GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
To the surprise of virtually no one, sophomore left-hander Kade Anderson has been named LSU’s Friday night starter for the No. 2 Tigers’ season opener against Purdue-Fort Wayne at 2 p.m. Friday in Alex Box Stadium.
KADE ANDERSON WOULD PITCH AT LSU “FOR 10 YEARS” IF HE COULD
Junior transfer right-hander Anthony Eyanson from UC-San Diego will start Saturday’s 1 p.m. game, and redshirt sophomore Chase Shores will start Sunday at 1 p.m.
“It means a lot,” Anderson said Wednesday to reporters at Alex Box. “But I think we have five Friday-night starters. They were constantly pushing me. Obviously, an honor to get the ball. I’m excited.”
Anderson was 4-2 with a 3.99 ERA last season and 59 strikeouts in 38 and a third innings with key performances in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Regional at North Carolina.
“He finished the season great,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “And then really devoted himself in the weight room over the summer – transformed his body, elevated his pitch-ability. I trust him with my life. He’s one of the leaders on the team. If I really need to get something done, go to him.”
But things could change.
“A lot of other ways we could do it, and as you guys have seen, there may be other ways that we end up doing it,” Johnson said.
PITCHING DEPTH GALORE
Left-hander Conner Ware, a junior transfer from Pearl River Community College in Mississippi, could end up in the starting rotation, or as a key reliever or closer in the coming weekends or Southeastern Conference season that begins on March 14 against Missouri at home. Junior Gavin Guidry could be an option as he is ticketed for longer outings after two seasons as reliever. Highly touted freshmen William Schmidt of Catholic High in Baton Rouge and Casan Evans of St. Pius X High in Houston could emerge along with junior transfer Zac Cowan of Wofford.
That’s five right there for a total of eight.
Johnson is trying to keep the number of pitchers he is thinking about for major roles down, but that is difficult because of the wealth of talent.
“I went into this thing, to be honest with you, thinking about doing it a little bit differently than in the past by maybe paring it down,” he said.
SKIP BERTMAN WEIGHS IN
That is the advice of Johnson’s mentor – former LSU coach Skip Bertman, who had a somewhat minimalist approach to pitching on his way to maxing out with five national titles from 1991-2000 and 11 trips to the College World Series from 1986-2000.
“I spend so much time with coach Bertman,” Johnson said. “And one of his things is, ‘No matter what you think you have, you always have eight pitchers. Maybe 10, on a really good team.’ And I definitely agree with that. But I do think there are guys beyond that who can contribute if we utilize them right.”
And he rattled off some more – redshirt sophomore left-hander DJ Primeaux of Central High in Baton Rouge “has really done well,” junior transfer Connor Benge of Dallas Baptist “has been awesome,” junior transfer Jacob Mayers of Nicholls State “is really hard to hit,” sophomore Jaden Noot “has pitched really well for the last three weeks,” freshman left-hander Cooper Williams of Alvin High in Alvin, Texas, “is going to be a key part of this staff,” senior lefty outfielder/pitcher Dalton Beck “has been pretty good, too,” junior transfer Grant Fontenot of Texas “has had a really good few weeks,” and freshman Mavrick Rizzi of Worcester Academy in Fiskdale, Massachusetts, “is a star.”
That’s more than eight. That’s eight more. That’s 16 in all. So, either Johnson is trying to keep kids out of the portal, or he has that many pitchers he likes.
“That’s more than eight, yes,” he said smiling. “You know Skip said to me one time, and he’s probably right. He’s like, ‘Man, if I had some of these guys, I never would’ve lost a game.’ I said, ‘You’re probably right, coach.’ But he did all right with some pretty good pitchers, if I remember right.”
SECOND BASE-SHORTSTOP-THIRD BASE CHANGE
Johnson also announced that the plan to move sophomore Steven Milam from second base to shortstop and senior Michael Braswell III from shortstop to third will happen Friday. Milam played second last season, while Braswell played shortstop. Junior transfer Daniel Dickinson of Utah Valley will play second.
“Steven’s feet in terms of coming and getting the ball and moving right and left was important,” Johnson said. “He has a really good clock in understanding the speed of the game. I honestly think we would’ve been there a long time ago without any drama had he not missed half the fall (with an injury). With Michael, I haven’t really seen the game speed up on him at third base. As he continues to get more reps there, I think he’ll be an excellent third baseman.”
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