HOOVER, Ala. — LSU has never thrown its two best pitchers on the same day under coach Jay Johnson. One of them starts on Friday, and the other on Saturday. That’s typically how it works.
But in a single-elimination format at the SEC Tournament, and with there still being a week before the start of the NCAA Tournament, Johnson wanted to make sure he got sophomore left-hander Kade Anderson and junior right-hander Anthony Eyanson some in-game reps before the big dance begins in Baton Rouge next weekend.
Per usual, LSU started Anderson on Friday. But for the first time all year, Eyanson came into the game in the seventh inning in relief. With LSU up by just a run, it could use its co-ace to try to close out the game while guaranteeing time for him on the mound before the regional.
Johnson’s strategy worked. Eyanson tossed three scoreless innings in relief of Anderson as No. 3 seeded LSU escaped with the 4-3 win over No. 14 Texas A&M to advance to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
Anderson exited for Eyanson after the sixth. In his first relief appearance at LSU, the Tigers’ typical Saturday starter gave up a leadoff triple after the ball got past the dive of junior Chris Stanfield in center field.
But as he has on numerous occasions this season, Eyanson was able to get out of the jam while maintaining the Tigers’ lead.
He forced a groundout to third base that was initially ruled as an error on junior first baseman Jared Jones. But the call got reversed after LSU challenged the play and second baseman Ben Royo was called for runner’s interference instead.
Royo had clearly impeded Jones’ ability to catch senior third baseman Michael Braswell’s throw while running down the first base line.
Eyanson cleanly fielded a bunt for the second out before getting a strikeout and a thunderous applause from the LSU faithful to end the inning. He then retired the side in order in the eighth before closing out the game in the ninth.
LSU’s offense started the night hot, scoring two runs in the first inning and two more in the third.
Junior Ethan Frey hit a double to right field to drive in the opening score before senior Luis Hernandez grounded out to shortstop to allow a second run to come across and hand the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
Frey’s prowess at the plate then continued in the third inning. He cracked a two-run home run on an 0-2 count that doubled LSU’s lead to four.
After beginning the year as a platoon player, Frey has arguably been LSU’s best hitter over the last month. He’s 15 for 35 with four home runs and 12 RBIs over his last nine games.
Anderson got off to a perfect to start for the Tigers, retiring the first nine batters he faced and recording eight strikeouts.
But Anderson ran into some trouble the second time through the Aggies’ order in the fourth. The first three batters reached on a walk and two singles, resulting in a run that cut LSU’s lead to 4-1. The Aggies then eventually cut the Tigers’ advantage to two on a sacrifice fly.
He got out of the inning with two more strikeouts to get up to 10 on the night before punching out another pair of Aggies in the fifth inning. However, the left-hander ran into more trouble in the sixth, surrendering two hits and a sacrifice fly that scored a run and shrunk LSU’s advantage to 4-3.
LSU will face Ole Miss in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament on Saturday. The game will begin 30 minutes following the conclusion of Tennessee and Vanderbilt’s semifinal matchup that begins at 10 a.m. Both games will be available to watch on SEC Network.
