Last night, LSU baseball took care of business in the opening round of the Baton Rouge Regional. The 7-0 victory was highlighted by Daniel Dickinson’s two monster home runs as well as another brilliant start from Anthony Eyanson. He pitched seven and two thirds innings while giving up only five hits and no runs on the night.
There is plenty more that can be drawn from LSU’s win, though. Here are some key takeaways from LSU’s Friday night win.
ANTHONY EYANSON IS STILL NAILS
Coach Jay Johnson and LSU decided to start Eyanson on Wednesday, which gave him only a couple days to get ready for Little Rock’s offensive approach.
In Friday’s game, Eyanson got himself out of numerous jams – something he’s done often and well throughout the entire season.
Jay Johnson says the decision to start Eyanson led to pitching in the big moments, which Eyanson has been so successful doing this season.
“I could have gone either way for us with those guys (Eyanson and Anderson). You want to make sure the pitcher can handle the moment. And that dude can handle any moment. And he did a great job for us tonight,” Johnson said after the win.
Jay Johnson has also praised Eyanson’s ability to stay calm and poised while there is traffic on the bases. He claimed earlier this season that Eyanson was the best pitcher he has seen that gets out of jams and dealing with traffic on the bases.
The key takeaway from this game, specifically, shows that Eyanson is as solid as a pitcher as anyone in the country, especially when it comes to staying mentally sharp in every start.
If he continues to be himself, LSU will be incredibly difficult to beat in games one and two of series because of the one, two punch from Eyanson and Anderson.
MAVRICK RIZY EMERGING AS A GO-TO ARM FOR LSU IN POSTSEASON
Another key takeaway from Friday night’s victory is how dominant freshman right-handed pitcher Mavrick Rizy was.
Rizy finished the game off for the Tigers in the ninth inning, looking the sharpest he has since earlier this month in College Station. Rizy struck out two Trojans and was up to 98 mph with his fastball.
Johnson had lots of praise for Rizy after the Friday outing saying, “I thought he was dominant. He can be as good as anybody in the country throwing the ball like that.”
Elite teams in the postseason historically have 8-9 go-to pitchers that can be reliable. Rizy could certainly be emerging as one of those arms after his performance against Little Rock.
LSU’s DEFENSE WILL KEEP THEM IN EVERY GAME
Even though many fans may not have thought to have noticed the excellent job the LSU defense did last night, it’s another reason why Eyanson was able to get out of jams.
The LSU defense put up another clean zero with no errors against Little Rock, which is something it is becoming accustomed to.
Second baseman Daniel Dickinson says that the Tigers take a lot of pride in playing defense where he knows every play is important to helping his pitching staff out as well as his offense in times of going cold.
“Offense comes and goes. It’s a hard game to play. But if we lock down the defense behind our pitching staff, we know we’re going to be in every single game possible,” Dickinson said.
LSU ranked tenth in the nation in fielding percentage at .981 this season. An impressive statistic to note is that there has only been nine errors between infielders Michael Braswell, Daniel Dickinson and Steven Milam, with three a piece for each.
Because LSU plays lockdown defense, it will give itself a chance to hang around in every game, which will help in high-caliber games.
LSU returns to play tonight as they will face the Dallas Baptist Patriots at 8 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on ESPNU.
