The time has come.
The No. 1 LSU baseball team is set to begin its Southeastern Conference schedule when it takes on SEC West rival Ole Miss at Alex Box Stadium in a three-game weekend series, with first pitch tonight at 7 p.m.
“It’s the best conference in college baseball,” said junior shortstop Alex Bregman. “The games are going to be intense. We’re going to have to have a lot of energy through all 30 of them and into the SEC Tournament hopefully. We got to just take care of business and take it one game at a time.”
The Tigers (16-1) are riding a tidal wave of momentum
after increasing their win streak to 13 games in a 7-0 blowout against in-state opponent McNeese State on Wednesday. LSU has outscored its opponents by 66 runs (97-31) during its streak.
LSU has been helped during its current streak by the bullpen. While the Tigers’ bats have come alive in the past month after coming to a halt in a 6-3 loss to Nicholls State on Feb. 18, it has been the arms of the bullpen who have made the most noise.
“The bullpen has been incredible,” said freshman pitcher Alex Lange. “The confidence in coming out of the baseball game and handing it to the
bullpen, it’s awesome. There’s not many bullpen’s like this in the NCAA where you know that they’re not going to give up a run. They’re not going to blow the lead. They’re going to go out there, and if the bullpen comes in, the game’s over.
“It’s a really good feeling to have that lockdown back there.”
In the Tigers’ shutout win against McNeese State, Mainieri sent 11 pitchers to the mound to combine for the shutout victory. The bullpen’s combined shutout signified 23 straight innings without allowing a run.
LSU’s bullpen has been nearly unhittable during its recent win streak. The Tigers’ pen has given up a total of only 34 hits with 73 strikeouts and only 10 extra base hits this season. The bullpen has combined for a total of only 10 earned runs, and of those 10 earned runs, only sophomore Russell Reynolds has given up more than two.
Five out of the 11 bullpen pitchers for the Tigers have yet to allow a run this season, with four more allowing only one on the year.
“It’s always good throwing up zeros,” said freshman pitcher Jesse Stallings. “When you do it for so long you just want to keep doing it. We’ve got 23 right now and if we can we’ll just go for the rest of the season. We’ll just see how that works.”
Stallings has helped the Tigers’ strikeout total.
Stallings’ 11 strikeouts on the year is tied for fourth on the team, and his seven saves are ranked first in the SEC. Stallings has allowed only two hits in his eight appearances, and his opposing batting average is an astounding .083.
While LSU is streaking, Ole Miss (9-7) is in a slump.
A year after advancing to the College World Series, the Rebels have struggled to piece together a decent string of wins. Ole Miss is recently coming off a two-game losing skid in which it was outscored 21-7. The Rebels snapped the skid with an 8-3 victory against No. 13 Louisville on Wednesday.
Ole Miss is currently ranked 13th in the SEC in offense with a .255 batting average along with being ranked 12th in pitching with a 3.75 ERA.
While the Rebels may be trending downward in recent weeks, an SEC rival is never taken lightly.
“I know that they’re going to have a great team,”
Bregman said. “Coach Bianco does a great job and those guys have been tough both years that I’ve played against them, so we’re going to have to come ready to play if we want to win.”
You can reach Jack Chascin on Twitter @Chascin_TDR.