By JAMES MORAN | Tiger Rag Associate Editor
If LSU is going to win the Southeastern Conference Tournament this weekend in Hoover, at some point it’s going to need to win a game not pitched by one of its three weekend starters.
With that in mind, LSU coach Paul Mainieri has decided it might as well be the first one.
Freshman Todd Peterson will start LSU’s SEC Tournament opener Wednesday afternoon, Mainieri announced Monday shortly before the team departed for Hoover. He’ll take on the winner of Tuesday’s single-elimination game between Texas A&M and Missouri.
Ace Alex Lange will then pitch the proverbial ‘marbles’ game Thursday, with either a bye or elimination on the line, depending on Wednesday’s result. Jared Poche’ and Eric Walker will slot in after that depending on how things break.
“This decision is not so tough,” Mainieri said. “If we want to win the tournament, which we’re going to strive to do, at some point somebody not named Lange, Poche’ or Walker is going to have to have to win a game for us. So let’s see if we can do it in the beginning.”
The bigger picture, the coach said, is keeping Lange on a six-day’s rest. LSU has ridden its ace awfully hard of late, and Mainieri didn’t want to bring him back too soon after throwing 125 pitches in Starkville last Thursday night.
The coach ceded that he would’ve faced a much tougher decision had LSU would up in a single-elimination game.
Instead he’ll risk Poche’ and Walker not pitching in the event LSU goes two-and-out, an event that would imperil the national seed LSU has positioned itself to earn after claiming a share of the regular-season SEC Championship.
“I’m going to prepare like I’m pitching Friday,” Poche’ said. “But hopefully I’ll pitch Saturday. That’ll mean we won the first two games, and that’s two more wins for our résumé.”
The chance to start LSU’s postseason opener represents a major opportunity for Peterson. He impressed in his de facto audition to be groomed as LSU’s fourth starter last Tuesday, working five innings of one-run ball to pick up a victory against Northwestern State.
Peterson emerged early this season as a potential late-inning reliever for the Tigers but fell out of form for much of SEC play. His success last Tuesday was the result of two factors, he said: better fastball command and a put-away curveball that produced most of his six strikeouts.
“He came out and threw really well,” catcher Mike Papierski said. “He came out and showed Coach that he has potential on the mound. Obviously we know that because early in the season he threw well. Then he went down a little bit but he’s going to go out there and compete his butt off.”
Mainieri didn’t tip his hand much as to what kind of a pitch count Peterson will be on. He was pulled after 59 pitches in his last start and wouldn’t have been permitted to go beyond 60.
As for the other three starters, Mainieri will be care of not overtaxing them before the NCAA Tournament starts next weekend. Aside from that, he said, LSU’s “total focus” is on winning another championship this weekend.
“I’m going to watch the pitch counts pretty carefully and make sure we don’t stress our pitchers too much,” he said. “But outside of that, we’re going to do whatever it takes to try to win out there in Hoover.”
ALL-SEC TEAMS ANNOUNCED
A handful of Tigers were named to the various All-SEC teams, the league office announced Monday.
Lange and right fielder Greg Deichmann were named First Team All-SEC by the league coaches. Shortstop Kramer Robertson was named to the second team.
Papierski and third baseman Josh Smith were named to the SEC All-Defense Team while Smith, Walker and center fielder Zach Watson were named to the All-Freshman squad.
The complete 2017 SEC Baseball Awards are as follows:
First-Team All-SEC
C: Grant Koch, Arkansas
1B: Brent Rooker, Mississippi State
2B: Braden Shewmake, Texas A&M
3B: Jordan Rodgers, Tennessee
SS: Ryan Gridley, Mississippi State
OF: Greg Deichmann, LSU
OF: Tristan Pompey, Kentucky
OF: Jeren Kendall, Vanderbilt
DH/UT: Michael Curry, Georgia
SP: Kyle Wright, Vanderbilt
*SP: Sean Hjelle, Kentucky
*SP: Alex Lange, LSU
RP: Logan Salow, Kentucky
Second-Team All-SEC Team
C: Troy Squires, Kentucky
1B: Evan White, Kentucky
2B: Riley Mahan, Kentucky
3B: Colby Bortles, Ole Miss
*SS: Kramer Robertson, LSU
*SS: Jax Biggers, Arkansas
OF: Jonah Todd, Auburn
OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State
OF: Chandler Taylor, Alabama
DH/UT: JJ Schwarz, Florida
SP: Alex Faedo, Florida
SP: Brady Singer, Florida
RP: Michael Byrne, Florida
Freshman All-SEC Team
C: Hunter Coleman, Texas A&M
1B: Andre Lipcius, Tennessee
2B: Braden Shewmake, Texas A&M
3B: Josh Smith, LSU
SS: Cam Shepherd, Georgia
OF: Carlos Cortes, South Carolina
OF: Zach Watson, LSU
OF: Dominic Fletcher, Arkansas
DH/UT: Logan Foster, Texas A&M
SP: Ryan Rolison, Ole Miss
SP: Eric Walker, LSU
RP: T.J. Sikkema, Missouri
SEC All-Defensive Team
C: Michael Papierski, LSU
1B: Evan White, Kentucky
2B: Deacon Liput, Florida
3B: Josh Smith, LSU
SS: Dalton Guthrie, Florida
OF: Jeren Kendall, Vanderbilt
OF: Jonah Todd, Auburn
OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State
P: Brigham Hill, Texas A&M
Player of the Year: Brent Rooker, Mississippi State
Pitcher of the Year: Sean Hjelle, Kentucky
Freshman of the Year: Braden Shewmake, Texas A&M
Coach of the Year: Nick Mingione, Kentucky
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Zach Logue, Kentucky
TWO TAKE HOME WEEKLY HONORS
A pair of Tigers took home weekly league honors after LSU finished off the regular season with a perfect 4-0 week.
Robertson was named the SEC Player of the Week after the senior hit 526 (10-for-19) two doubles, one triple, one homer, three RBI, eight runs and a .591 on- base percentage.
Freshman reliever Zack Hess was voted SEC Co-Freshmen of the Week, sharing the honor with T.J. Sikkema of Missouri. He made two appearances in LSU’s three-game sweep, working a combined 4.2 shutout innings with two hits, one walk and eight strikeouts. He also picked up his first career save.
LSU IN THE POLLS
The Tigers moved up in all four major polls to finish the regular season within the top eight in every poll, an indication of the position to club has put itself in to earn a sixth consecutive national seed. Here’s where LSU stands: (Previous week’s ranking)
D1 Baseball 7 (10)
Baseball America 8 (10)
Perfect Game 7 (8)
College Baseball Newspaper 3 (5)
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