With LSU on the brink of elimination in just the second game of the College World Series, the Tigers will face the No. 1 national seed North Carolina in a game that will come down to the pitching matchup.
After Sunday night’s game saw LSU use ace sophomore pitcher Aaron Nola, a decision had to be made by LSU coach Paul Mainieri: start junior righthander Ryan Eades, who has struggled in his recent starts, or go with sophomore southpaw Cody Glenn, who was suspended for the Regional after violating team rules.
The team went with Glenn, despite his last start coming on May 22 and Eades being the team’s day two starter all season. Mainieri said Glenn received about 80 pitches of work during a simulated game, but was still a little worried on how much the long layoff would effect Glenn’s performance.
“I’m more than excited about the opportunity to pitch,” Glenn said. “It’s been a dream of mine since I was a kid to pitch in the College World Series.”
Glenn is seemingly the best choice.. UNC’s batting lineup — one of the best in the nation with four hitters slugging over .500 — has six left handed batters in the starting lineup. Glenn has only allowed a .198 batting average to left-handed hitters on the season.
“[UNC] has only lost 11 games this season and I think six or seven of them came in games where they faced a left-handed pitcher,” Mainieri said.
UNC was shut down in its first game in the CWS against in-state rival North Carolina State. NCST pitched one of the best left-handers in the nation, in sophomore Carlos Rodon. Rodon racked up eight strikeouts, using only 108 pitches to pick up the win.
Glenn isn’t the same type of pitcher, though. Rodon has struck out 178 batters in 127.1 innings pitched, while Glenn only struck out 37 in 82 innings pitched. In the postseason, Rodon has stuck out more than half the batters than Glenn has all season.
What Glenn specializes in his putting balls in play via groundballs.
“I’m going to try and pound the zone with the two-seamer,” Glenn said. “Get some groundballs and try to give my team a chance to win.”
Glenn induced nine double-play balls in his starts this season, good for second on the team, while getting 120 ground ball outs, also second on the team behind Nola. Glenn’s ground ball rate on the season was 60 percent — well above the average 44 percent for MLB pitchers, according to fangraphs.com.
With Glenn looking to induce ground balls from the UNC hitters, the LSU defense will have to revert to the form they showed in the regular season and stay away from the mishaps that have plagued them so far in the postseason.
LSU played its way to a .980 fielding percentage, which tied LSU for sixth in the nation, but errors — particularly by shortstop Alex Bregman — have cost the Tigers seven unearned runs dating back to the Super Regional game against Sam Houston State. Another Bregman error proved costly Sunday night against UCLA, as it allowed what would eventually be the winning run to score.
“I mean I’ve got to make that play, but I’m fine, I’ll be ready to go,” Bregman said. “I’ve been thinking about the play a little bit, and in the same situation I want the same ball hit to me.”
Glenn’s partner in Tuesday’s duel will be UNC closer Trent Thorton. Thorton, while having the most saves for the Tar Heels, also has started five games and pitched the same amount of innings as Glenn on the season.
The Tar Heels will try to exploit the same matchup as the Tigers. Thorton, a righty, will face the LSU lineup whose three through eight hitters are right-handed.
