re: Tennessee will start Dollander

Just another pitcher from the East.

Winning game one means more for the rest of our post season than winning today

Gotta score 5 or 6...
Defense cannot F us tonight.

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I just don’t see how we didn’t pitch Floyd, other someone else, against the 12-seed and have Hillard available for UT

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Because winning this tournament is not really important. The tournament starting next week is MUCH more important, and I'm certain the coaching staff is making sure the team is in the best position to perform well in that tournament...even if it lessens LSU's chances of wining this tournament.

Hillard is going to be your game 1 starter next week. The goal is to get him set to be at his best in that game. If that means pitching him on a Thursday to ensure he remains sharp but has adequate rest before next week's games, then that is what you do...even though in a different scenario you would prefer to have your best pitcher face the most difficult competition.

Yeah, let's second guess a winning decision to the multiple hypotheticals that could have gone wrong and we go 0-2. It was the right call. JJ had the advantage of seeing UT "throw off" and make his decision of who to start. Prob already made his decision prior to that but seeing what they did solidified it.

They don't need to win this tournament or even win tonight. Both would be nice, but they needed to win at least one game and they did that last night.

If we host and game one is against mcneese or some equivalent, I don’t see why we would waste Hilliard in game one.

Runs will be tough to come by especially without Berry and Doughty. Hopefully one or both can go but my guess is we let them heal as much as possible for next week. I don’t know if we have a better option than Floyd right now. He has pitched better his last outing or two so maybe his pitches his best game tonight and gives a shot. No doubt Tenn is stacked this year.

It’s disgusting how good Tennessee is - at all levels of the game

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If we host and game one is against mcneese or some equivalent, I don’t see why we would waste Hilliard in game one.

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Because LSU doesn't have a true No. 1 pitcher (Hillard has become the de facto No. 1) and the team, while good, isn't dominant enough to show up and take a #4 seed lightly. Most of the time those #4 seeds are good and often have one really good pitcher. The reason they don't advance is because they simply don't have the depth, Particularly pitching depth, to win three games against better competition over the course of a weekend. As the No. 1 seed you don't want to lose game 1, thus leaving you no margin of error the rest of the way.

If LSU had a strong and deep starting pitching staff I'd say sure, consider going with your #2 guy in game one. But this team doesn't even have a steady #2 you would feel 100% confident in to beat even a McNeese throwing their ace.

Agreed. The strength is the bullpen. Hilliard is going to eat some innings and everyone after him isn't a guarantee to get through the lineup once. Floyd has looked good and I hope that continues his next start. That might sway my decision. Pitch #52 and save the pen until the next game and after.