LSU’s 6-0 start in the NCAA Tournament was spoiled on Monday night against the top team in the country, Wake Forest.
Now, the Tigers have to take the field on Tuesday night against Tennessee with their season on the line in an elimination game. If LSU wins that one, coach Jay Johnson’s team will have to win back-to-back games against the Demon Deacons to reach the championship series.
“I think it would be very easy to crawl in the hole with disappointment,” Johnson said after the game on Monday night. “That’s a great college baseball game that we came up on the short end of the stick. … So that could be deflating. But I shared with them two things. No. 1, I’ve had a team in this position before. Lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to Oklahoma State and then won three consecutive games to play for a national championship. Then the very next year this program did the same thing. And they beat probably one of the best teams in modern college baseball history twice to get that opportunity.
“And I have all the faith in the world in our team that we can do that. So let’s stick to what we do. And if we do that well, then we’ll be in a good spot.”
The Tigers aren’t out yet, but they’ll face an uphill battle when it comes to pitching as they try to dig themselves out of this hole. Paul Skenes is unavailable for Tuesday night’s elimination game, as are Ty Floyd and Thatcher Hurd, who came in to relieve Floyd on Monday.
Johnson didn’t announce a starter, but he said the team would have nine arms available. While it’s not official, it has been speculated the team may turn to [autotag]Javen Coleman[/autotag].
“Yeah, we have nine guys available to pitch tomorrow. And we’ll choose one of them. And he’ll get guys out for as long as he can,” Johnson said. “Then we’ll go to the next guy and we’ll go to the next guy and we’ll go to the next guy until we figure out how to get 27 outs against a really good team.”
Fair enough.
Tennessee will have no such issue, however. The Volunteers have a clear Day 3 starter, Drew Beam. In 16 starts this season, Beam has a 9-4 record with a 3.78 ERA.
Despite having one of the best lineups in the country and the nation’s best pitcher, Skenes, pitching depth has been a major question mark for the Tigers this season.
That depth will be truly put to the test as LSU battles to keep its season alive.
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