Most college students have a pretty similar routine: wake up, go to class, do homework, study and repeat.
Student athletes have routines different from the average student. LSU pitcher Christian Little spends his days studying and preparing for his first baseball season at LSU. Little is from St. Louis, Missouri, currently a junior and the son of former Houston Astros member Chris Little.
Little starts his mornings at 7:30 a.m., gets ready for the day and heads to class at 9:30 a.m. Transferring from Vanderbilt, Little is continuing his education at LSU as a film major. After class, he heads to the athlete dining hall for some lunch around 11 a.m. A meal Little has been enjoying recently for lunch is barbecue chicken wraps. Little enjoys being on campus because of the enthusiasm of everyone at LSU in comparison to his previous school.
“There is so much enthusiasm on campus from students, whether it be past or present students and the kind of culture in Baton Rouge, too, is a lot different and a lot more exciting,” Little said.
After lunch, Little heads to the baseball field. Little says practicing consistency is key as a pitcher. His daily practice on the field starts at 2 p.m. Most of the pitchers on the team have a similar practice routine. To start, he and the other pitchers throw while the team does defensive work. Out of all the pitches he throws, Little’s favorite one is the cutter, which is a version of the fastball that moves slightly away from the pitcher’s arm-side.
After a few hours on the field, Little heads to the weight room. While in the weight room Little does different exercises for about an hour and a half. Having bone chips removed from his arm in the fall and working with the new strength coach has helped him better prepare for the season.
“In the weight room everything is individualized to the person and the deficiencies of the player,” Little said. “We also have a top notch strength coach in Derek Groomer, and he works hand in hand with our pitching coach”.
He then heads back to the athlete dining hall for some dinner. Little and the rest of the team work with a nutritionist to ensure they fuel their bodies properly.
“They help us daily with what to put in our body in order to recover and produce,” Little said.
After dinner, Little spends the rest of his night finishing up homework and hanging out with friends.
On a day when Little has school and a baseball game, his routine is slightly different. He goes to class like usual and then heads to the field. He’ll do any homework he has before the game starts. Right before the game, he’ll listen to any song by Brett Fayes, his favorite artist. On travel days, Little takes advantage of the down time on the bus and likes to get ahead of his school work. He appreciates the academic advisor’s guidance for staying on top of work.
Little’s days end around 10 p.m. during the week and stay pretty consistent day-to-day.
So far, Little has had a solid start to the season for LSU. He has made two appearances and has yet to allow an earned run. He was instrumental in LSU’s win against Southern, replacing Thatcher Hurd and pitched three and two thirds innings, tallying six strikeouts.
LSU baseball will be back in action on Friday as the Tigers will travel to Round Rock, Texas for the Round Rock Classic. LSU’s first game will be against Kansas State on Friday at 2 p.m.
