GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
OK, that’s back-to-back now that LSU pitcher Anthony Eyanson has got off to shaky starts.
Last week, he allowed three runs off four hits to Nebraska in the first inning in Frisco, Texas, and then another run in in the second with a walk and a wild pitch and another run in the third with two hits and two more wild pitches for a 5-0 deficit. But Eyanson and LSU came back to win 11-6.
And on Saturday, Eyanson gave up two runs in the first inning on two hits and a walk and was down 2-0 to North Alabama just like that at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU fans’ cries for freshmen sensations William Schmidt of Catholic High in Baton Rouge or Casan Evans of St. Pius X High in Houston to replace Eyanson in the weekend starting rotation went all crescendo again.
But just like that, LSU coach Jay Johnson visited Eyanson, his junior transfer from UC-San Diego, after that 2-0 deficit. And Eyanson struck out the next two batters, and North Alabama was never heard from again as LSU came back to win 6-2.
“Just reset,” Johnson said he told Eyanson. “Start the game over. I told the umpire, ‘We’re starting the game over from right now.'”
Eyanson struck out three straight in the second inning and the first two of the third for seven in a row and eight overall at that point.
“I mean he really got rolling,” Johnson said. “I don’t know how many strikeouts he had, but it felt like a lot.”
Try a career-high 15.
“He had 15?,” Johnson asked. “Oh, wow! That’s a great performance. I do know that it was seven in a row after the mound visit. I’m going to go visit him in the bullpen next time, so he just starts the game like that.”
Eyanson improved to 3-0 as he no-hit the Lions from the second through the seventh and walked two.
“Just to sum it up, coach said, ‘Be yourself,'” Eyanson said of his mound meeting. “He said, ‘You know you’re a competitor. We chose you for a reason.’ And that kind of stuck with me a little bit. I just settled down, executed, made better pitches.”
Eyanson would like to avoid a third time next weekend as No. 1 LSU (15-1) will be in the midst of Southeastern Conference play at home against Missouri.
“Definitely want to be sharper out of the gate,” he said. “I feel like I’m pretty good at fighting back. I definitely don’t want to get in the habit of allowing runs in the first inning. I have so much faith in the offense that we produce, but when you give them that setback where it makes the game harder, so just want to be sharper out of the gate. Just want to be rolling.”
LSU’s offense, which put six home runs in a 13-2 win Friday night, cut North Alabama’s lead to 2-1 in the first inning. Jared Jones doubled and scored on Ethan Frey’s RBI double. LSU tied it 2-2 in the third as Derek Curiel singled, Jones double, and Curiel scored on an error.
The Tigers went up 5-2 in the fifth with three runs as Jones hit a two-run home run after an RBI double by Curiel. LSU took the 6-2 lead in the eighth with a sacrifice bunt RBI by Chris Stanfield.
That was plenty enough for Eyanson, who could have finished the game, but he got up to 95 pitches in the seventh and left. He threw 67 strikes.
“He’s good. He’s a good pitcher,” Johnson said. “He’s poised, and one of the traits that I believe all great pitchers have is they don’t let small things bother them, and they carry forward to the next pitch and the next inning. And he’s proven that obviously through a couple of weeks. I’m proud of him for that. He just did a really good job executing.”
Zac Cowan pitched a scoreless and hitless eighth and ninth inning with five strikeouts and a walk for his first save. North Alabama fell to 3-10. Jones finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored to lead a nine-hit attack.
LSU will close the series at 1 p.m. Sunday with sophomore right-hander Chase Shores (3-0, 3.00 ERA, 18 strikeouts, 15 innings) starting against North Alabama senior right-hander Anthony Pingeton (1-1, 2.77 ERA, nine strikeouts, 13 innings).
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