LSU freshman pitcher Caleb Gilbert was cool, calm and collected in the No. 15 Tigers (31-16, 14-10 Southeastern Conference) 7-1 victory against Arkansas.
Normally a reliever, Gilbert made his first ever start on the mound. The freshman held the Razorbacks scoreless through five innings. Between Gilbert, junior pitcher Parker Bugg and sophomore pitcher Jesse Stallings combined to give up one run to Arkansas (26-22, 7-17 SEC).
Normally, LSU Paul Mainieri starts senior pitcher John Valek III on Sundays, but made the decision earlier in the week to start Gilbert because he planned on using Valek in LSU’s matchup against Notre Dame on Tuesday.
Gilbert, who usually comes in the game whenever the team is a jam, felt a little bit more comfortable beginning 0-0.
“You still have to execute,” Gilbert said. ”It’s a more relaxed situation. You can extend a little bit more, not every pitch is at the magnitude of being a reliever. It was a fun time out there.”
The LSU offense had its best game this weekend, getting ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the second. It was the first time the Tigers grabbed an opening lead in their SEC matchup.
Junior catcher Jordan Romero put the game out of reach with his three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth, extending LSU’s lead to 6-0.
Romero was ahead of the pitch count, which prompted Mainieri to give him an “emphatic green light” to swing.
“Any hitter loves a 3-0 green light,” Romero said. “You just know that pitcher is just trying paint a fastball over the plate. When you get it, you got to try to stay composed and not be too anxious and get out of yourself.”
Since trailing Arkansas 9-1 midway through the fifth inning on Saturday, LSU outscored the Razorbacks 16-0.
After two wild games, Mainieri was happy to play a more “traditional” baseball game.
“We pitched well and made some really nice plays,” Mainieri said. “These last two games before today, just seemed we saw several things we don’t see very frequently, if ever on the baseball field. It was nice to play a normal game.”
Even with stranding a total of 36 runners across 28 innings of play, the Tigers still managed to win this series. Their offense struck out a season-high 15 times Saturday and pitcher Jared Poche’ threw his shortest outing of the season.
A little help from Arkansas attributed to the sweep. The Razorbacks struggled on defense, committing six errors on the weekend.
Another key statistic for LSU was the free passes Arkansas handed to them. The Tigers were walked a total of 21 times.
An unlikely freshman also stepped for the Tigers over the weekend. Brennan Breaux, an outfielder from Scott, Louisiana, came into this weekend with only one hit this season. He ended it with four, with three of those hits coming in LSU’s 10-9 comeback victory on Saturday.
Mainieri decided to give Breaux a shot at left field because he thought sophomore outfielder Beau Jordan had slacked off a bit on defense. When Breaux’s number was called, he was somewhat surprised, but ultimately ready to compete.
“You’re always prepared to start,” Breaux said. “It was a little surprising, [but] at the same time I was ready to play.”
LSU will now head to South Bend, Indiana on Tuesday to face Mainieri’s old team, Notre Dame.
