If this game could be simplified down to one word, it would be: mucky.
With rain moving in from the west come nightfall, LSU’s last non-conference opener against Bethune-Cookman was moved up to 12:00 in the afternoon, only to be greeted by more rain and clouds. It was a fitting mood for a game that felt like a bad dream at times and all the best thrills of baseball at others.
For starters, LSU got the win, 8-7. It was a collective offensive effort from the powerful LSU lineup. Cade Doughty, Jacob Berry and Dylan Crews drove in five runs with three big flies to left, right and left, respectively.
Berry’s home run was tracked with an exit speed of 109 mph and went 411 feet, to the top of the Diamond Deck in left field. It turned out that LSU would need all of them and more after a six-run pounding from Bethune-Cookman’s bats. LSU plated two more of their runs on five straight free baserunners from the Wildcats; via four walks and a hit-by-pitch.
But the gloom and doom of the day came from Blake Money. Cruising through four perfect innings of work, Money started the fifth with his trademark aggressive pitching. However, a hit batsman, a throwing error by Tyler McManus, and an infield single set Money up for damage. Two batters later, Franki Febles hit a three-run home run to left, putting LSU down 4-2 quickly.
Truthfully, that was a welcome outcome compared to the potential disaster that could be plaguing LSU going forward: an injury to their Friday night starter.
Money walked the next batter, and immediately after was ginger with his throwing wrist, which drew out head trainer Cory Couture and Jay Johnson, who normally doesn’t handle pitching changes but rather leaves them to pitching coach Jason Kelley.
Johnson was the one who took the ball out of Money’s glove and he slowly walked toward the home dugout. Money has easily been LSU’s most effectively pitcher this season with a 1.80 ERA, 29 K and just five walks.
However, in postgame interviews, Johnson reassured fans and media alike that Money’s wrist tweak was not a concern moving forward.
“He irritated his wrist, and (the staff) said something for two days that he has to do with a cast thing, and I don’t know any more than that,” Johnson said. “I do not think it’s serious.”
On the other side, LSU had some clutch moments and performances from areas where Johnson and his staff have felt improvements have been needed. First, Jack Merrifield came up big in the bottom of the seventh with the game-winning RBI on a well-hit ball up the middle. It was important for LSU to plate runs when they needed to after failing to do so in their last couple games.
Second, Jordan Thompson made a phenomenal play at shortstop to get the first out in the top of the eighth. Ranging to his left, he slid and snagged a groundball bounding up the middle, jumped up and threw a laser on target to Tre’ Morgan’s awaiting glove at first base. It was a welcome play for the sophomore, who has struggled with his fielding this season, leading the team with seven errors on the year. Johnson called it the play of the afternoon afterwards, giving Thompson a thumbs up which is their code for an outstanding play, a stat the staff keeps track of in their personal scoring of games.
“That was the most important play of the game,” Johnson said. “I thought he handled the ball well, and that’s a fast and athletic team. When the ball goes on the ground, they can put pressure on you with their speed, but his game clock today was outstanding.”
And lastly, Devin Fontenot was at his best this game, really for the first time this season. Fontenot pitched a shutout 2.1 IP to close the game and earn the win. He racked up three strikeouts but was making a lot of weak contact for Wildcat hitters with his slider and curveball. The dominance he displayed over the Bethune-Cookman lineup was a Fontenot LSU fans are familiar with but have not seen in some time. Fontenot was upset with his play in LSU’s trip to Houston, where he gave up three hits and one run in 0.1 IP against Oklahoma, as well as two runs in a 0.2 IP outing against Baylor, and he challenged himself to improve.
“Those two outings in Houston, I wasn’t happy about them, and I’m better than that,” Fontenot said. “A lot of people are counting on me to be better than that. I needed to respond in my next outing, and that’s what I tried to do.”
LSU takes on Bethune-Cookman for two more games this weekend, with cold, windy weather projected for tomorrow. If today’s fight through adversity was not a testament enough to this team’s poise, Johnson confirmed it with his answer to their preparation for the unpleasant conditions tomorrow.
“Let’s go,” Johnson said. “We didn’t cancel up at Louisiana Tech, so it’s probably going to be like the Bahamas compared to that.”
Hopefully, the trip to the Bahamas won’t terrify the living daylights out of fans with six run innings or injury scares. That would be a welcome relief after a stressful but successful day at the ballpark.