The transition from high school to college is difficult for many students.
And that’s without having people trying to hit their pitches 400 feet.
For freshmen relievers Austin Ross and Daniel Bradshaw, that’s a situation they face on a regular basis.
The two freshmen are the youngest contributing members for an LSU pitching unit that boasts a team ERA of 3.96 through 31 games this season.
“They’ve both been fantastic,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri.
Ross (1-1) has seen action in 13 games and has the team’s third-lowest ERA, allowing only 2.30 earned runs per nine innings. But the high school standout from Shreveport isn’t content with his progress thus far.
“Obviously there is room for improvement,” he said. “You never stop trying to get better. Learning every time you go out is the big thing.”
Ross has allowed seven earned runs in his 27 1/3 innings this season and has struck out 22 batters while only walking seven.
Bradshaw has been nearly as effective when called upon, holding a 3.80 ERA through 14 appearances while striking out 26 batters.
“I don’t know if [Bradshaw] could pay for the experiences he’s had this year,” Mainieri said. “He’s a freshman, but he must feel like a junior because we’ve had him out there on the mound so many critical times this year.”
Bradshaw (1-3) has seen action in five Southeastern Conference games and has given up seven runs in 10 1/3 innings with one save during conference play.
He most recently appeared Saturday during the Alabama series when he went four innings and allowed an earned run in LSU’s 6-5 extra-inning loss.
Both players said they enjoy the increase in competition among players than what they faced in high school.
“I love pitching every week when it’s competitive,” Ross said. “I love the competitiveness of going out and facing good hitters.”
While in high school, Bradshaw was named the 2007 Louisiana Baseball Coaches Association Pitcher of the Year. Ross was named the Class 4A Louisiana High School Coaches Association Pitcher of the Year the same season.
“In the SEC every player is the best on their high school team, and maybe in their whole area,” Ross said. “In high school you can throw 90 [miles per hour] by people, but in the SEC you’re not going to sneak 90 by anyone.”
Bradshaw said he has to focus more on his pitch location than he did in high school because of the better hitters he now faces.
“If you miss a pitch here or there in the SEC, it’s going to be a line drive into the gap or a home run if you leave the ball up,” he said. “In high school, you can miss a pitch here or there.”
Ross’ most successful outing was a seven-inning relief effort against Southern this past Tuesday. He shut out the Jaguars, struck out eight batters and earned the praise of Jaguars coach Roger Cador.
“Austin Ross was pretty damn good,” Cador said after the loss. “He threw strikes right at us, and we couldn’t do anything against him.”
Both players said they are enjoying their time pitching for the Tigers and are steadily making improvements so they can one day be called upon to start. Mainieri said Ross could even see action as a starter later this season.
“As he improves that changeup, he’s going to have a pretty good chance to become a starter for us,” Mainieri said.
—-Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]