LSU baseball desperately needed a reset. Someone needed to give the Tigers an individual performance to energize the team before it started slipping below .500.
Landon Marceaux delivered.
With eight innings pitched, four hits and no runs allowed, on no walks and six strikeouts, Marceaux breathed life back into the team. LSU defeated Eastern Kentucky in game two of the weekend series, 6-3, behind his outing.
Marceaux’s command of the strike zone with his fastball helped him own counts, and it kept his strike/ball ratio at 61/19. The control of the plate also allowed his defense to make plays on induced groundballs and pop-ups. This assisted in limiting his pitch count to 80 on the day.
“I know they’re going to get the job done, more often than not,” Marceaux said of trusting in his fielders behind him. “That’s just having confidence in your defense. I know what type of pitcher I am.”
“That’s Landon Marceaux. I’m not a huge strikeout guy. I can get a punchout when I need it, but just forcing contact on the ground, (I’m) getting outs wherever I can.”
Marceaux’s development of his slider was shown in full on Saturday, and it did earn him a few strikeouts. The growth was visible to head coach Paul Mainieri.
“He’s such a different pitcher because he’s developed such an outstanding breaking ball,” Mainieri said. “He was able to go to it whenever he needed it; it was his bread and butter. And he was still throwing 91 mph in the eighth inning.”
Marceaux got run support early, with a Zack Mathis leadoff double paving the way for Daniel Cabrera’s two-run home run in the first inning. That was all Marceaux would need to plow through the Colonels’ lineup three times. Cade Beloso hit a three-run RBI double down the line in the bottom of the eigth inning to thwart any potential late inning rally from the Colonels and seal the win for his teammate.
“Man, I’m so happy for that kid,” Beloso said of Marceaux. “Everybody in this program loves Landon, and they know what he’s capable of doing, and I think that right there is Landon Marceaux. Just bulldogging, throwing strikes, just complete control of the game. I’m so proud and happy for that kid right there.”
Marceaux gave way to Aaron George in the ninth, who was responsible for all three runs allowed. After another pitching change, Devin Fontenot shut the door for good.
Alex Milazzo caught Marceaux and did his fair share defensively to help his pitcher. He picked off two runners and kept buried breaking balls from Marceaux in front of him all afternoon.
The catcher’s defense is becoming a talking point among LSU faithful, but he was even more excited to talk about his pitcher’s amazing performance.
“Landon Marceaux pitched his butt off today, man,” Milazzo said, praising his battery mate. “That dude gave us a chance to win. He came out, he pounds the zone, he made them put the bat on the ball.”
Mainieri had said before the game that Marceaux would be on a 90-pitch cap or a six-inning limit. Those stipulations were amended slightly.
“I obviously didn’t plan on him pitching eight innings, but his pitch count was so low, that we could have thought about sending him back in for the ninth, but I just didn’t want to do that,” Mainieri said.
But Mainieri was well aware of what his Saturday pitcher did for his ballclub. Marceaux stepped on the mound and dominated when his team needed him to do so badly.
“Landon was just absolutely an animal out there. What a competitor. He pitched a phonemenal game for us just when we needed it the most.”