LSU coach Paul Mainieri announced the team will be without sophomore pitcher Ma’Khail Hilliard and freshmen pitchers Chase Costello and Easton McMurray due to injuries on Thursday.
The most severe injury is McMurray, who had surgery on his shoulder similar to the one sophomore pitcher AJ Labas had recently. The surgery will keep McMurray out for the rest of the season, meaning LSU has no available left-handed pitchers on staff.
“I’m sure there’s going to be a time in the season where [not having any left-handed pitchers] is going to bite us,” Mainieri said. “I just hope it’s not a drastic chew.”
As for Hilliard and Costello, their injuries are less serious and will only result in them missing for a short time, but Mainieri wasn’t exactly sure of the timetable on their return.
Hilliard started 12 games for a freshman and finished 9-5 with a 3.79 ERA and 70 strikeouts. He has been suffering with shoulder soreness since the beginning of practice and did not play in the first four games. Mainieri says Hilliard had a minor-invasive procedure but did not have the exact details of the surgery.
In regards to Costello, he began feeling a strange soreness in his arm, which the team feared to be related to blood clots, following Tuesday’s game against Southeastern. He was rushed to the hospital, and once there, the freshman passed all tests given by doctors. Costello had been one of the team’s primary relievers and appeared in three of the four games so far this season.
“It’s still a rather unique injury,” Mainieri said. “We worked our way down the list of possibilities, and where we are now is that it looks like it’ll be a short-term thing.”
The team’s first game against Bryant is at 7 p.m. Friday at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU freshman pitcher Chase Costello (29) throws the ball during the Tigers’ 7-8 loss against University of New Orleans in Alex Box Stadium on Sunday Oct. 14, 2018.
