb in 20.1 ip)

Whitson is a freshman RHP and has experienced a great amount of success in his first four starts this season. He was the ninth overall pick in the MLB amateur draft by the Padres. He comes equipped with a fastball in the mid 90s and posses’ good control of both a slider and change-up; overall a very young arm with seemingly unlimited potential.

Bullpen

LSU-
Jimmy Dykstra (3-0; 7 app; 3.75era; .239 b/avg; 1.000 whip)
Kevin Berry ( 9app; 0.00 era; .120 b/avg; .563 whip)
Matty Ott (9 app; 2.00 era; .182 b/avg; .666 whip; 4 sv )

(Could also throw Eades, Cotton, Rumbelow, or Jones)

LSU lacks any proven depth in the bullpen. Many have had good outings, but the pen is the reason that some games have been closer than maybe they should have. LSU will need its starters to go deep into games to preserve arms and chances to win.

UF-
Nick Maronde (8 app; 1.69 era; .256 b/avg; 1.176 whip)
Tommy Toledo (7 app; 2.38 era; .175 b/avg; .900 whip 1 sv)
Greg Larson (7 app; 2.77 era; .213 b/avg; .769 whip)
Steven Rodriguez ( 7 app; 2.25 era; .323 b/avg; 1.625 whip; 1 sv)
Anthony DeScalfani ( 8 app 1.29 era; .140 b/avg; .643 whip; 2 sv)

UF has the deepest pen in the SEC. They can throw multiple arms at a team and keep them off balance or they could have any of the above names enter in the 5th and pitch the remainder of the game. The goal is always to get the starting pitcher out of the game early, but in this case, LSU will need to on top of their game at the plate for all nine innings.