LSU Pitcher William Schmidt “Fine” After Leaving Game With Back Tightness, Jay Johnson Says

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

LSU starting pitcher William Schmidt was taken out of the No. 13 Tigers’ 16-9 win over Vanderbilt on Sunday in the fifth inning as a precaution after he suffered back tightness.

“He’s fine,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said after LSU took one of three games in the Southeastern Conference opening series of the season in Nashville. “He just started to miss up in the zone, and I thought he was protecting it (his back) a little bit.”

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Schmidt allowed three runs on three hits with six strikeouts and three walks in the first SEC start of his career through four innings. He entered the fifth inning leading, 6-1, with the only run on a home run by Mike Mancini in the second inning.

But Schmidt gave up a one-ball, no-strike home run to Tommy Goodin to lead off the fifth, and it was 6-2. Then he threw two straight balls to Rustan Rigdon. Johnson and trainer Isaac Trujillo quickly visited the mound because something didn’t look right with Schmidt’s delivery. Schmidt stayed in the game but walked Rigdon on two more pitches and left.

“That guy’s health is the key to my life for the next 18 months,” Johnson said. “So it just wasn’t really worth it.”

Schmidt, a sophomore from Catholic High in Baton Rouge, is 3-1 on the season with a 3.12 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 26 innings with seven walks and three home runs allowed.

The Commodores (13-8, 2-1 SEC) went on to score three more runs in the fifth to cut LSU’s lead to 6-5 off reliever Mavrick Rizy, who allowed two runs on three hits with two strikeouts in two thirds of an inning. Santiago Garcia relieved Rizy to get LSU out of the inning.

Vanderbilt tied it 6-6 in the sixth on another lead-off home run by Goodin, this one off Garcia.

LSU (14-7, 1-2 SEC) rallied for five runs in the seventh to take an 11-6 lead with a three-run home run by Jake Brown, an RBI single by Steven Milam and a sacrifice fly by Seth Dardar. After Vanderbilt got within 11-9 in the bottom of the seventh, LSU erupted for five in the eighth and the 16-9 lead.

“Just found a way to win today,” Johnson said. “Take all the other stuff out of it. We have good players. It’s important to them. And it didn’t really matter how – just kind of find a way. And we’re very much about the process and how we play. But I want them to keep growing up.”

Brown leads LSU with a .415 average, 31 RBIs, 10 home runs and seven doubles.

 “He’s such an athlete that his development has really skyrocketed,” Johnson said. “He’s one of the best players in the country.”