When LSU welcomes Yale to Alex Box Stadium for a three-game series this weekend, it will be an opportunity to rebound.
The Tigers (7-1) tasted defeat for the first time Tuesday when No. 10 University of Louisiana-Lafayette rolled into Baton Rouge prior to a torrential downpour sweeping the city.
ULL entered the sixth inning with a 4-1 lead, and the game would be called after a thunderstorm cancelled play, handing LSU the loss.
LSU junior southpaw Cody Glenn (1-1) tossed four innings of three-run baseball, surrendering five hits and striking out one in 75 pitches.
Though Glenn struggled in his second start of the season, LSU coach Paul Mainieri decided to insert the left-hander into the Sunday slot in the rotation this weekend. Freshman left-hander Jared Poche’ will start on Tuesday at Northwestern State.
Mainieri said he didn’t see Glenn’s start against the Ragin’ Cajuns as a poor outing.
“Cody didn’t struggle that much,” Mainieri said. “I didn’t think his two-seamer had the movement or the sink it normally has. I think he was throwing harder than I’ve seen him throw in a long time. Unfortunately, when the throw’s hard, his fastball seems to straighten out a little bit.”
Glenn, whose fastball normally hits speeds in the high 80-mph range, relies more on mixing his pitches and having a solid defense behind him than being a high-strikeout thrower.
On Tuesday, senior third baseman Christian Ibarra failed to handle a bad hop, causing ULL to build its lead to 3-1 in the top of the fourth inning.
LSU senior outfielder Sean McMullen said being sound defensively is pivotal.
“We know Cody and [junior left-hander Kyle] Bouman aren’t going to get all the strikeouts that [junior Aaron] Nola might get, but we believe in ourselves defensively,” McMullen said. “We don’t try to put too much pressure on ourselves and stick to the fundamentals.”
Freshman second baseman Kramer Robertson — who made a key base running mistake and an error that led to a ULL run — will also get the chance to redeem himself against Yale on Friday.
Mainieri said Robertson will start Friday night at second base, while junior Conner Hale will play first base.
“You’re going to make mistakes in baseball, and you’re not going to be perfect every game,” Robertson said. “It’s not my first error I’ve ever made, and it’s not going to be the last. It’s all on how you respond.”
Friday’s contest will be Yale’s season opener. Ivy League programs don’t begin their respective seasons until the first weekend of March.
Last year, Yale finished 13-25, but the Bulldogs closed out the season with five straight victories against Dartmouth and Brown.
The last time LSU played Yale was in a 7-1 Bulldog victory in 1908.
“Yale is as experienced as [ULL],” Mainieri said. “They’ve got their entire pitching staff back, and they’ve added a really good freshman arm. Those kids are very mature and very confident. They’ll come out here, and they won’t be intimidated.”
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“Yale is as experienced as [University of Louisiana-Lafayette]. They’ve got their entire pitching staff back, and they’ve added a really good freshman arm. Those kids are very mature and very confident. They’ll come out here, and they won’t be intimidated.”