What was supposed to happen did.
The LSU baseball team swept Milwaukee in the opening weekend of the season, scoring run-rule wins on Friday and Sunday with a 5-3 win sandwiched in between on Saturday.
There’s so much baseball to go. To make blanket judgments on the weekend would be foolish.
But we do have some takes, so let’s go.
5 TAKES AS LSU SWEEPS MILWAUKEE
TAKE ONE: What was supposed to happen did – LSU was supposed to sweep Milwaukee. To lose any of those 3 games would have been a disappointment. Milwaukee is a low-major team that was below .500 last season and there is literally not a single person on that team who Jay Johnson would take on LSU’s roster over a Tigers player. But baseball is still baseball and quirky things happen sometimes. But make no mistake: the expected result was the actual result. Anything other than a sweep this weekend would have been a letdown.
TAKE TWO: LSU is the deepest team in the country and it’s not close – LSU does have some question marks. We will get to some of those later. But the Tigers are the deepest team in the country and there is not a close second. The Tigers played 12-15 position players this weekend who all can compete and perform at a high level.
TAKE THREE: Is there a dominant ‘ace’ on this team? – LSU got a ton of strikeouts this weekend, but let’s be honest: that is because Milwaukee hasn’t been outside all season and can’t catch up to mid-90s velo consistently. But there are legitimate concerns about if the Tigers have a true bonafide ace on their staff – ala Paul Skenes and/or Eyanson and Kade Anderson last year. Casan Evans got the ball on opening night and struggled. William Schmidt got the ball on Sunday and struggled. Cooper Moore was a proven Power 4 weekend arm last year and he looked solid, but if there is a concern about LSU going into Weekend 2, it is what the weekend pitching will look like against quality competition.
TAKE FOUR: The big boy will be a big star – LSU fans are going to absolutely love Zach Yorke. The big boy had some really good moments in his first weekend in Baton Rouge, hitting a home run in his first career at-bat and then having some other really quality at bats to work walks etc. More important than the offense, which we all knew would be there: Yorke didn’t look bad defensively. That matters as much as the offense.
TAKE FIVE: A little concerning with Cowan – Zac Cowan was unhittable to start last season, but then scuffled badly down the stretch. It was a little concerning to see him struggle again on Saturday against Milwaukee. Not a cause for an alarm to sound just yet. But it is something to pay attention to given how last season ended.
TAKE SIX: Too many runs allowed – LSU allowed 2 runs in 3 games last year in their opening weekend series with Purdue-Fort Wayne and had just 2 walks in those games. This year, it was … not nearly that smooth. The Tigers had 15 runs allowed and 8 walks. Again, there are some concerns about pitching, pitching roles and who will work which situations in the games that will matter most later on. It’s not alarm sounding concerns. But those concerns are there. Anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves. Milwaukee should not be scoring 5 and 6 runs a game on LSU and hitting balls out the park.
TAKE SEVEN: Interesting game tomorrow – It will be interesting to see how LSU handles its fourth game in as many days tomorrow. The offense will be fine. Very curious to see who gets the ball and if they can be effective against a new opponent in the first night game of the season.