Editor’s Note: All stats used in this story are based on LSU’s games prior to Wednesday night’s matchup against Tulane.
The LSU baseball team’s offense isn’t as bad as it seems, players and coaches say.
Of course, the numbers look far from stellar — just five runs from Tiger hitters in the series loss to Texas A&M, including 27 left on base and a 3-for-29 clip with runners in scoring position. Three runs or less in five of six Southeastern Conference games isn’t “satisfactory,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said.
But Mainieri and hitting coach Andy Cannizaro will attest, the offense isn’t inept. It out-hit the Aggies, the conference’s leading offense, in two of the three games and averages almost nine hits per game in SEC matchups.
“If you’re talking about a team that can’t hit, then you’re talking about never having the opportunity, and that’s suffocating for a team,” Cannizaro said. “But, when you’re still getting nine hits a game over the first two SEC weekends — against really good pitching staffs — then you’re just talking about lack of timely hitting, and that stuff is going to come.”
With all games accounted for, the Tigers rank in the middle of the league in hits, batting average and total bases. LSU has also struck out the least amount of any conference foe, and when it does get on base, it’s tied for first in most stolen bases.
The problem is clutch hitting, especially when extra base hits have been scarce in the first six league matchups. Too often have the Tigers fallen into a pattern of sandwiching singles around outs, Mainieri said.
“So, you’ve had three or four decent at-bats,” Mainieri said. “But all you’ve got is runners on first and second and two outs. And now you need another hit to try score one run. When you don’t get that hit, that’s what everybody wants to emphasize.”
Not only is LSU struggling with timely hits and extra base hits, it is also sputtering to move runners from second to third base.
In the two losses to Texas A&M, the Tigers were a combined 9-of-35 on advancement opportunities.
Cannizaro doesn’t believe anybody truly has the reason some hitters are more clutch than others, but time will help, he said.
“I think there’s times when guys will expand the zone a little bit with runners in scoring position because maybe they want to get the job too much,” Cannizaro said. “So, they’ll get a little antsy. But I think it just goes back to, the more times they’re in those situations, they’ll calm down, they’ll revert back to their normal, day-to-day approach and they’ll have success.”
As far as extra base hits, in which a veteran LSU team excelled in Cannizaro’s first year, that comes with developing power, and Cannizaro said that’s not something that usually comes naturally to young players.
“The power is always the last thing that comes with young hitters,” he said. “Guys kinda gotta figure out how to hit first before they can start launch balls over the fence at an early age.”
Mainieri has even made moves to assure there are better and more powerful bats in the lineup, moving sophomore Greg Deichmann back to third base for the last five games, a position he played in the fall. Junior powerhitters Bryce Adams and Jordan Romero also made starts against Tulane.
Still, even with some ugly stats, Deichmann said the offense is keeping its eyes fixated on the future of conference play.
“You try not to focus on the numbers,” he said. “But when you are only putting up five runs through three games and we’re used to putting up close to 10 runs a game, it can get frustrating. We leave those games in the past, and we’re looking forward to the next one.”