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Off The Bat: LSU Recaptures Momentum

SEE ALSO: Top 25

In Off The Bat, Teddy Cahill wraps up the weekend in college baseball and looks ahead.

After losing 9-3 on Friday at Arkansas, its fifth loss in its last seven Southeastern Conference games, Louisiana State found itself down seven runs after six innings Saturday. The Tigers were nine outs away from losing their third straight conference series, a loss that would have dropped them further behind the Razorbacks in the West Division standings.

But LSU, an experienced, veteran team that has been through the SEC gauntlet before, wasn’t panicked. Coach Paul Mainieri said the Tigers never lost their belief.

“Honestly, the enthusiasm and energy, it was there the whole night,” he said. “Then, all of a sudden, good things started to happen.”

LSU got a run in the seventh and three in the eighth, including a two-run home run from outfielder Greg Deichmann, his 10th of the year. That set the stage for a five-run ninth inning to complete a stunning comeback and send the Tigers to a 10-8 victory. LSU returned Sunday and, led by freshman righthander Eric Walker, claimed the series with a 2-0 victory.

When the dust settled on a wild weekend at Baum Stadium, LSU (21-11, 7-5) sits a game behind the trio of Arkansas, Auburn and Mississippi State in the division and climbed back into the top 10 at No. 9. Arkansas (25-8, 8-4) fell to No. 19.

“For I don’t know, 14-15 innings, Arkansas was putting it to us pretty well,” Mainieri said. “They pretty much dominated the series.

“Baseball is so unpredictable. Here we come back from a huge deficit one day and pitch a shutout the next and get the series win. We’ll take it.”

It was a stunning turnaround. Saturday was LSU’s largest comeback on the road since 1999 and was reminiscent of the Tigers’ eight-run comeback last year at home against Arkansas, the game that spawned the legend of the “Rally Possum.”
While there was no marsupial to credit with sparking the comeback this year, LSU players and fans were still happy to take the opportunity to welcome back last year’s mascot.

“Whatever it takes for our fans and our players to believe, I’m all for it” Mainieri said with a laugh. “If they think there’s some power in the possum, than good for them.”

Sunday’s victory was all about Walker (4-0, 2.45). The freshman held Arkansas, which leads the SEC in home runs, to four hits and two walks and struck out four batters. He threw 119 pitches.

Pitching in the rotation behind Alex Lange and Jared Poche’, it is easy for Walker to get overlooked. But he has now thrown 16 straight scoreless innings after shutting out Texas A&M for seven innings last week. Walker doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but locates his three-pitch mix well.

“He’s got outstanding control,” Mainieri said. “He’s making big pitches when he needs to.”

LSU will look to ride its momentum into another tough week. It takes on Louisiana-Lafayette in the Wally Pontiff Jr. Classic on Tuesday in New Orleans and hosts Mississippi this weekend. A trip to No. 15 Kentucky is on tap next week.

“We’re just going to keep plugging away and keep playing,” Mainieri said. “We have to keep getting better. There are a lot of areas we can get better in, and hopefully we can. You don’t have a lot of time to pout about losses in this league and you don’t have a lot of time to celebrate wins, either.”

North Carolina State Captures Critical Series Win

RALEIGH, N.C.—No team wants to make too much of a series in early April, but after beating Florida State, 8-4, on Sunday to clinch an Atlantic Coast Conference series win, North Carolina State coach Elliott Avent conceded it was a series the Wolfpack needed.

North Carolina State had come into the weekend at 16-14 and 5-7 in the ACC with an RPI that had dipped into the 60s. It had won just one of its first four conference series and was in danger of falling out of the middle of the ACC pack.

North Carolina State (18-15, 7-8) lost the first game of the series, 16-7, but bounced back to win the next two games. The Wolfpack won, 4-3, on Saturday, becoming the first team this season to beat lefthander Tyler Holton (4-1, 2.47). On Sunday, they jumped out to a four-run lead in the first and made it hold up for an 8-4 victory.

“After you get beat 16-7 on Friday night, basically boat-raced, and come back and win these two games,” Avent said, “there are a lot of positive things going on with this team.”

Among the positives is the emergence of freshman righthander Michael Bienlien (2-1, 4.19) as N.C. State’s Sunday starter. He held Florida State to two runs on three hits and two walks in six innings, turning in his second straight quality start.

Bienlien relied on his low-90s sinker Sunday and created lots of soft contact. He said he tried to stay within himself against the Seminoles.

“I just wanted to give us a chance to win the game after I left the game,” he said. “I did that and it ended up turning out well for us.”

The series loss leaves Florida State (21-13, 7-8) mired in a funk. The Seminoles, who entered the year ranked No. 2, have lost three of their last four ACC series and fell out of the Top 25 for the first time since April 13, 2009.

Florida State has been beset by injuries, preventing it from keeping its lineup intact. The Seminoles lost outfielder Jackson Lueck this week with what is believed to be a case of shingles. Third baseman Dylan Busby, who has had injury trouble already this season, left Sunday’s game with a back injury.

Florida State has little time to correct its issues. It hosts No. 16 Florida on Tuesday and No. 5 Clemson this weekend. A rivalry series at Miami and a home weekend against No. 14 Virginia are on the horizon.

As the season heads into its second half, coach Mike Martin said the Seminoles have to keep fighting.

“I think the main thing is just keep your head up and keep fighting,” Martin said. “Just keep your head up and keep battling.”

Missouri State Takes Control In MVC

Missouri State and Dallas Baptist have combined to win the last three Missouri Valley Conference titles and came into this season again as the favorites. Both teams have lived up that billing this spring and entered this weekend’s showdown in Springfield, Mo., with identical 18-10, 3-0 records.

Missouri State grabbed the upper hand this weekend with a series sweep. The Bears (21-10) capped the weekend with a 7-3 victory Sunday and have won their first six conference games for the first time since 2001.

Coach Keith Guttin said he was most pleased with the way Missouri State played against DBU.

“You’re always happy when you win, but I thought we played very well,” he said. “I think that’s the best we’ve played. That was the most encouraging part. We’ve been a little inconsistent offensively and I thought we were better this weekend.”

Missouri State scored 23 runs in the series and is now averaging 8.33 runs per game in MVC play. The Bears have a strong offensive core made up of first-team Preseason All-American third baseman Jake Burger (.370/.469/.739, 12 HR), shortstop Jeremy Eierman (.331/.430/.694, 12 HR) and first baseman Justin Paulsen (.367/.454/.542).

Paulsen hit three home runs against DBU after entering the series with one homer. Eierman homered twice and Burger added one. The trio combined to go 11-for-26 with 12 RBIs in the series.

“Those are our experienced guys, our leaders, our proven hitters,” Guttin said. “When those guys perform and you add what you get after that from Aaron Meyer and Hunter Steinmetz, it makes for a tough lineup to pitch against.”

Missouri State, at the suggestion of hitting coach Nate Thompson, made a change to the lineup a couple weeks ago to make it even tougher, moving Paulsen from the cleanup spot to the two-hole. With Paulsen often getting on base ahead of Burger and Eierman protecting him in the cleanup spot, Guttin said Burger is seeing more pitches to hit. The junior has been disciplined when teams try to pitch around him (21 walks to 15 strikeouts), but the more opportunities he has to do damage, the better for the Bears.

“He’s been patient, he’s done a good job,” Guttin said. “With Paulsen in front and Eierman behind him, he’s in a place where he’s going to get more pitches. He has to.”

After two weeks of conference play, Missouri State already has a two-game lead in the MVC and has sweeps against DBU and Bradley, the only other teams in the league with top 100 RPIs. The Bears own RPI has risen to No. 23, according to WarrenNolan.com, positioning them well for a return to the NCAA tournament.

But Guttin knows there is still a lot of baseball left to be played. He said the key to maintaining the hot start in the second half of the season will be to stay healthy.

“We’ve got to keep our arms healthy,” he said. “We really need some people who didn’t pitch as much in the first half to step up.”

Eight for Omaha

Cal State Fullerton, Clemson, Florida, Louisville, North Carolina, Oregon State, Texas Christian, Texas Tech

Last week I opted to keep South Carolina in the field after a heartbreaking SEC series loss at Auburn. This week, after another series loss marred by the continuing struggles of the Gamecocks’ bullpen, I dropped South Carolina. Closer Tyler Johnson is still expected back soon, but it is concerning that the Gamecocks have been without him nearly the whole season and still haven’t been able to identify another trustworthy arm at the back of the bullpen. Clemson moves into the field for the first time this season. The Tigers’ offense may not be quite as powerful as expected, but they have more than made up for that on the mound and look like one of the elite teams in the ACC. Florida remains in the field after a stunning home loss to Tennessee. At this point it is probably unrealistic to think the Gators’ offense will become an elite unit, but their rotation is still good enough to carry them through the first two weekends of the NCAA tournament.

Eye-Catchers

Five players or programs who stood out this weekend

Buffalo: The Bulls started the week receiving the awful news that the program will be eliminated following this season. But Buffalo was able to bounce back and win a series against Northern Illinois this weekend. The Bulls (10-17, 3-3) won Saturday’s home opener, 6-3, and won the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader, 3-1, to clinch the series and move into second place in the Mid-American Conference East Division.

Logan Gilbert, rhp, Stetson: In Sunday’s series finale against then-No. 18 Florida Gulf Coast, Gilbert struck out 18 batters and carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning. The Eagles got two hits in the ninth, including a leadoff hitter, but Gilbert escaped the jam and the Hatters hung on for a 1-0 victory to claim the series.

Andrew Kendrick, 1b, Youngstown State: Kendrick hit two home runs in Youngstown State’s 5-2 victory against Wright State in the second game of a doubleheader Sunday. The junior has now hit 13 home runs this season, breaking the program record just 28 games into the season.

Brent Rooker, 1b, Mississippi State: The hottest hitter in the country, Rooker had a sensational week. In five games against Florida International and Kentucky, the redshirt junior hit .625/.750/.1.813 with six home runs. He hit three homers in Saturday’s 10-6 victory against the Wildcats, including a mammoth grand slam. Rooker is hitting .448/.548/1.008 with 15 home runs and 14 RBIs and leads the SEC triple crown race.

Tennessee-Martin: The Skyhawks went into the weekend at 1-11 in the Ohio Valley Conference with the difficult assignment of Morehead State, which was 8-1 in the conference. Tennessee-Martin (11-16) swept the series, finishing the weekend with an 18-6 rout. It was the Skyhawks’ first sweep in conference play since 2011.

Looking Ahead
Three weekend series we’re most excited for

(11) Oklahoma at (23) Michigan: Both the Sooners (27-8) and the Wolverines (25-7) step out of conference play for an intriguing showdown in Ann Arbor, Mich. Oklahoma is coming off a series loss to Texas in the Red River Rivalry, and will be looking to get back on track. Michigan has won back-to-back Big Ten Conference series and will have a chance this weekend to add a marquee series victory to its resume.

(13) Mississippi State at (17) South Carolina: Powered by Rooker, the Bulldogs (22-12) have won three straight SEC series since getting swept at Arkansas on the first weekend of conference play. The Gamecocks (21-10) are coming off back-to-back series losses, and will be eager to get back on track.

(22) Oregon at (7) Arizona: The Ducks will have their hands full, as Wildcats (23-8) lead the country in scoring at 9.1 runs per game and have the nation’s longest home winning streak, a 19-game streak that dates back to last season. Oregon (21-8) is strong on the mound, and will have to be again this weekend to slow down Arizona.

Two weekend series you shouldn’t overlook

Coastal Carolina at South Alabama: After playing Louisiana-Lafayette, the Sun Belt Conference’s West Division leader, to a draw over the weekend (the teams split the first two games and tied in the finale), Coastal (20-11-1) travels to South Alabama (19-13), its chief competitor in the East Division. The Chanticleers trail the Panthers by a half game in the standings, raising this weekend’s stakes.

Missouri State at New Mexico: The leaders of the Missouri Valley (Missouri State) and Mountain West Conference (New Mexico) come together for a nonconference showdown. Both the Bears (21-10) and the Lobos (18-12-1) rank in the top 40 in RPI, giving both teams a chance to bolster their at-large resumes.

One midweek game to keep an eye on

(4) North Carolina vs. (17) South Carolina in Charlotte, Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET: For the second year in a row, the Tar Heels (26-6) and Gamecocks will play a midweek game in Charlotte’s BB&T Ballpark. North Carolina won this rivalry showdown last season and will bring an eight-game winning streak into the game.

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