This one I believe was requested, so it must be done.
Kentucky heads to the bayou this weekend for a three game set against the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge, Lousiana. This will be no easy task as LSU looks to be one of the best, if not the best, team in the country. LSU is 27-5, but league play hasn't been overly kind to them as they're just 7-4 to start SEC play. LSU has won every series, but they've dropped one game in each of the weekends during league play, and game 3 against South Carolina was canceled, which is why they've got 11 games instead of 12. That being said, they've faced quite a gauntlet in league play so far with TAMU. Arkansas, Tennessee and South Carolina. This will be their fourth weekend in a row facing a top 12 opponent.
LSU plays in Alex Box stadiums, which is one of the biggest and rowdiest college football stadiums in the entire country. Seating 10,326 cajuns, it is a natural surface. They actually broke their attendance record just a few weeks ago against Tennessee with 13,068 fans in attendance, and it wouldn't surprise me to see similar numbers this weekend against a good Kentucky squad. The stadium goes 330 down each line, 365 in the power alleys, 405 to straight away center.
Jay Johnson is the head man in Baton Rouge and he is in his second season with the Tigers. He came to LSU by way of Arizona where he took the Wildcats to the CWS twice. Last year he got the Tigers a 40 win season, but failed to make it out of the Hattiesburg (Southern Miss) regional as the 2 seed. To show you the power of LSU baseball, they went and hired Wes Johnson (no relation) from the Minnesota Twins in June of 2022 to be their pitching coach. I don't know many programs that would be able to steal a Big Leauge pitching coach, but LSU pulled it off. They also brought in Josh Johnson in 2022 to be third base coach, to recruit and work with Catchers and and first basemen. He was at Duke prior and really helped to build that program to a fairly successful one. Mark Wanaka, who reminds me a touch of Jared Lorenzen, was brought with Johnson from Nevada and Arizona.
As usual we start with the hitting and LSU has it in spades. They have the second best batting average in the entire country at .333, behind only Virginia hitting .336. They are also 11th in the country in home runs, and tied for 2nd most doubles in the SEC with 70 and third most triples with 10 (UK also has 10). They also lead the country in on base percentage, so they are also taking walks at a pretty high clip. They also get hit a lot with pitches, they are ranked 11th in the country in that category (UK is tied for 6th), they have 70 and we have 72 HBPs.
The offense starts with Dylan Crews. Junior centerfielder Crews leads the nation in batting average and it isn't close. He's hitting .505 on the season. When you talk about video game numbers, this is it. The next closest guy in the country is still 29 points behind him. Crews will hit third in the lineup and he's not shy on power with 9 home runs this year to go with 11 doubles. He's walked 33 times to 16 strikeouts and he's 3 for 3 on stolen bases. UK has been real careful with certain hitters lately and it might not surprise me to see them walk Crews every chance possible. Gavin Dugas will lead off for the Tigers and play second base. Dugas is hitting .347 on the season and has 10 home runs to his name along with 6 doubles. Not a stolen base threat, which this LSU isn't across the board with just 19 bags attempted all year. Tre' Morgan will hit in the two hole. Morgan is a junior and many might remember him playing first base last year, he will still do that some this season, but it seems like he's found a bit of a home in left field. Morgan is hitting .330 on the season and has 8 doubles, 3 triples and 2 home runs. Tommy White transferred to LSU in the off season from NC State. As many might recall, White turned the college baseball world on its head a year ago with his power as he had 27 home runs a year ago and was an All ACC First Teamer and ACC Freshman of the year. White will hit in the 4 spot and play third and he's done well again this season going .364 with 11 doubles andd 11 home runs. He doesn't walk much with just 8 on the year, but he's also only struck out 13 times. Home run numbers aren't as video game like as a year ago, but he's still a stud that can burn you at any time. Cade Beloso seems to be settling into the 5 hole and at DH. Beloso is coming off a 2022 injury and has only started 11 games this season, but he's hitting .420 with 3 doubles and 4 home runs in just 50 at bats, the slugging percentage is .720 and he has 7 walks to just 6 strikeouts. Jared Jones will hit in the 6 hole and play first base primarily. Jones is second on the team in batting average at .368 and has 9 home runs and 9 doubles to go along with a pair of stolen bases. He is a strikeout liabiltiy with 39 on the season to just 15 walks. He has 16 percent of the team's strikeouts, so it seems like some feast or famine in the 6 hole. The bottom of the lineup is a bit of a mixed bag, in large part because LSU is struggling to find who they want to play right field on a regular basis. Brayden Jobert has played there and started 17 games and is hitting .296 in 71 at bats with 3 doubles, a triple and 5 home runs. However, he's struck out 20 times and walked just 9. Josh Pearson has also manned the right field corner and started 14 games with 58 at bats, but he's struggled hitting just .224with 3 doubles and a triple. However, he's walked 11 times to 12 strikeouts, so he seems more patient. Paxton King has also played there and started 19 games with 68 at bats and he's hitting .324 with 4 doubles, 2 triples, and 3 home runs to go with a pair of swiped bags. He took has strikeout troubles with 19 to 7 walks. Some others could possibly play there, but in the three games I focused on it was these three and depending on who plays, it seems to shake up the bottom of the lineup. We know for sure that Jordan Thompson will be near the bottom of the lineup and will be playing short stop. Thompson is hitting .305 with 7 doubles, a triple, and 5 home runs and is 4 of 6 on stolen bases. He has troubles with strikeouts with 25 to 15 walks. Likely hitting last will be Brady Neal who plays backstop for LSU and is hitting .209 with a double, a triple, and 3 home runs. He has done well with a .411 OBP despite hitting poorly.
LSU will also use a few substitutes at catcher including Hayden Tavinski who has yet to start a game and has played in 11 but in 8 ABs he's hitting .500 and has a double. I only expect to see him in a blowout type game. Alex Milazzo is the other one who has started 6 games and is hitting .375 with a double. Ben Nippolt seems to b ea guy they will also start and can play some third base, he's hitting just .194 in 12 starts and 36 at bats with one double.
Clearly, this team rakes and UK pitchers will have to bring their A+ game to every at bat or LSU will make us pay. They are patient, don't have a huge number of strikeouts and they absolutely mash when pitchers make mistakes.
Kentucky heads to the bayou this weekend for a three game set against the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge, Lousiana. This will be no easy task as LSU looks to be one of the best, if not the best, team in the country. LSU is 27-5, but league play hasn't been overly kind to them as they're just 7-4 to start SEC play. LSU has won every series, but they've dropped one game in each of the weekends during league play, and game 3 against South Carolina was canceled, which is why they've got 11 games instead of 12. That being said, they've faced quite a gauntlet in league play so far with TAMU. Arkansas, Tennessee and South Carolina. This will be their fourth weekend in a row facing a top 12 opponent.
LSU plays in Alex Box stadiums, which is one of the biggest and rowdiest college football stadiums in the entire country. Seating 10,326 cajuns, it is a natural surface. They actually broke their attendance record just a few weeks ago against Tennessee with 13,068 fans in attendance, and it wouldn't surprise me to see similar numbers this weekend against a good Kentucky squad. The stadium goes 330 down each line, 365 in the power alleys, 405 to straight away center.
Jay Johnson is the head man in Baton Rouge and he is in his second season with the Tigers. He came to LSU by way of Arizona where he took the Wildcats to the CWS twice. Last year he got the Tigers a 40 win season, but failed to make it out of the Hattiesburg (Southern Miss) regional as the 2 seed. To show you the power of LSU baseball, they went and hired Wes Johnson (no relation) from the Minnesota Twins in June of 2022 to be their pitching coach. I don't know many programs that would be able to steal a Big Leauge pitching coach, but LSU pulled it off. They also brought in Josh Johnson in 2022 to be third base coach, to recruit and work with Catchers and and first basemen. He was at Duke prior and really helped to build that program to a fairly successful one. Mark Wanaka, who reminds me a touch of Jared Lorenzen, was brought with Johnson from Nevada and Arizona.
As usual we start with the hitting and LSU has it in spades. They have the second best batting average in the entire country at .333, behind only Virginia hitting .336. They are also 11th in the country in home runs, and tied for 2nd most doubles in the SEC with 70 and third most triples with 10 (UK also has 10). They also lead the country in on base percentage, so they are also taking walks at a pretty high clip. They also get hit a lot with pitches, they are ranked 11th in the country in that category (UK is tied for 6th), they have 70 and we have 72 HBPs.
The offense starts with Dylan Crews. Junior centerfielder Crews leads the nation in batting average and it isn't close. He's hitting .505 on the season. When you talk about video game numbers, this is it. The next closest guy in the country is still 29 points behind him. Crews will hit third in the lineup and he's not shy on power with 9 home runs this year to go with 11 doubles. He's walked 33 times to 16 strikeouts and he's 3 for 3 on stolen bases. UK has been real careful with certain hitters lately and it might not surprise me to see them walk Crews every chance possible. Gavin Dugas will lead off for the Tigers and play second base. Dugas is hitting .347 on the season and has 10 home runs to his name along with 6 doubles. Not a stolen base threat, which this LSU isn't across the board with just 19 bags attempted all year. Tre' Morgan will hit in the two hole. Morgan is a junior and many might remember him playing first base last year, he will still do that some this season, but it seems like he's found a bit of a home in left field. Morgan is hitting .330 on the season and has 8 doubles, 3 triples and 2 home runs. Tommy White transferred to LSU in the off season from NC State. As many might recall, White turned the college baseball world on its head a year ago with his power as he had 27 home runs a year ago and was an All ACC First Teamer and ACC Freshman of the year. White will hit in the 4 spot and play third and he's done well again this season going .364 with 11 doubles andd 11 home runs. He doesn't walk much with just 8 on the year, but he's also only struck out 13 times. Home run numbers aren't as video game like as a year ago, but he's still a stud that can burn you at any time. Cade Beloso seems to be settling into the 5 hole and at DH. Beloso is coming off a 2022 injury and has only started 11 games this season, but he's hitting .420 with 3 doubles and 4 home runs in just 50 at bats, the slugging percentage is .720 and he has 7 walks to just 6 strikeouts. Jared Jones will hit in the 6 hole and play first base primarily. Jones is second on the team in batting average at .368 and has 9 home runs and 9 doubles to go along with a pair of stolen bases. He is a strikeout liabiltiy with 39 on the season to just 15 walks. He has 16 percent of the team's strikeouts, so it seems like some feast or famine in the 6 hole. The bottom of the lineup is a bit of a mixed bag, in large part because LSU is struggling to find who they want to play right field on a regular basis. Brayden Jobert has played there and started 17 games and is hitting .296 in 71 at bats with 3 doubles, a triple and 5 home runs. However, he's struck out 20 times and walked just 9. Josh Pearson has also manned the right field corner and started 14 games with 58 at bats, but he's struggled hitting just .224with 3 doubles and a triple. However, he's walked 11 times to 12 strikeouts, so he seems more patient. Paxton King has also played there and started 19 games with 68 at bats and he's hitting .324 with 4 doubles, 2 triples, and 3 home runs to go with a pair of swiped bags. He took has strikeout troubles with 19 to 7 walks. Some others could possibly play there, but in the three games I focused on it was these three and depending on who plays, it seems to shake up the bottom of the lineup. We know for sure that Jordan Thompson will be near the bottom of the lineup and will be playing short stop. Thompson is hitting .305 with 7 doubles, a triple, and 5 home runs and is 4 of 6 on stolen bases. He has troubles with strikeouts with 25 to 15 walks. Likely hitting last will be Brady Neal who plays backstop for LSU and is hitting .209 with a double, a triple, and 3 home runs. He has done well with a .411 OBP despite hitting poorly.
LSU will also use a few substitutes at catcher including Hayden Tavinski who has yet to start a game and has played in 11 but in 8 ABs he's hitting .500 and has a double. I only expect to see him in a blowout type game. Alex Milazzo is the other one who has started 6 games and is hitting .375 with a double. Ben Nippolt seems to b ea guy they will also start and can play some third base, he's hitting just .194 in 12 starts and 36 at bats with one double.
Clearly, this team rakes and UK pitchers will have to bring their A+ game to every at bat or LSU will make us pay. They are patient, don't have a huge number of strikeouts and they absolutely mash when pitchers make mistakes.
