GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
After a tremendous personal loss, sometimes the best antidote is all-consuming brain work, or something close to it.
That is what happened to LSU pitching coach Nate Yeskie over the weekend as the Tigers swept Oklahoma, three games to none in Norman with some of the best pitching on a weekend in LSU and Yeskie history.
LSU BASEBALL COACH JAY JOHNSON COMPLETE PRESS CONFERENCE
Yeskie’s father Denny passed away after a lengthy illness on Thursday as the No. 5 Tigers were preparing to open a three-game series at No. 9 Oklahoma. With Nate calling the pitches, five LSU pitchers allowed zero earned runs in 27 innings through 96 at-bats in a 2-0, 10-2 and 3-2 sweep of beauty.
“I’m really proud of him,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said of Yeskie, who is in his second season as Johnson’s pitching coach with the Tigers and was previously under Johnson in 2020 and ’21 at Arizona.
“This has been going on for a while,” Johnson said of Yeskie’s father’s illness. “But he just has kept his head down, kept working, is always prepared. Then does a masterful performance, given the circumstances on Thursday night. Did a great job on Friday and Saturday. It’s not an accident.”
According to Todd Politz, general social media content manager in LSU’s athletic department and a LSU baseball historian, LSU pitching not allowing an earned run in a three-game SEC series has not happened going as far back as 1992. It happened over three-game stretches in 2013, but non-conference teams were involved.
In three games, Oklahoma hit .156 with 15 hits, 12 walks and 35 strikeouts. It was also LSU’s first road, three-game sweep of a top 10 SEC team since the 1997 national championship season when the No. 1 Tigers took three at No. 7 Tennessee.
Sophomore left-hander Kade Anderson threw a career-high nine innings in the opener, striking out a career high 14 in 135 pitches with 91 strikes and retired the last 12 he faced to go to 6-0. He allowed five hits with two walks. That was the first complete-game shutout by an LSU pitcher since AJ Labas against Lamar in 2018.
Then Anthony Eyanson allowed three hits and two unearned runs with eight strikeouts and four walks through five and two-thirds innings in a 10-2 win to go to 5-0. Casan Evans struck out five with no walks or runs and gave up two hits in three and a third innings for his sixth save.
In a 3-2 win on Saturday, Chase Shores allowed one unearned run, three hits and four walks while striking out four in five innings to to to 5-1. Zac Cowan gave up two hits and one unearned run in four innings with four strikeouts and two walks to earn his fourth save.
“It’s not an accident,” Johnson said. “You’re seeing guys get better. There’s a completeness of what he brings to the table – a care level of competing and winning and helping guys be their best.”
LSU (30-3, 10-2 SEC), which jumped to No. 3 in the polls Monday, will play at Nicholls State (12-20, 6-1 Southland Conference) Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., and Yeskie will be out there. Services for his father are upcoming, but he isn’t expected to miss any games. The Tigers are at Auburn this Friday through Sunday.
“His dad was a great man,” Johnson said.
Yeskie’s father and grandfather Bob Yeskie, who died in 2023, are both in the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Hall of Fame.
“Knowing his background, he was a great pitcher himself,” Johnson said.
GAVIN GUIDRY UPDATE
The return of injured junior reliever Gavin Guidry is getting closer. He still has a chance to pitch this weekend at Auburn as Johnson said last week. One of LSU’s top pitchers the previous two seasons, Guidry has missed all of this season with a back injury.
“I am very hopeful that we will be able to use him this weekend,” Johnson said. “I can’t answer that (for sure) probably until Thursday. He did travel (to Oklahoma). He’s been great in the dugout. Stands next to me. Proud how he has stayed engaged.”
It is a step-by-step process.
“He has to hit the benchmarks to go to the next step,” Johnson said. “I want to pitch him badly, but I’m not going to put him in a position where we go out one time, and go backwards, especially now. We have to really monitor that.”
Should Guidry not be able to return soon, LSU may consider a red-shirt season.
“We’re trying to get him back this season,” Johnson said. “If it comes to a point where that’s what we need to look at, then we’ll do that. There’s a balance of doing right by the player, doing what’s best for the program.”
Guidry was 2-0 with a 2.59 earned run average with four saves in 22 relief appearances last season. In the 2023 national championship season as a freshman out of Barbe High in Lake Charles, he was 3-0 with a 3.77 ERA with three saves as a reliever in 23 of 24 games.
Be the first to comment