LSU freshman pitcher Alex Lange knew something felt slightly off.
After some much-needed rest, he’s good to go.
“I feel fine,” Lange said. “Hundred percent.”
Lange (6-0, 1.39 ERA), the No. 2 Tigers’ star rookie, missed his weekend start against Auburn due to what coach Paul Mainieri termed “more-than-ordinary” tightness in Lange’s throwing arm.
The freshman said he first noticed the tightness during his last start against Alabama on April 3, when he picked up his sixth victory of the season despite matching his career-high in walks (five) and setting a career-low in strikeouts (three).
Lange then said he still didn’t feel “up to 100 percent” after throwing in a bullpen last Wednesday, feeling tightness in his elbow and a “little bit of fatigue.” After feeling the strain in his elbow during last Wednesday’s bullpen, the Missouri native said he wasn’t surprised Mainieri pulled him from making his scheduled start.
“I wasn’t up to 100 percent,” Lange said. “Anytime you’re not 100 percent, you don’t want to go out there and make anything worse.”
Lange said he felt “really good” following a bullpen Tuesday but added that he hasn’t spoken with Mainieri about whether he’d pitch this weekend.
Last weekend, Mainieri said he expects Lange to be recovered in time for his next start, which would likely come this weekend against Georgia.
The Bulldogs likely hope Mainieri gives Lange another weekend off.
Lange leads the SEC in ERA at 1.39 and is fourth in strikeouts with 61. He has made it through at least six innings in six of his eight career starts and has fanned 13 batters twice. Despite missing a weekend start, Lange has 24 more strikeouts than LSU’s next closest pitcher.
But he’s eager to go for win No. 7.
“I’m ready to get back out there,” Lange said.
Finding the missing swing
LSU entered last weekend’s series against Auburn as the second-best hitting club in the nation.
But all LSU hit was a brick wall.
Mainieri’s club pelted only 20 hits in three games against Auburn, which is a season-low for a series, eclipsing the previous low by nine. Eight of the nine starters went hitless in at least one game, and four did so twice.
“We didn’t catch some of the breaks we needed,” said LSU senior catcher Kade Scivicque. “We hit a lot of balls right at people. Baseball’s a crazy game.”
As a team, LSU went .210 (20-for-95) at the plate this weekend, including an abysmal .188 average against Auburn sophomore ace Keegan Thompson in a 6-1 loss Saturday.
Despite the three-game dry spell at the plate, LSU kept its status as one of the nation’s top-five hitting club and still leads the SEC in batting at .318, one-thousandth of a point better than No. 1 Texas A&M.
“It wasn’t our best offensive weekend, but we learned a lot from it, and we’ll be better next time,” said LSU junior shortstop Alex Bregman.
Streak lives on
While his teammates slumped at the plate, Scivicque continued his monthlong tear.
Though he batted a modest .272 last weekend, Scivicque was the only player for LSU to tally a hit in all three games, extending his current hitting streak to 20 games. It’s the longest streak for a Tiger since Bregman had a hit in 23 consecutive games in 2013.
The last time Scivicque didn’t record a hit was an 0-for-2 outing against McNeese State on March 11. Since then, he’s batted .382 (34-for-89) with 16 RBIs, seven doubles and one homer.
After going 3-for-11 at the plate last weekend, Scivicque’s average is at .386, which ranks fourth in the SEC.
But he doesn’t like being reminded of the streak.
“No one says anything about it,” Scivicque said. “I just try to keep that on the low.”
You can reach David Gray on Twitter @dgray_TDR.