LSU Baseball remains No. 1, storylines with Texas up next

The Tigers suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon in Round Rock, Texas, losing to Iowa 12-4 before bouncing back with a 16-4 win over Sam Houston State on Sunday. The win capped a 2-1 week for the Tigers and moved LSU to 6-1 on the season.

The 23 hits against Sam Houston were the most since May 13, 2014 against Northwestern State. Centerfielder Dylan Crews and right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes continue to lead the way with dominant outings over the weekend, while outfielder Brayden Jobert was excellent overall, including two home runs and a triple against Sam Houston.

Our Hunt Palmer had an in-depth review of the weekend with his thoughts and standouts, so check that out.

LSU remains No. 1

All of the major outlets have kept the Tigers as the No. 1 team in the country despite the loss and for good reason. A loss to Iowa’s ace sandwiched between two quality wins this weekend is more than enough to keep this team atop the polls. Wake Forest is the only undefeated team in the top 15 of most of the rankings, so taking a loss is definitely not cause for panic. That’s just how baseball goes.

In the USA Today Coaches Poll, LSU received 24 of the possible 31 votes, showing the confidence that the Tigers are still the top team in the country. 

It’s a squad that has refused to run from the ranking and instead has embraced the target on their backs. Teams like Iowa using their ace to try to get that big win will likely be a trend in these non-conference games. Jay Johnson has talked about it with the team and the media plenty, but high expectations are exactly what this team wants to have with the talent on hand.

Next up: Texas

LSU had a short drive down from Round Rock to Austin where the Tigers will face the Longhorns who enter this game with a 3-4 record, but come off of a 2-1 series win over Indiana over the weekend. The Longhorns started the season losing three straight games to SEC opponents, though, with a 3-2 loss to Arkansas, a 6-5 loss to Missouri, and a 12-2 defeat from Vanderbilt.

For a program that has made the College World Series three of the past four years, it’s setting up to be a shaky season for Texas, making Tuesday’s game against LSU all the more important.

The game will be televised on the Longhorn Network at 6:30 p.m. CT.

What to watch for in LSU vs. Texas

Healthy White and Morgan?

Tre Morgan ran into the wall in left field, potentially putting some doubt into his health in the short term, but he went 2-for-6 at the plate on Sunday with two RBIs, so hopefully everything is fine with him moving forward. Still, it’s something to monitor.

There’s still more uncertainty around Tommy White moving into March of this season because White was the designated hitter this weekend, Jared Jones to first base and Tre Morgan to left field. More concerning than the lineup shuffling is the fact White went just 2-of-14 at the plate over the weekend. Is it in his head? When will he get himself back into form?

Hurd/Little combo?

Jay Johnson said after Thatcher Hurd’s first start against Southern that maybe the lights and the stage got to him a bit. Well that was against Southern at home. Now he’s set to face Texas on the road in his second start. He has plenty of talent to be a reliable starter for the Tigers, but it’s about settling down and putting it together against the Longhorns on Tuesday.

LSU also went without throwing Christian Little over the weekend, someone who projects to be a pivotal piece of the Tigers staff this season and who looked sharp in his first appearance last week. Lefty Nate Ackenhausen is another name the Tigers could turn to on Tuesday.

Consistency at the plate

Johnson’s message of how to put together quality at-bats has been consistent for two years now and if we’ve heard it a lot, just imagine how much the players have heard him talk about it. There’s no question the talent on this roster will continue to put runs on the board, but in a sport where there’s so much variance, all you can control is the consistency of quality at-bats.

It was great to see the Tigers follow up the loss with a 23-hit outing. It was even better to see Crews, Jobert, and others really set the tone and get everyone comfortable. We’ll see if they can get back in the double-digit runs against the Longhorns.