LSU baseball: Tigers sweep opening series behind another strong pitching performance – SECcountry.com

BATON ROUGE, La. — For the LSU baseball team, Sunday afternoon began with a wild sense of deja vu, turned to a brief panic, then settled into a nice comfort zone.

One day after Jared Poché wowed the college baseball world with a no-hitter, the LSU baseball team returned to Alex Box Field Sunday and completed a season-opening sweep over service academy opponents Army and Air Force with a 10-3 win.

Freshman Eric Walker made the most of the first start of his college career, allowing one earned run and striking out six in five innings. Walker set the Air Force lineup down in order in four of his five innings, including a perfect nine-up, nine-down start to the game just like Poché had Saturday.

After Walker allowed two runs in the fourth (one earned), junior right fielder Greg Deichmann evened the score with his second home run of the weekend. Deichmann’s blast went 373 feet and left the bat at 114 mph according to data director of LSU baseball operations Nate Fury. Later in the same inning, freshman third baseman Josh Smith gave LSU the lead with a three-run home run of his own, plating Jake Slaughter and Michael Papierski.

Starter’s spotlight

After Poché’s no-hitter and Alex Lange’s season-opening shutout, Walker had high standards to live up to, especially for a college debut.

But the youngster stepped up and performed about as well as anyone could’ve asked. In setting down Air Force’s first nine batters, Walker recorded five strikeouts, three of which looking. In total, Walker faced 18 batters and allowed just one-third of them to knock the ball out of the infield.

But perhaps more impressively was how Walker held himself when he faced adversity. In the fourth inning, Walker pounded the zone with strikes despite having two men on base and, had it not been for hitters fouling pitches off and an error from his third baseman, he would’ve worked out of the frame without a run scoring.

Regardless of the runs he allowed, Walker showed why Mainieri named his as LSU’s third starter prior to the season beginning. His command looked strong Sunday and he was able to tie batters up with it, especially on the corners in two-strike counts.

If Sunday was just the beginning for Walker, expect him to grow into more than just a solid third option for LSU by the time SEC play begins.

Hot and Cole

Pitching was the dominant theme opening weekend, but leadoff hitter Cole Freeman showed his value as well.

Freeman batted 6-for-10 with two doubles and three RBI this weekend, including a 2-for-3 Sunday where he doubled, walked and score one run. Along with senior shortstop Kramer Robertson and freshman first baseman Jake Slaughter, Freeman is one of three LSU players who hit .500 or better this weekend.

Contact is king

Between three games this weekend, LSU batters struck out just six times, putting the ball in play at an exceptional rate.

The Tigers’ walk-to-strikeout ratio offensively is 11:6 showing off the team’s absurd patience and selectivity. By contrast, Tigers pitchers struck out 22 batters and walked four.

What’s next for LSU baseball?

After three games in two days, the Tigers have Monday off before heading down to New Orleans to face off against UNO Tuesday night. One day later, LSU returns to Alex Box to host Hofstra. Caleb Gilbert and Zack Hess are respectively expected to start those two games. Both Gilbert and Hess pitched one inning this weekend, allowing one combined run.