No. 1 LSU baseball heads into four-game weekend excited for new matchups
LSU has a busy weekend ahead, with four games in four days beginning Friday night against Butler at 6:30 p.m. Coming off of the win over Texas on the road, capping a 3-1 weekend in the Lone Star State, the Tigers look to keep the ball rolling against Butler on Friday and Monday night and Central Connecticut State on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
With the season now in full swing, the game against Texas gave this LSU team even more belief and fire moving forward into March.
“It was definitely important, especially being on the road. When we were at Texas it felt like we were in a regional game,” shortstop Jordan Thompson said. “It was back and forth. It was a pitchers duel. We were fighting to get guys on and get guys in and for those environments to be created this early is really good. Just to see how we react in those situations and so we know when things get tough we can get tougher. It’s a huge benefit for us to be able to see that. We were really excited to be in that.”
Head coach Jay Johnson was clearly excited after the win, rallying his team together and celebrating the win. His Tigers (7-1) remain No. 1 in the country and were able to show their trademark resilience in the win in Austin, led by pitcher Thatcher Hurd who bounced back from a shaky first appearance against Southern to shutout Texas in his time on the mouns.
“For our whole team, we handled it all very well, but it starts on the mound. I’m not surprised [by Thatcher’s performance]. First inning faced some adversity, but we made a nice play to get out of it. Then he took off after that and it was a really good performance.”
Four games in four days
Now, LSU turns its attention to two teams from the north coming down to get a resume win while in Baton Rouge. Butler (2-6) hung close with Campbell despite a three-game sweep, and Central Connecticut State (0-0) has yet to play a game, but is picked to win the Northeast Conference this year.
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“This is a really good weekend for us,” Johnson said. “Facing two veteran teams. Facing a really good pitcher tomorrow night, then a bunch of older, experienced players on both teams, so this isn’t just a show up and chalk it up as a win, we have to show up and play well to win. Central Connecticut was an NCAA regional team in 2021 that played an extra-inning game against LSU, and Butler has a veteran lineup and a very good pitcher that we’ll face on Friday night.”
The aforementioned pitcher is lefty Cory Bosecker who will start tonight against LSU. He’s pitched 10 innings this year and has recorded 14 strikeouts with a 2.70 ERA. Butler plays Central Connecticut State on Friday at 1 p.m. beforehand.
Meanwhile, Johnson continues to be asked about Tommy White returning to the field after his shoulder injury. He continues to be the designated hitter, shuffling around the field in his absence, but Johnson is confident this team has the talent to make it work.
“We’re hopeful, but we’ll work him back in a manner that we need to,” Johnson said of White. “It helps having a good roster. It really hasn’t impacted our team [too much]. Our defense has been great, Jared did a good job at first. We feel like we can get through in a way where we can make sure that he’s healthy before goes back out there.”
