LSU vs Alabama - Crowdsourced weekend preview

Posted on 4/27/23 at 2:33 pm

Posted by ProjectP2294

South St. Louis city

Member since May 2007

76173 posts

Posted on 4/27/23 at 2:33 pm

I apologize in advance as this is more of an actual preview and less of a hater's guide to the series.

FRIDAY: UA – Luke Holman (So., RHP) vs. LSU – Paul Skenes (Jr., RHP)
SATURDAY: UA – Garrett McMillan (Sr., RHP) vs. LSU – Ty Floyd (Jr., RHP)
SUNDAY: UA – Jacob McNairy (Gr., RHP) vs. LSU – Christian Little (Jr., RHP)

Their non-conference schedule was softer than marshmallow Peeps, though not entirely their own fault. They were scheduled to play a weekend in the country’s most majestic college baseball setting before weather cancelled the games at Pepperdine. The rest of their schedule is their fault and playing beer league softball teams, division 3 schools, and the surviving vestiges of the Japanese internment camp leagues isn’t really going to help the RPI or the reputation. It’s not a huge deal for them though because they’re winning enough in the SEC to stay afloat and are still on course for postseason play. They're going to make some regional host really sad as a 3 seed some day.

On the pitching staff, everyone is the same. This is the first week that I’d say the strategy of working the starter to get him out of the game early will have limited utility. Because everyone Bama runs out there is as good as the guy he’s replacing. Starter only goes 3? No big deal, the next two relievers will also go 3 and it won’t matter. They’re all pretty good. It’s the type of pitching staff built to win a 6 team regional after losing the first game. They’re working a few guys back from injury, Garrett McMillan as a starter and Hunter Hoopes as a reliever. They have lower innings totals but I expect to see them this weekend. Their top two arms so far this season, Grayson Hitt and Ben Hess are out with injury, though Hess may return at some point. Nearly all their pitchers strike out a guy an inning. They’ve all got a decent WHIP and a decent ERA. Luke Holman has assumed the Friday slot, he doesn’t give up a ton of hits, he doesn’t walk a ton of guys, and he strikes out a decent number of hitters. Jacob McNairy is the Sunday guy. He walks almost no one. He’s one of the only guys on the staff with more hits given up than innings pitched. He strikes out just under 1 guy per inning. Garrett McMillan has made 3 starts since coming back from injury, all in the 3 inning range. He can also miss bats, the rest of the stats are small samples, but they think highly enough of him to work him back in as the Saturday starter. Last week I didn’t mention any relievers because none of them were good. This week, there are too many to cover because they’re all good. Kade Woods is a Louisiana kid from Ouachita Christian. High level stuff, lots of Ks, but still gives up some runs. Hagen Banks, Hunter Furtado, and Riley Quick are regularly used relievers that can all go multiple innings.

They hit enough to win games against relatively bad teams, but they aren’t a great hitting team. They have a handful of guys over .300. Tommy Seidl is their most dangerous hitter by average and OBP. Colby Shelton has 16 homers. Andrew Pinckney is a good prospect in right field. He’s having a good year at the plate, but can be strike out prone at times. Both of their catchers spent time at other SEC schools. Dominic Tamez (Arkansas) and Mac Guscette (Florida) split time back there. They’re a solid team, Bohannon is a good evaluator.

This weekend's beer of the series is dedicated to Kim Mulkey: Jucifer from Hammond, America's own Gnarly Barley brewing. A juicy, hazy IPA that's still easy drinking enough to have more than one at a time.

This post was edited on 4/27/23 at 2:36 pm