GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU coach Jay Johnson paused for a second on his radio show Monday night, but then went ahead with the comparison while discussing pitcher Anthony Eyanson’s gem on Saturday at Texas A&M.
“That was a masterpiece of really PITCHING,” he said of Eyanson’s three-hit, complete game to beat the Aggies, 2-1, with 14 strikeouts. “Can’t believe I’m about to say this, but it very much reminded me of Old School Greg Maddux.”
Eyanson, a junior transfer from UC-San Diego, walked one and threw 112 pitches with 80 strikes to improve to 7-2 on the season with a 3.16 ERA and 105 strikeouts with 26 walks. Named the Southeastern Conference pitcher of the week on Monday, he has allowed only three home runs on the season and a .213 batting average. Eyanson is fourth in the nation in strikeouts with fellow LSU starter Kade Anderson in second with 114.
Maddux did not throw in the mid-to-upper 90s as does Eyanson. But the Hall of Famer and first, four-time Cy Young Award winner won 355 games from 1986 to 2008, mostly as an Atlanta Brave, with precise control and the ability to change speeds on his fastball that averaged in the high 80s and low 90s.
“Always working ahead in the count, changing speeds, throwing whatever you want, wherever you want it to go,” Johnson continued in his Eyanson-Maddux comparison. “A pitcher with his (Eyanson’s) mix, once he gets the count in his favor – and he can throw everything for a strike and do it at any time – it makes it really difficult as a hitter.”
SOME OF LSU’S BEST WERE NOT AT THEIR BEST AT TEXAS A&M
Eyanson’s fastball was clocked at 96 mph in the ninth inning as he mixed in an effective curve and changeup that kept the Aggies off balance.
“He had 75 percent first-pitch strikes,” Johnson said.
Eyanson finished as well as he started. He struck out two in the seventh with one looking and three in the ninth with one looking. He struck out every A&M batter at least once other than Ben Royo, who homered in the sixth to get the Aggies within 2-1.
Lead-off hitter and center fielder Jace LaViolette, a projected No. 1 overall pick in the Major League Baseball Draft this summer, went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. No. 5 hitter Kaeden Kent, who homered in A&M’s win Sunday, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, and No. 2 hitter Wyatt Henseler fanned twice while also going 0-for-4.
“How could you not be grateful and excited to play with a team like this, in an environment like this? It’s everything that I’ve ever wanted,” Eyanson told reporters Saturday.
After striking out the side, he let the rowdy A&M fans know it was over. Looking right at them on the first base line, he put his hand to his ear as if to say he couldn’t hear them.
“They were loud all game,” Eyanson said. “Nothing personal, but they let me hear it when the home run was hit, so I let them hear it when the game was over.”
Johnson said there was no way he was taking him out of the game.
“After the seventh, he had this look in his eye like, ‘I’m going to finish this thing,'” he said. “He just keeps getting better as the season goes along.”
Eyanson will next pitch on Saturday (5:30 p.m., SEC Network) in a critical game for LSU’s top eight seed hopes for the NCAA postseason. The Tigers (38-11, 15-9 SEC) dropped to No. 8 from No. 7 in the Ratings Percentage Index after losing two of three to A&M (27-20, 10-14 SEC), which came in with a No. 37 RPI. Arkansas (40-9, 17-7 SEC) is No. 5 in RPI.
The Arkansas series will be the last home SEC series of the season for LSU and opens on Friday (6:30 p.m., SEC Network+). The finale will be at 3 p.m. Sunday on the SEC Network. The Tigers host Grambling (21-23, 16-8 Southwestern Athletic Conference) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the final mid-week game of the season. LSU closes the regular season at South Carolina (26-23, 5-19 SEC).
“They’re a real complete team,” Johnson said of Arkansas. “I’m very happy to be playing them at home, I can say that. We need everybody out there and for the fans to be awesome. It should be one of the best weekends of the year.”
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