LSU baseball has been preparing for the Baton Rouge regional all week, but there are many questions still surrounding its opening matchup versus Little Rock on Friday.

Will LSU use Kade Anderson or Anthony Eyanson versus the region’s No. 4 seed Little Rock Trojans, or try to save the power arms for the two and three seeds? And will the LSU offense wake up after a sleepy performance in the SEC Tournament?

For pitching, head coach Jay Johnson will probably roll out Anderson for Game 1 to keep him on a seven-day rest schedule for the super regionals, should LSU advance. That would leave Eyanson for the second and highest-leverage game on Saturday.

Any game after that would be a combined bullpen effort, likely seeing Chase Shores, Jacob Mayers and Jaden Noot.

The bullpen has solidified in LSU’s most recent games and proved to be the most consistent piece for Johnson’s Tigers, even without the use of their two best receivers.

However, the bats have slowed down on the road, forcing the pitching staff to keep the scores down in games. At home, the Tigers average about nine runs per game, so their pitching should have much more room for error.

LSU’s struggles were evident in Hoover when they went 6-54 at the plate with six walks, earning a batting average of .111 through two games. The team only plated four runs out of their 12 base runners all weekend.

With momentum on the mound, the Tigers will hope to pick it up in the batter’s box for the remainder of the postseason.
Johnson knows what needs to happen and believes the team is responding to his message.

“The energy was different today [at practice]… I’ve been telling the guys for weeks this tournament is wide open,” Johnson said.

All LSU’s opponent needs is a chance, and if the Tigers’ bats aren’t able to heat up and score runs, LSU could end up dropping a major game on Friday.

This is Little Rock’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 14 seasons. To get back to the postseason they won five games in four days during the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament to claim the title and the automatic bid into the tournament.

The Trojans entered the tournament with the last spot after an 8-16 league record. They ended up getting hot at the right time and winning the title.

The first pitch between the Trojans and the Tigers on Friday is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge.