After securing a three-game series sweep over the Missouri Tigers, LSU Baseball relief pitcher Mavrick Rizy and designated hitter Ethan Frey addressed the media to discuss their contributions and mindset to come out victorious by a final score of 10-5.
Following a disappointing outing by redshirt sophomore starting pitcher Chase Shores, the LSU Tigers’ bullpen continues to have new names stepping up in challenging situations.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Missouri left fielder Brock Daniels knocked an RBI single into center field, and the score now became 9-4.
While this particular game seemed to be out of reach, LSU Head Coach Jay Johnson wanted to bring freshman right-hander Mavrick Rizy into this high-pressure moment and see if he could maneuver out of this impending threat.
Following a walk that loaded the bases, Rizy collected his nerves and struck out his next batter, ending this somewhat nerve-wracking pitching situation. By being able to make a statement from the mound against an in-conference opponent for the first time, Rizy looks forward to building upon this notable outing and pitching performance.
“Just continuing to grow from every outing, take the good and the bad… going into each game,” Rizy said. “Eliminating damage… when there were runners on, everyone from the bullpen came in and did their job.”
In the longest outing of his collegiate career, Rizy’s final line would be 2.0 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, and one strikeout on 25 total pitches thrown.
From an offensive standpoint, with the battle for playing time becoming more intense and unforgiving, junior outfielder/first baseman Ethan Frey has found himself having a breakout season in the limited amount of time he’s received in the starting lineup.
To put his spiked offensive production into perspective, Frey has already tied the number of hits that he recorded (13) in half of the number of games that he played last season (34). By stringing together consistent swings from the plate, Frey believes that placing emphasis on his mental preparation has been crucial for making such drastic improvements.
“Obviously, we’re very loaded talent-wise… here we are playing every other day, you never hear any of us complain about it,” Frey said. “Coach Jonhson says a lot about knowing your role and being ready to go when your name is called upon. Just continuing to support everyone to… a lot of guys can find a lot of ways to help this team win.”
Stepping to the plate with two baserunners and no outs in the bottom of the first inning, Frey sent the tenth pitch of the hard-fought at-bat whistling down the left field foul line for an RBI double to put the purple and gold on the scoreboard.
Finishing with three hits, two runs batted in (RBIs), and coming across home plate as a run himself, Frey has found that simplifying his mentality has allowed his confidence to soar.
“[I want] to do the best I can, which is easier said than done sometimes,” Frey said. “When your goal is to go up there and hit the ball hard… [don’t] make it harder than it has to be. Don’t try to do too much for whatever situation is called upon you.”
No.1-ranked LSU Baseball’s next matchup will be against the University of New Orleans on Tuesday, March 18, at 6:30 p.m. CST at Alex Box Stadium.
