GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
OMAHA, Nebraska – One of the biggest differences between the College World Series and the rest of the season is coaches can’t automatically set their pitching up a week ahead of time.
In every previous week of the season, they can, and they like to save their top two or three starters for the weekend as they do not pitch in the non-conference, mid-week games, which are essentially practice games. Once the NCAA postseason starts, there are no games until the weekend.
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Here in Omaha, coaches must navigate mid-week games that really count leading up to the second weekend, which is the best-of-three championship series weekend this Saturday and Sunday – Monday, if necessary.
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Case in point, LSU coach Jay Johnson and pitching coach Nate Yeskie need to win tonight’s game against Arkansas (6 p.m., ESPN) while saving No. 1 starter Kade Anderson (11-1, 3.44 ERA), No. 2 starter/part-time closer Anthony Eyanson (11-2, 2.92, 2 saves) and No. 3 starter/reliever Casan Evans (5-1, 2.05 ERA, 7 saves) for the championship series.
The Tigers (50-15) are 2-0 in the College World Series after beating UCLA, 9-5, on Tuesday and Arkansas, 4-1, on Saturday, and thus have more options and more pitchers on paper, but quality may be at question.
Arkansas (50-14) stayed alive at 2-1 here by eliminating UCLA, 7-3, on Tuesday night. Ace left-hander Zach Root, whom LSU knocked out of Saturday’s game in the second inning, three a five-inning, three-hit shutout to go to 9-6 on the season. Arkansas, on paper, has less rested pitching than LSU, but may have a tad more quality depth than LSU.
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LSU may throw several pitchers tonight, unless the starter does very well. That starter could be one of three spot starters this season – Jaden Noot (2-1, 4.26 ERA, 5 starts), left-hander Conner Ware (4-1, 5.48 ERA, 6 starts) or Zac Cowan (3-3, 3.09 ERA, 6 saves, 1 start). None of these three have pitched a lot lately and not very well, though.
– Noot last threw on June 1 when he started against Little Rock and gave up two runs on three hits and two walks in an inning and a third.
– Ware hasn’t pitched since May 15 at South Carolina when his start lasted one inning. He walked four.
– Cowan, once a key part of the bullpen, has not pitched since June 2 against Little Rock when he started. In just an inning and a third, he gave up four earned runs on three hits with two walks.
Slim pickings as far as the statistics.
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So, Tiger Rag’s prediction for tonight is 6-foot-8, 100 mph-throwing redshirt sophomore right-hander Chase Shores (5-3, 5.03 ERA, 1 save). Shores has started nine games this season, including five in the Southeastern Conference, as he opened the season as the No. 3 starter before moving to the bullpen at mid-season. He was 1-2 with a 6.25 ERA in 12 SEC appearances.
But lately, he has been effective. In the 9-5 win over UCLA Tuesday, he got the save with a hitless, scoreless and walk-less inning and a third to end the game over just 11 pitches. In the 4-1 over Arkansas Saturday, he threw a perfect eighth with two strikeouts over 10 pitches. In the Super Regional finale win over West Virginia, he threw a perfect inning and a third with three strikeouts.
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He’s hot.
“Electric. Holy Cow,” Johnson said of Shores after the WVU game.
And he may be ready for a return to a starting role.
Available from the bullpen are left-handers Cooper Williams (0-1, 1.80 ERA) and DJ Primeaux (0-3, 3.86 ERA) and right-hander Mavrick Rizy (0-0. 4.74 ERA). Rizy could be interesting. He has 29 strikeouts in 24 and two-thirds innings, but he has walked 19.
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“If you win the first two with only maybe three guys unavailable for the next game (Anderson, Eyanson, Evans), you’ve probably done a pretty good job,” Johnson said. “That’s probably where we’re at. I need to look at it a little closer.”
Key words, “maybe three guys unavailable.” In other words, Eyanson may be available for some short relief or a close tonight as he just threw 44 pitches on Monday night when he started the UCLA game. That was delayed by weather and not completed until Tuesday afternoon.
But the tricky part is, should LSU lose to Arkansas tonight, Johnson and Yeskie would likely want to start Eyanson on Thursday in an elimination game against Arkansas on Thursday at a time to be determined.
“Never look too far down the road in this tournament,” Johnson said. “I think you can get yourself in trouble with that.”
But you have to, and Skip Bertman always did, so you know that Johnson is.
Starting Eyanson on Thursday on short rest keeps Anderson at full rest of six days for the start in the championship series opener with Evans likely to start game two on Sunday. Then Eyanson could come back on Monday after three days rest.
Or, should LSU lose tonight, it could start Anderson on Thursday in a do-or-die game on four days rest, which he has not done. But this is Omaha.
Arkansas, meanwhile, did get a pitching boost from Root and reliever Aiden Jimenez (4-1, 3.40 ERA), who allowed one hit in three innings of relief with two strikeouts and a walk over 41 pitches in the UCLA win n Tuesday. And, of course, Gage Wood just threw the first CWS no-hitter since 1960 on Monday in a 3-0 win over Murray State and struck out a CWS record 19 in nine innings with zero walks.
“We don’t know who we’re pitching yet, honestly,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said Tuesday night.
Look out for right-hander Gabe Gaeckle (4-2, 4.48 ERA), who has not pitched since stuffing LSU on Saturday in relief – 10 strikeouts and one walk around three hits in six innings. Left-hander Cole Gibler (3-1, 3.14 ERA, 1 save) also has not pitched since striking out three Tigers out of five with a walk. And they have other good lefties.
“We’ll know, probably, when we do have to turn the lineup in,” Horn said. “About an hour and 50 minutes before. Yeah.”
That will likely be before Johnson turns his in.
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