LSU’s pitching situation for Monday’s game vs. North Carolina
In LSU’s downtime at the hotel in Chapel Hill, Blackjack has become a fun pastime for the players among themselves. After the Tigers’ win against North Carolina on Sunday night, Josh Pearson talked about just needing one chip to have a chance and go on a run as a metaphor for this team’s success.
After a season where the Tigers had their backs against the wall for the past two months, they’ve now successfully rebuilt their belief and are all-in heading into Monday’s deciding game seven.
With back-to-back strong outings on the mound from Griffin Herring and Thatcher Hurd on Sunday, the Tigers will face North Carolina in a win-or-go home deciding game on Monday at 5 p.m. CT to advance to the Super Regionals.
“I think they believe in themselves at a high level,” Johnson said. “Playing as well as we have for the past month and a half, they should believe in themselves. As I said last night after a tough loss, today was going to be our best day. We’re going to put everything in the middle and go for it and these guys did that. In this tournament, you have to have great individual performances to win and we got that today.”
After playing four games in three days, LSU enters this final game without Gage Jump, Luke Holman, Griffin Herring, Thatcher Hurd, likely Kade Anderson who totaled 46 pitches in his two separate outings on Sunday, and maybe Gavin Guidry who threw 40 pitches late Sunday night to seal the win. Christian Little is also out, missing the regional with an injury.
What are LSU’s options?
The widespread assumption is that Javen Coleman will get the start for LSU. Coleman has started seven games this year with four appearances in relief, putting him at 24.2 innings pitched this season. In those innings, Coleman has a 3-1 record, with a 5.47 ERA, 27 strikeouts, 19 walks, and four home runs allowed.
After Coleman, LSU could bring back in Nate Ackenhausen who started the game against Wofford on Saturday, but was pulled in the first inning after just 27 pitches. Maybe he can find his stuff for a couple of innings.
Sam Dutton has made 19 appearances for LSU this season and has a 5.2 ERA with 29 strikeouts to just six walks, making him also a viable option for Jay Johnson.
Justin Loer, Will Hellmers, and Aidan Moffett all made appearances late in the first game against the Tar Heels, but none threw more than eight pitches in that loss. Still, they will be available.
One X-Factor is Fidel Ulloa, who threw 22 pitches against North Carolina on Sunday. Ulloa is someone Johnson has a ton of faith in to deliver in big spots in relief. Ullua has 19 appearances and 23.1 innings pitches with 26 strikeouts to 11 walks this year and a 4.63 ERA.
Johnson knows he will need to piece together this game and it’s all hands on deck, but he remains poised and optimistic.
When asked about his pitching situation heading into Monday’s game, Johnson didn’t give an extensive breakdown of the availability of his players. Instead, he used just seven words to deliver the message.
“Chip and a chair. Deal the cards.”
The post LSU’s pitching situation for Monday’s game vs. North Carolina appeared first on On3.
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