By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – Welcome to today’s grammar lesson and an LSU baseball update all rolled into a pithy presentation.
Complimentary means giving approval. Complementary means completing or enhancing the qualities of somebody or something.
During Tigers’ head coach Jay Johnson’s 30-minute Monday press conference wrapping his team’s first SEC series win of the season at Missouri this past weekend, he finally had the opportunity to be complimentary about his team’s complementary play.
LSU (25-16, 5-13) sandwiched Game 1 (12-1, run-rule ended game in the 7th) and Game 3 (6-2) wins around a Game 2 (8-7 loss).
“It’s just a complementary baseball when your pitchers are out there giving them zeroes and then you’re scoring runs,” said Johnson, whose team hosts Nicholls tonight before opening a home SEC series Friday vs. Auburn. “Everybody can settle into the game a little bit better.”
LSU got its best pitching and hitting performances this season in league play. Seven Tigers’ pitchers (3 starters, 5 relievers) was the fewest amount of LSU hurlers used in an SEC series so far. They combined for a 3.75 ERA, striking out 31 and walking just 7 vs. Missouri after issuing an average of 14.4 walks in series losses to Mississippi State, Florida, Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
Sophomore transfer Gage Jump, who has struggled as a Tigers’ starter this season after transferring from UCLA where he missed all of last season rehabbing from a Tommy John arm surgery, got LSU off to a fast start against Mizzou.
He threw a 7-inning complete game in the series opener. He held Missouri to 1 run on 3 hits with 1 walk and a career-high 14 strikeouts.
Jump, named SEC Pitcher of the Week on Monday, retired 12 of the final 13 batters he faced, including 10 by strikeout.
“We saw early in the season that he’s really good,” Johnson said of Jump. “We faced a lot of good SEC teams (four ranked in the top 6) and a lot of good hitters in some small ballparks.
“I’ve felt he wasn’t that far away (from winning). He pitched okay in Tennessee, but I could sense he started to move in a good direction a couple of weeks ago. He’s poised to continue to pitch well. He’s mixed his pitches more and thrown all four of his pitches with a little more frequency. He just suffocated the strike zone (vs.) Missouri.”
Johnson had unsuccessfully tried several pitchers as a Game 3 SEC series starter, but the Tigers finally got a Game 3 win last Sunday when starter Nate Ackenhausen and reliever Griffin Herring combined for 13 strikeouts and 2 walks in holding Missouri to two runs.
For Herring, it’s a continuation of his last season’s success in the NCAA Tournament. This year in his six SEC game appearances over 20.2 innings, he’s 2-0 with a pair of saves and a 0.87 ERA while striking out 32 and walking just 5.
“There’s no argument, he (Griffin) has been our best pitcher,” Johnson said. “The thing that I would want all the other players to emulate is there hasn’t been one time where he’s even worried about where we have him or him set up. He’s been a very team guy.”
Ackenhausen got a much-needed confidence boost vs. Missouri. He allowed 2 runs and had 5 strikeouts and 1 walk in his new role for a second straight weekend as the Tigers’ Game 3 starter.
As a junior college transfer last year, he was one of LSU’s best pitchers in its post-season playoff run to win the national championship.
He started this season as LSU’s best and most experienced reliever. But he’s had some terrible bad luck, such as allowing Florida a game-tying single in the ninth inning of Game 2 after being two strikes away from clinching the series. Florida won the game in extra innings.
“It didn’t work out but one of the reasons I kept him in the (bull)pen was I thought it would be important for the confidence of our team to win close games,” Johnson said of Ackenhausen. “We weren’t able to do that. I feel like the starting thing is good for him.
“He’s had a tough go to this point,” Johnson said, “but he’s responded really well the last two weeks. And I think he’s really given our team a lift. Everybody really believes in him. I trust him.”
LSU’s improved pitching was backed by timely hitting, mostly A.W.O.L. the past weeks. In their first 15 SEC games, LSU hit .229 (35 for 153) with two outs, .217 (50 for 230) with runners on base and .194 (24 for 124) with runners in scoring position.
Against Mizzou, the LSU hit .423 (11 of 26) with two outs, .370 (17 for 46) with runners on base and .250 (7 of 28) with runners in scoring position. LSU hammered 8 homers, 1 triple, 10 doubles among its 31 hits in the series.
Sophomore first baseman Jared Jones had 2 doubles, 2 homers and 3 RBI vs. Missouri. Sophomore centerfielder Paxton Kling ripped 3 doubles, driving in 3 runs. Graduate designated hitter Hayden Travinski, the Shreveport native and Airline Viking alumnus, had 2 homers and 6 RBI.
Freshman outfielder Ashton Larson was LSU’s leading hitter in the series. He batted .500 (5-for-10) with two doubles, one homer, two RBI, four runs, three walks, one HBP and a .643 on-base percentage.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com