GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
It can happen early in a season, midway through, or as late as the SEC Tournament or an NCAA Regional.
But the key for former LSU baseball coach Skip Bertman was to see his players “graduate.”
The ceremony in front of their family in May at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center was great, yes, and Bertman always had a good graduation rate. But so was the one with just Bertman in the dugout during or after a game, or on the field, when he would tell a player:
“You just graduated.”
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For example, LSU junior transfer pitcher Anthony Eyanson was a May graduate. He threw a three-hit, one-run, complete-game, 2-1, victory at Texas A&M on May 3, striking out 14 with one walk one in front of 7,271 to go to 7-2 on the season. It was his best game of the year, but the key was, he followed it with another top game – six innings of shut-out pitching a week later with 11 strikeouts for a win over Arkansas. And he’s been on a roll ever since.
Entering the Super Regional for LSU (46-15) against West Virginia (44-14) on Saturday (1 p.m., ESPN), Eyanson is 10-2 on the season with a 2.50 ERA and two saves over the last two weeks. He is also third in the nation in strikeouts with 135 in 93 and two-thirds innings. Teammate Kade Anderson (9-1, 3.28 ERA) is first with 156 in 96 innings. Anderson graduated much earlier in the season.
“Anthony pitched the best game of the year, not just for him, but for anybody on the team at A&M,” Bertman said on the “On Base With Skip Bertman” podcast. “And he was MASTERFUL. What a game! Then he did it again. That’s an example of what I called graduating, which meant you went to a higher level.”
Eyanson then won another critical game on May 17 at South Carolina to win that series. He allowed two runs on five hits in seven innings with five strikeouts. Next, Eyanson began work on a graduate degree as a short reliever or closer.
LSU coach Jay Johnson, who has taken over the University of Skip Bertman with his own school in its likeness, inserted Eyanson in the seventh inning for Anderson at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, on May 23.
And he looked every bit the part, shutting out the Aggies over three innings on two hits with four strikeouts for his first save of the season. Eyanson closed again Monday night in the NCAA Regional championship game against Arkansas-Little Rock. He relieved another recent graduate, Casan Evans, in the eighth with one out and two on. Over an inning and two thirds and 20 pitches, he allowed no runs on one hit with three strikeouts for his second save in a 10-6 win.
And that was after Eyanson started the Regional opener the previous Friday, allowing no runs and five hits through seven and two-thirds innings. He threw 98 pitches with seven strikeouts and one walk for the win to go to 10-2.
“He was ready for it,” Johnson said.
In other words, he was a graduate.
“This was also why we did what we did at Hoover with him,” Johnson said. “I didn’t want that to be the first time that he did it. The main reason we used him Friday was because I felt he would be able to bounce back for the exact scenario tonight.”
Johnson was using Bertman’s graduate strategy.
“That thought was put in motion long ago, and it came to fruition,” Johnson said on Tiger Rag Radio Tuesday night.
Johnson speaks with Bertman at least once a week, and the two often have lunch together. Bertman also talks regularly to LSU pitching coach Nate Yeskie.
“I’ve had several conversations with Skip about strategy and pitching strategy and lining your team up for post-season play,” Johnson said. “And doing things in the regular season with a thought of looking ahead.”
Even if that means a regular season loss because of such moves so as to get a pitcher better – or graduated – for the post season.
“The graduation term was a great one for the players,” said Bertman, who coached LSU from 1984-2000 and reached the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, 11 times with five national titles from 1991-2000. “I didn’t use it just for pitchers, but for all players. They knew that when I said they graduated, they were in a new spot and super confident.”
He sees several graduates on the 2025 Tigers.
“I tell you what, number one is Kade Anderson. He is really a superstar,” Bertman said of the sophomore left-hander. “And yes, Casan Evans has graduated. He had graduated before the other night. I think he’ll be the No. 3 starer in he Super Regional, if Jay doesn’t have to use him game or game two (in relief).”
Evans is 4-1 on the season with a 1.90 ERA and six saves after striking out 12 for the win over Arkansas-Little Rock Monday night.
As a whole, LSU appears to be coming into its own at the right time.
“My belief is that teams go up and down through a long season,” Bertman said. “LSU has done that. The pitching and hitting go up and down. It’s who is hot at Regional and Super Regional time. I’m looking for the Tigers to continue to show me that.”
LSU’s 2000 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS WAS FULL OF “GRADUATES”
Perhaps no team in Bertman’s history at LSU turned it on in prime postseason time more dramatically than his last national championship team – the 2000 Tigers.
None of LSU’s six other national championship teams (with one by coach Paul Mainieri in 2009 and the other by Johnson’s 2023 team) finished undefeated through all of postseason play. LSU was 13-0 in the post season in 2000 – 4-0 at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, 3-0 in the NCAA Regional at Alex Box, 2-0 in the Super Regional at Alex Box, and 4-0 at the College World Series.
The team was honored for its 25th anniversary of the title before the Arkansas-LSU game at Alex Box on May 10 when Eyanson beat Arkansas.
“It was wonderful,” Bertman said. “Just great for me to see 25 or 30 guys and have a memory attached to each one. Great reunion! Really want to thank LSU and the L Club.”
One late “graduate” on that team was starting pitcher Trey Hodges. He missed the reunion while on vacation in Italy, but joined Bertman on his podcast.
Coming off two off-season arm surgeries on his throwing right arm, Hodges struggled that season. Until … the tassel turned against Alabama at the SEC Tournament. He threw five and two-thirds of shutout relief against a team that had scored 12 runs on 12 hits before he entered the game. He got his first save of the season in an 18-12 win.
“I came in, and for whatever reason, that was the day,” Hodges said. “It just clicked, and I could feel it.”
He had graduated.
Hodges went on to become College World Series MVP as he pitched three times in relief over the final six days, gaining two wins around a save. In the championship game, he threw a two-hit shutout over the final four innings with four strikeouts for the 6-5 win over Stanford.
“I just waited for Trey,” Bertman said. “His arm finally got in better shape, and it showed off unbelievably against Alabama in the SEC Tournament. Then he was terrific any time you put him in at the College World Series for the championship.”
For more on LSU’s five national championships under Bertman, purchase “Everything Matters In Baseball: The Skip Bertman Story” via acadianhouse.com and amazon.com or at Barnes & Noble stores.
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