HOOVER, Alabama – To LSU, the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament likely does not really matter toward the NCAA postseason this season, but just in case it does, the Tigers will be ready – “kind of.”
LSU (42-13, 19-11 SEC) is ranked No. 1 in the nation by the D1Baseball, USA TODAY and Baseball America polls, but it has remained No. 8 in the more-important Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) rankings. And the NCAA will only name eight national seeds on Monday for the NCAA postseason with the top eight getting home-field advantage until the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, June 13-23.
So, the Tigers can cement hosting the NCAA Regional next weekend and Super Regional (June 6-8, if they win the Regional) in Alex Box Stadium with a win in their first game of the SEC Tournament against No. 14 seed Texas A&M (30-25, 11-19 SEC) tonight at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium (6:30 p.m., SEC Network). Even though, LSU has probably already cemented a host site, considering the Tigers finished third in the all-RPI-powerful SEC regular season for the No. 3 seed here.
LSU’s JARED JONES COULD BE PLAYING FOOTBALL AT GEORGIA TECH
The Aggies eliminated No. 6 seed Auburn, 3-2, on Thursday to advance to Friday night’s game in the tournament’s new single-elimination format throughout. But they lost one of their top players in junior center fielder Jace LaViolette, who took a fastball to his left hand in the fifth inning Thursday and suffered a broken finger that knocked him out of the remainder of the tournament.
LaViolette, a projected high first round pick in the Major League Baseball Draft this summer, was hitting .256 and led the team with 18 home runs and with 59 RBIs. He went 1-for-12 with six strikeouts against LSU pitching early this month in a three-game series in College Station, Texas.
LSU’s top eight seed status is hard to argue against, regardless of tonight’s outcome. No. 2 seed Arkansas (43-12, 20-10) is No. 4 in RPI, and LSU just took two of three from the Razorbacks in Baton Rouge two weekends ago, including a 13-3, 10-run rule win in seven innings.
“If we’re the No. 1 team, I think it’d be really hard to not be a top eight seed,” LSU ace left-hander Kade Anderson said Tuesday. “But that’s just my opinion. Our team has put itself in a position to host a Super, and we’re getting hot at the right time.”
Anderson (7-1, 3.47 ERA, 133 strikeouts for 2nd in the nation) is expected to start tonight’s game against Texas A&M junior left-hander Myles Patton (3-4, 5.10 ERA). Patton threw the third game of the Aggies’ series against LSU on May 4 that A&M won, 6-4, to take the series, two games to one. In a no-decision, Patton allowed six hits and four runs in six innings with two walks and six strikeouts.
At A&M, Anderson struck out 12 and allowed one run on three hits and three walks in six innings in the opener of that series in a doubleheader on May 3. He took a no-decision after leaving with the score tied, 1-1, after six. Reliever Zac Cowan allowed two runs on three hits in the seventh to take the 3-1 loss. LSU won the second game, 2-1, in the nightcap behind Anthony Eyanson’s nine-inning three-hitter.
LSU BASEBALL DOMINATES ALL-SEC TEAM
Anderson has a point. LSU has won four of its last six games and four of its last five SEC series. The various website rankings that have LSU No. 1 do not count as much as the RPI, but those three No. 1 rankings do not hurt. Nor does the fact that LSU is 11-8 against the RPI’s top 25.
“Well, think we’re for sure a top eight national seed,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “I’m not on the committee, though, so there are smart people on there that look at this thing hard and make good decisions. But I don’t have a doubt in my mind that we’re a top eight national seed and earned that throughout the year because we were very consistent. We’ve played our way into a good spot.”
Good enough of a spot for Johnson not to treat Friday’s game or any future games here like he really needs to win. Meaning, he will likely not pitch Anderson deep into the game with a more important NCAA Regional next week.
“We’re going to play to win the game,” Johnson said when asked if would be throwing some of his second-line pitchers in relief earlier than usual. “We want to be prepared to play championship baseball, and I don’t think you can go through it as a blow-it-off exercise, or think of it that way. With that being said, in 2023 here, I took (ace) Paul Skenes out against Arkansas with the bases loaded in the fourth, because he was at like 31 pitches in the fourth inning.”
And Skenes was at 88 pitches for the game with an NCAA Regional game to start in a week. No. 3 seed LSU lost, 5-4, but it didn’t matter, because Johnson knew his No. 5-ranked team (43-12) would be receiving the top eight seed three days later. They did and went on to win the national title with Skenes winning MVP.
“I’m never taking Paul Skenes out of the game with the bases loaded (in a game that matters),” Johnson said. “Ever, except in that scenario (where it doesn’t matter as much). So, if something along those lines comes up (with Anderson), you may see me deviate from what we would do. There’ll be no blowing it off, or, ‘Hey, let’s try something.’ There’ll be design around winning the games while preparing our team to be set up (for the NCAA Regional) correctly.”
SKIP BERTMAN ON TIGER RAG RADIO
In other words, Johnson is doing as his mentor, former LSU coach Skip Bertman, would do and did and who talks to Johnson regularly.
While appearing on Tiger Rag Radio on May 13, Bertman was asked if he cared about winning SEC Tournament games when he knew he would be hosting at Alex Box in the NCAA postseason.
“That’s a wonderful question,” said Bertman, who coached LSU from 1984-2001 and won five national titles “Uh, the answer is, uh, no. I didn’t care about the SEC Tournament. I didn’t care about winning it. I just wanted to go and play two games, so that my first two pitchers could pitch. No, I didn’t care about the tournament. No, I’m not pitching my best pitcher to win the tournament in the championship game or something else when you need to use him the very next of week.”
In only two of Bertman’s five national championship seasons did he win the SEC Tournament – in 1993 when there were separate division tournaments and in 2000. Through the 11 seasons in which he reached the College World Series, Bertman won only three SEC Tournaments – 1993, ’94 (both by division) and 2000.
“So, no, I didn’t care much about it. Boy, if the commissioner (Roy Kramer) heard that, heh, heh, heh,” Bertman said and laughed.
Should LSU beat Texas A&M, it will advance to play at 3:30 p.m. Saturday against the winner of Friday’s 3 p.m. game between No. 2 seed Arkansas and No. 7 seed Ole Miss (38-18, 16-14). The Rebels eliminated No. 10 seed Florida, 3-1, on Thursday.
A win Saturday by LSU puts it in the SEC Tournament title game at 2 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2.
“The tournament’s a competition,” Johnson said. “There’s a championship. We want to play great.”
Texas A&M is 1-5 since taking two of three from LSU, including a sweep at the hands of last place Missouri (16-39, 3-27 SEC). The Aggies are No. 52 in the RPI, which means they likely have to win the SEC Tournament to get the automatic bid to reach the NCAA postseason. A&M beat 11 seed Mississippi State, 9-0, on the opening day of the tournament on Tuesday.
“They can beat anybody,” Johnson said. “It’s a team capable of playing baseball for a long time this June. So, for us right now, it’s kind of full speed ahead.”
Kind of.
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