By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE — When LSU head baseball coach Jay Johnson put together his 2024 schedule, he felt his roster would have depth at every position.
It has transpired so far that way for the No. 2 ranked Tigers. They are 14-2 after a 2-1 home loss to Xavier of Ohio on Sunday that broke LSU’s 9-game winning streak.
Johnson’s biggest problem has been getting enough of his reserves in the game, players so talented they would start at many other schools.
On the surface, it looks wacky Johnson would schedule a two-game non-conference home series vs. North Dakota State (3-11) Tuesday at 6 p.m. and Wednesday at 1 p.m. since LSU opens its first SEC series of the season at Mississippi State on Friday.
But Johnson believes he has enough bodies to handle playing five games in six days including a league road series against a Mississippi State team that won last season’s series over LSU in Alex Box Stadium.
“I scheduled this stretch with great confidence that we’d get through it,” Johnson said.
After LSU had a 4-0 Texas road trip on Feb. 28 through March 3 when the Tigers hit .317, the Bayou Bengals’ bats cooled considerably last week.
LSU hit just .224 and yet went 3-1 with a victory at Southeastern and two wins and a loss to Xavier.
The reason is the Tigers’ pitching, especially by five starters, has been phenomenal since the season began. Starters Luke Holman, Gage Jump, Thatcher Hurd, Cade Anderson and Javen Coleman have a combined ERA of 1.45 with 211 strikeouts and just 10 walks.
The numbers are even more impressive since Johnson settled in the last two weeks on a rotation of Holman, Jump and Hurd (in order) as his weekend starters and true freshman Anderson as his midweek hurler.
In those last eight games – LSU’s Texas road trip, a game at Southeastern and the three-game Xavier series – that quartet had a combined 0.41 ERA in 41.2 innings against 162 batters, striking out 71 and walking just 9.
This past week vs. SLU and Xavier, 14 LSU pitchers (four starters, 10 relievers) posted a 1.25 ERA, allowing just 5 earned runs in 36.0 innings with 10 walks and 57 strikeouts and opponents hitting a mere .184.
Staff ace Holman, the lefty transfer from Alabama, is ranked first or second in the SEC in six stat categories. His ERA of 0.00 is tied for first nationally with Texas A&M’s Ryan Prager, Florida State’s Jamie Arnold and VCU’s Mason Martinez.
Holman said the Tigers’ pitching staff feed off each other, from starters to middle relievers to closers.
“It’s cool watching each other,” said Holman, who’s 4-0 after pitching 24 innings, striking out 40, walking 4 and limiting opponents to a .103 batting average. “Each week, we kind of learn off each other. That has really helped me.”
Holman has drawn raves from all his teammates, not just the Tigers’ catchers.
“Luke’s one of the best pitchers I’ve ever seen since I’ve played baseball,” said LSU starting freshman second baseman Stephen Milam, who’s leading the Tigers in hitting with a .389 average. “He keeps you off balance, he keeps you out of your rhythm. He has four pitches he can throw for strikes. He has pinpoint control.”
The rapid week-to-week improvement by UCLA transfer Gage, who missed last season recovering from Tommy John surgery, is a huge piece to LSU’s pitching puzzle.
“I feel good physically,” said Gage, who has a 0.00 ERA in 13.1 innings this season with two walks, 21 strikeouts and a .133 opponent batting average. “We’ve worked extremely hard for me just to be able to pitch and feel good.”
Hurd, one of the Tigers’ key hurlers last year in their postseason run to the national championship, has struggled more than any other starter.
He’s 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA in 17 innings. He leads the Tigers in hits allowed (17), runs allowed (22), earned runs allowed (11) and wild pitches (3).
Yet his performance in Sunday’s loss to Xavier of allowing one run (not earned) and five hits while striking out nine and walking one gave Johnson hope Hurd is on the right track.
“He had a great, great outing,” Johnson said. “He struck a lot of guys out but I really liked how he handled the innings where there was traffic with guys on base.”
Johnson was non-committal on naming his starting pitchers for the two-game set vs. North Dakota State.
The Bison began their road swing through Louisiana this past weekend, losing two of three games at Southeastern Louisiana.
NDSU is hitting .243 with 19 doubles, five triples, nine homers and nine steals in 17 attempts. The Bison pitching staff has a 9.03 cumulative ERA with 97 strikeouts in 113.2 innings.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com