LSU has a good defense, led by slick fielding up the middle. Micah Gibbs is good behind the plate and throws out baserunners at a solid clip. SS Austin Nola(Frosh), the only offensive liability in the starting 9 despite coming up with some big hits in the post season, has great hands, good range strong, accurate arm. 2b DJ Lamahieu (2nd rd pick of Cubs) is a former ss, who is long and fluid with nice range. CF Miki Mahtook (Frosh) is an excellent athlete with an accurate arm. RF Mitchell has range galore. 3b is also occupied by a pair of quality fielders.
LSU pitching is strong at the top, but the closer is injured. Matty Ott, who has a 15:1 SO to walk ration, has had stiffness and pain for a coupekl of weeks. The pen has some good arms, but have not pitched well in post season. 3rd starter, Ross, has not looked good the past wek out of the pen. 4th and 5th starters both performed very well in the SEC tourney, where LSU lost opener before battling back to win it all. Starters, Ranaudo(Soph) and Coleman (Sr 5th round pick Royals), are tough to face. Both keep opposing hitters in the relatively stong SEC in the .200 range. Both strike out over 1 per IP. If Ranaudo limits his walks, he rarely gets beat. LSU starts ace Louis Coleman in game 1. He has a deceptive delivery, good control and excellent movement.
The LSU hitting is 11 or 12 deep. They crush RHP. The lone offensive liability was NOLA, but he has hit the ball well in the postseason. Leon Landry bats over .300 with 12 homers and rides the pine. Chad Jones bats .350 with immense power. No room for him in the lineup, so was converted to relief pitcher. Tyler Hanover (Frosh) bats over .300, but has been replaced lately by Derek Helenihi, also a .300 plus hitter, at 3B due to injury. Both players are starting quality. Schimpf(Jr 5th rd draft choice), Dean(Jr 10th rd draft choice), Mahtook(Frosh), LaMahieu, and Mitchell(1st Rd Chisox) are dominant hitters. All in starting lineup aside from NOLA bat over .295 Seven starters bat over .300
Untested so far, the guys will have to take on the "bulldog' mentaility of SP Louis Coleman. Otherwise, they could be in for a surprise from Texas, who has been grinding some despite their 3-0 record.
Read this on another forum......
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said ?it wouldn't surprise me'' if LSU wins it all.
?They've got some really good baseball players, and a couple of really good football players,'' he said. ?They might even have a basketball player, too.
?They've got guys coming off the bench who would be starting on a lot of teams. They come off the bench and ?Bing! Bang!' hit balls off the center-field wall. They are very good.''
Didn't have to research this because I follow the team all season, but will have to look into Texas and will try to post some stuff on horns later in the weekend.
From what I know, Texas has a high fileding % and low era. Pitchers are young and RHP dominated except the closer. Texas bats seem weak. Only a couple of .300 hitters on the team.
LSU pitching is strong at the top, but the closer is injured. Matty Ott, who has a 15:1 SO to walk ration, has had stiffness and pain for a coupekl of weeks. The pen has some good arms, but have not pitched well in post season. 3rd starter, Ross, has not looked good the past wek out of the pen. 4th and 5th starters both performed very well in the SEC tourney, where LSU lost opener before battling back to win it all. Starters, Ranaudo(Soph) and Coleman (Sr 5th round pick Royals), are tough to face. Both keep opposing hitters in the relatively stong SEC in the .200 range. Both strike out over 1 per IP. If Ranaudo limits his walks, he rarely gets beat. LSU starts ace Louis Coleman in game 1. He has a deceptive delivery, good control and excellent movement.
The LSU hitting is 11 or 12 deep. They crush RHP. The lone offensive liability was NOLA, but he has hit the ball well in the postseason. Leon Landry bats over .300 with 12 homers and rides the pine. Chad Jones bats .350 with immense power. No room for him in the lineup, so was converted to relief pitcher. Tyler Hanover (Frosh) bats over .300, but has been replaced lately by Derek Helenihi, also a .300 plus hitter, at 3B due to injury. Both players are starting quality. Schimpf(Jr 5th rd draft choice), Dean(Jr 10th rd draft choice), Mahtook(Frosh), LaMahieu, and Mitchell(1st Rd Chisox) are dominant hitters. All in starting lineup aside from NOLA bat over .295 Seven starters bat over .300
Untested so far, the guys will have to take on the "bulldog' mentaility of SP Louis Coleman. Otherwise, they could be in for a surprise from Texas, who has been grinding some despite their 3-0 record.
Read this on another forum......
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said ?it wouldn't surprise me'' if LSU wins it all.
?They've got some really good baseball players, and a couple of really good football players,'' he said. ?They might even have a basketball player, too.
?They've got guys coming off the bench who would be starting on a lot of teams. They come off the bench and ?Bing! Bang!' hit balls off the center-field wall. They are very good.''
Didn't have to research this because I follow the team all season, but will have to look into Texas and will try to post some stuff on horns later in the weekend.
From what I know, Texas has a high fileding % and low era. Pitchers are young and RHP dominated except the closer. Texas bats seem weak. Only a couple of .300 hitters on the team.
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