LSU Preview: Tigers head to Norman for showdown vs the Sooners.

By Andrew Riedell

We have officially reached the halfway mark of the season as the LSU Tigers sit at 27-3 and in the top ten of every major College Baseball rankings. The Tigers hit the road for their second road series of the season. This time, visiting the other newest member of the SEC: the Oklahoma Sooners. This will be the first time the Tigers ever visit Norman, Oklahoma as they hold a 3-1 record all time vs the Sooners. LSU started the week off nice with a midweek victory vs Louisiana Tech 12-3 which saw the bats stay hot and some freshman arms pitch well; LSU hopes they can continue that in SEC play. The Oklahoma Sooners come into this series 23-5 and, like LSU, they are ranked in the top 15 of every major College Baseball Rankings. Let's jump into the preview for this weekend showdown!

Pitching Matchups:

Thursday: OU Kyson Witherspoon (5-1, 2.31 ERA) vs LSU Kade Anderson (5-0, 3.52 ERA)

Friday: OU Cade Crossland (1-1, 6.66 ERA) vs LSU Anthony Eyanson (4-0, 3.89 ERA)

Saturday: OU TBA vs LSU Chase Shores (4-1 5.40 ERA)

Pitching Breakdown:

Both of these teams have lost one SEC series on the road, and they are both in the hunt to get those national seeds to host when postseason come around. The Tigers bounced back last weekend vs Mississippi State while the Sooners dropped their first SEC series vs Alabama. Last weekend for LSU, we saw pitching really step up as we saw Anthony Eyanson dominate and Zac Cowan and Casan Evans continue their dominance out of the bullpen. On the other hand, we saw the Oklahoma pitching really struggle, and that started with a rare bad outing from Kyson Witherspoon, who is one of the top pitchers in college baseball. Kyson went 4 innings giving up 5 hits 4 runs while walking 3. On Saturday, they got a nice start from Cade Crossland that helped them get the win, but Malachi Witherspoon struggled in his outing Sunday and got hit with the loss. This weekend head coach Skip Johnson is opting to wait to name a Sunday starter. The bullpen for the Sooners has been very inconsistent as well, but they have two names they can go to and trust such in Dylan Crooks and Reid Hensley. Crooks is the Sooners' closer who has a 1.42 ERA and 9 saves, which is best in the SEC. For the Tigers, it looks to be the same rotation for them despite people thinking Chase Shores might not be ready with his swollen eye. Coach Jay Johnson as reassured the Tiger faithful and said Shores can see now and the rotation will be the same. The Tigers' bullpen is starting to figure itself, and you know the first two names Jay Johnson will go to are Casan Evans and Zac Cowan. They have been phenomenal executing their changeups nonstop to SEC hitters.

Hitting Breakdown:

For these two lineups I believe we will see some really good at bats but this weekend will be a test since both of these staffs are solid and can put plenty of zeros on the board. For the Sooners they are led by Jaxon Willits and Easton Carmichael two hitters that I feel like get no recognition for the way they have been playing. On Southern Fried with Jake Mckeever we talked about how this Oklahoma lineup has a bunch of dudes like Carmichael, Kyle Branch, and Jason Walk who have been nothing but great. For the LSU Tigers this lineup will get to face their toughest arm yet in Kyson Witherspoon on Thursday. I look forward to watching how this team will approach facing him. The Tigers are starting to figure out their 3rd base situation as we see Tanner Reaves slide in their more, and then obviously you have probably the best 1-2 lineup duo in the country with Derek Curiel and Jared Jones. Curiel has reached base in all 30 games this season and Jared Jones is hitting above .400 with 11 home runs and 10 doubles as well. I look for Jake Brown and Steven Milam to have breakout weekends though as they are both hovering around the .350 mark but their at bats have been very good as well.

Predictions:

So for our Southern Fried pick em I went with LSU. I believe LSU takes 2 out of 3, but I also see a path to LSU sweeping this series on the road. If LSU bats get to Kyson Witherspoon like they did to Jared Spencer on Friday night in Austin, I think Oklahoma bullpen is not as good as Texas', so I believe that LSU could blow it open quickly. I think LSU has the upper hand pitching wise too on Saturday and Sunday if it is Shores vs. Malachi Witherspoon.