Surrounded by a group of reporters on Wednesday, LSU sophomore pitcher Alex Lange simply said, “I’m ready to go,” when questioned about pitching on a short rest.
LSU (37-16, 17-10 Southeastern Conference) coach Paul Mainieri will start his ace on Thursday when the No. 1 Florida Gators (43-9, 18-9 SEC) roll into Alex Box Stadium at 6:30 p.m.
Mainieri said he wanted to start Lange (7-2) on Friday, but Friday had a chance of threatening weather conditions. He said he didn’t want Lange to be to forced to pitch on Saturday, which would leave him unavailable for the Southeastern Conference tournament.
Regardless of the impending weather conditions, Mainieri said Lange was eager to be on the mound for the series opener.
“Alex had been kind of politicking to pitch on Thursday,” Mainieri said. “[Alan Dunn] and I kind of told him no, we’re going to give you the extra day…But I think he really wanted to pitch on Thursday. He’s been feeling great.”
Lange isn’t the only shakeup in the Tigers pitching rotation.
Junior pitcher Riley Smith will get the start on Friday and junior Jared Poche’ will start on Saturday. After his strong six inning, four hit start against Notre Dame, Mainieri felt encouraged to start Smith (1-0).
Even though Smith has only appeared in eight games this season, and whether the Gators have film on him, it won’t change his focus this weekend.
“If a scouting report made guys better, then everybody would be hitting over .600,” Smith said. “Hitting is probably one of the hardest things to do in baseball. We still got to win three games no matter what.”
Florida pitcher Logan Shore, who has the most wins in the SEC as a starting pitcher, happens to be “good friends” with Lange. Shore (10-0) is a key piece of a Gator pitching staff, that boasts the lowest ERA in the conference.
The Gators pitching rotation will be up for a challenge with a LSU squad that has a .304 batting average in league play, which is best the conference.
Facing strong armed pitchers isn’t anything to new to the Tigers.
LSU has faced the likes of Mississippi State’s Dakota Hudson and Vanderbilt’s Jordan Sheffield, where they’ve had some success.
Their approach against these aces has been simple–be “aggressive”.
“We just tend to lock in more,” said LSU junior shortstop Kramer Robertson. “When the guys throw harder, we’re not as selective on the pitches. When we see a pitch in the zone early in the count, we want to hit it, because that might be the best pitch you get.”
If the Tigers can win the series, it could possibly put them in the running to win the SEC West. Winning the West would give LSU a top four seed in the tournament and some much needed rest.
But, for that to happen, the Tigers are going to need help from other SEC schools. LSU would have to sweep Florida, Arkansas would need to win two games against Mississippi State, and Ole Miss would have to win two games against Texas A&M.
While a national seed doesn’t seem attainable now, Mainieri is optimistic about his team’s chances if things go well this weekend.
“I think if we beat Florida and have a decent showing in Hoover, I don’t see why we shouldn’t be discussed,” Mainieri said.
