The rain kept a series winner from being decided in this weekend’s bout between LSU and South Carolina, but the decision to cancel Game 3 might have worked to the Tigers’ advantage.
The pitching staff is ravaged by injuries. [autotag]Chase Shores[/autotag] and [autotag]Nate Ackenhausen[/autotag] were unavailable coming into the weekend, and LSU lost reliever [autotag]Garrett Edwards[/autotag] during Game 2.
Coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] told The Advocate’s Leah Vann that the team is “getting closer” to having an answer on Shores’ availability after suffering an undisclosed arm injury. Ackenhausen, meanwhile, missed two weeks earlier in SEC play with a hamstring injury and was out once again this weekend.
Johnson said he hopes Ackenhausen will be available next weekend against Kentucky.
Regarding Edwards, Johnson said he was optimistic but conceded that it’s not clear exactly how serious the injury was.
“The preliminary evaluation was as positive as it could be,” Johnson said. “We’re hoping that it’s not as serious as it looked. It’s kind of odd, the pitch was a changeup, you don’t see a significant injury when a guy is throwing a changeup. I’m hopeful, but I’m not a doctor, we’ll get him further evaluated when we get home.”
LSU has the talent to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament and get to the College World Series in Omaha. However, there are question marks with the pitching staff, and the Tigers desperately need to get their bullpen healthy.
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