Can Jay Johnson and LSU use the MOMENTUM from the Arkansas series to SWEEP South Carolina?

What's up guys and welcome in to another edition of the Rally Time podcast. I'm your host as always, Justin Babin Jr. Lloyd Courtourtney, you are in the producer share once again making his second guest appearance. Thanks for helping out here. Christian. I don't know if necessarily last week his might have been his last time on the podcast at least for this season cuz with finals week being over just job hunting. Yeah, with finals week being over he's in like either Lafayette or Shreveport or something like that. So app appreciate him being a part of the show with me this season and appreciate Lloyd for stepping in and making his second guest appearance. I didn't scare him off too much the first time. We're coming off a big weekend, right? Like LSU baseball is coming off a huge weekend, arguably their biggest weekend of the year, beating Arkansas two out of three in the box. and thinking about how we're going to break this show down because only one show this week and thinking about it I think we're going to prioritize the first half of the show to kind of breaking down the Arkansas series because as I said it was probably the most important series that or the Tennessee series the top two most important series of the season and it'd be a shame if I didn't take the time at least 20 minutes to break all that down and then South Carolina preview is going to be shorter cut shorter, a little bit different because, you know, I like to be careful cuz baseball, anything can happen. But the South Carolina team LSU is playing this weekend is not very good. They're 27 and 26 overall and 5 and 22 in SEC play. So, they have the second to worst record. The only team with the with a worst record in the SEC in conference play is Missouri, who is sitting at 3 and 24 after somehow miraculously sweeping Texas A&M in College Station. The ultimate fumble. The ultimate fumble by the Aggies against Missouri. But anyway, Missouri get hot. Don't let Missouri get hot. Yeah. I joked with some friends. I was like, imagine Missouri just makes a little mini run in Hoover or something like that. I was like, win the tournament. That'd be crazy. But no, I I we're going to we're going to talk a little bit about South Carolina towards the end of the show, but really want to get into all that happened this past weekend when LSU faced Arkansas in a three-game series. And make no mistake, in my mind, these are two teams that will see each other again or might I would think might see each other again in Omaha because that Arkansas team is one of the best teams in the country. It's probably the best lineup LSU has faced and will face all season. Let's get into kind of breaking it down game by game a little bit. So, game one, man. Three for three now on these late night Magic Magic rides. Alex Box. There was uh I believe Mississippi State in week three of conference play. There was a late night game. That game wasn't that close. LSU kind of took control of that game early and never relinquished control of it. But the past two the past two late night midnight after dark games against Tennessee and Arkansas have been come from behind wins. And that's what we saw in game one on Friday night early Saturday morning. And you know, it it's a shame that we've kind of gotten robbed of Friday night crowds at the box for the two biggest series of the season. Like that's the thing that's kind of a shame. But to do Jay Johnson made the quote recently that LSU is the best team in the country at 117 in the morning. So they've proven that. That's what they've done. That's what they've shown. So yeah, I mean kind of getting into game one. Yeah, use some more late night magic to come back and LSU won five to four in 10 innings. Kade Anderson got the start on the mound versus Zack Root was a starter for Arkansas. Yeah, first pitch was moved all the way from 6:30 all the way to first pitch wasn't thrown until 9:55, 5 minutes before the deadline. Uh the deadline to get SEC games started is I believe 10 PM. They used almost all of that time before throwing the first pitch. Yeah, Kate Anderson started well. He pitched three scoreless innings in the first three innings with five strikeouts to start the game. LSU started the scoring in the game with a run in the third off of a Chris Stanfield double followed by a Jared Jones RBI single. Then Arkansas's Cam Kosal tied it at one with a solo bomb in the fourth off of Anderson. And then Ethan Fry gave the lead back to LSU in the bottom of the fourth with a solo shot of his own off of Zack Root to give LSU the two to one lead in the bottom of the fourth. And something you'll notice as we go through covering what happened this past weekend is two guys that I want to really focus on, Ethan Fry and Jake Brown. those two guys. We've talked about Jared Jones. We talked about Dickinson. We talked about, you know, the main two guys, Jared Jones and Derek Kuriel. That's who we've talked about. But Ethan Fry and Jake Brown have come into their own over the past few weeks. I mean, they both had were pretty much the leaders at the plate, I would argue, this past weekend for LSU against Arkansas. and Fry got it started with again solo bomb off of Zack Root in the fourth that gave LSU the two to one lead at the time. Arkansas did score run in the fifth though off of two hits and a Charles Davalon sackfly RBI. Kuia Aoy for Arkansas hit a solo homer in the sixth off of Anderson to give Arkansas the lead. the 4 to2 lead at the time after the Aloy Kahia Aloy six sixth inning homer. Kade Anderson, you know, I thought Kade was solid. I thought Kade had a good game. He pitched five and two/3 innings. Gave up three runs on seven hits, one walk, and 10 strikeouts. You know, the the thing with the thing with Kade and Kase Evans from this weekend, and we'll get into Kase later in game three, is a little bit less efficient. The only the thing that kind of Cade was good in the game, but he threw 99 pitches over the first five innings. And like if you want your starter to go deep in a game, throwing 99 pitches in the first five innings is not a not a good formula for that, right? Threw 99 pitches in over the first five innings and then Anderson actually came out of the game with two outs in the six, holding his wrist and moving it around. Really concerning sign at the time. Something didn't feel right with Cade. The good news is we think he's going to be a-ok. Okay. Sounds like it was just cramps in his arm or in his wrist or something. Didn't sound like it was anything too serious. But I do want to make the point that Kate Anderson's been coming out every weekend and throwing over a 100red pitches. and like he's the only guy on the team I mean Ison has had a couple outings throwing over 100 pitches but besides that Kate Anderson throwing 100 pitches every single weekend um my concern you know I'm glad he ended up being okay but my my concern at the time was is this going to catch up to him like throwing 100 pitches every single weekend like threw 134 pitches against Oklahoma and that was great and one of the best outings we've seen from a starting pitcher at LSU in a long time, but over the course of a season throwing over 100 pitches every weekend is just, you know, that that was a little bit concerning at the time, but it seems like Anderson is going to be okay in the end. So, so that was good news that it was nothing too serious. Arkansas did increase their lead in the seventh with uh scoring another run off of Chase Shores to make it four-2 via a single, a wild pitch, and a sacrifice ground out to bring the runner home. Starting pitcher for Arkansas was Zack Root. Zack Root gave LSU lineup a little bit of trouble. Zack Root was really good. He pitched six innings, did well against the LSU lineup. Rude only gave up two runs on five hits and six strikeouts in six innings. So Arkansas was up four to2 going into the bottom of the seventh. And then one of their best relief pitchers all season, Aiden Jimenez came in for route to start the seventh. As we said, Jimenez has been really good all season. He and Gabe Gekcko have been the two best arms out of the bullpen for Arkansas this season, but Jimenez, for some reason, really struggled in game one against LSU. in the seventh inning with Arkansas up four to2. The inning started with a single by Jake Brown and then Jimenez walked the next two batters before Derek Curio did what it seems like he always does. He had a two RBI single off of him off of Jimenez through the left side to tie the game at four. So yeah, I mean it was surprising to see Jimenez come into the game and struggle because he's been one of their best pitchers, but LSU after getting past Zack Root was able to put a couple runs on the board off of Jimenez. Zack Cowan was really good, really good in the final three innings of this game for LSU, he did not allow a run in the final three innings. only gave up two hits, two walks, and three strikeouts, which it's a good bounceback for Cowan because Cowan's been a great pitcher all season obviously, but I would say his shakiest his shakiest weekend series by far was the one against&M and College Station. like he gave up a few runs in game one and game three against&m and it was good seeing him bounce back and really return to being as effective as he's been pretty much all season and a return to form. It was good to see that out of Zack Cowan. Arkansas relief pitcher Gabe Gekckle was really good for the Razerbacks out of the pen until the 10th inning. In the 10th inning, the bottom of the tenth, it was tied at tied at four. Jared Jones singled to start the inning. Jones advanced to second base on a wild pitch and then he got the third on a Daniel Dickinson ground out. And then to end the game to walk it off, Ethan Fry hit a sackfly RBI that allowed Jared Jones to tag up and won LSU the game. Again, Fry had a really good game in game one. He had two hits in the game with uh two RBI's including a double and a homer. So, uh, Annie got the walk-off sack fly RBI to win the game. So, again, coming back, I I picked last week I picked I picked LSU to lose the series, two out of three. I thought Arkansas was going to grab two. LSU was gonna win one because of the momentum that Arkansas was carrying into the weekend against LSU after sweeping number one in the country, Texas, the Texas Longhorns the week before and after LSU struggled in College Station. But obviously bouncing back and coming back and winning this game was huge, especially for the LSU offense who had really struggled in College Station. And what's going to become obvious is this offense just plainly hits much better at home. Like the past two road series at Auburn and at Texas A&M, the lineup, the offense has not been that good for LSU. It just hasn't. And the big thing about this weekend, the biggest thing about this weekend is it got you that much closer. In my mind, it got you pretty much, barring an utter collapse against South Carolina, pretty much a lock for a top eight seed. Like, and that's big seeing comparing the numbers for this LSU offense compared to being in the box versus playing on the road. It's a lot different. They're a lot better at home. and getting two out of three against, in my mind, a top five team in the country like Arkansas, a team who's probably going to be in Omaha themselves, winning two out of three in that series, was a big way into making it to where you don't have to play any postseason baseball on the road until you get to Omaha to play in the College World Series. Great comeback in game one. Late inning magic worked again. Game two, Saturday. Probably maybe the best game LSU has played all year. I heard I think Mikey Matsuk was on with y'all the other day, Lloyd recapping the game and he said Saturday was probably the best game LSU has played all season. And I I couldn't agree more when he said that LSU won Saturday night 13 to3 via the run rule in seven innings. And the way that they were even able to kind of get that win at the end, it just kind of showed that that was one of the one of the games in the series that felt like everything was tilted towards LSU to get a a run rule on a strikeout. And that's the way that you're able to cap it off against, like you said, Arkansas, top 10 team in the country, potentially Omaha, and to put up a a run rule against a team of that that caliber shows what LSU is capable of when all the pieces come together. Yeah. To do that against they did it against Tennessee, too. like they run ruled Tennessee and look Tennessee has not been, you know, they're still a good team. They're still a top 20 team. They've been struggling a little bit if you've been keeping up with SEC play, but they're still going to be, you know, in the postseason and still defending national champions. And in the two biggest series, I would argue, of the regular season for LSU, they've gotten a runal victory against top 10 teams. And like that's that shows the ability that when this LSU team is on, they they are perhaps the best team in the country. Anthony Iansson got the start on the mound in game two. Gage Wood got the start on the mound for Arkansas in game two, but really struggled to Gage Wood. Jake Brown got it startled with a three-run bomb off of Wood in the first to make it three to nothing LSU. As we talked about before, Jake Brown and Ethan Fry really were the two standout players at the plate this weekend for me. Jay Johnson has been really platooning Jake Brown and Ethan Fry, Josh Pearson, kind of guys like that. But in my mind, and we we'll kind of get into this as the show goes along. In my mind, you you have to get to the point where Ethan Fry and Jake Brown need to be in this lineup every day because they've just they've been they were the producers this weekend. LSU scored 13 runs in this game, game two on Saturday. Nine of those runs were dri were driven in by two guys, Ethan Fry and Jake Brown. Those were the two guys that drove in nine out of 13 runs in this game for LSU. Yeah. I mean, I just think at this point the best lineup for me, I mean, in my opinion, is heading into the postseason solidifying the lineup. Curielle, Jones, Dickinson, Fry, Brown, Milm, Brazwell, Hernandez, and Stanfield. Like in my mind, that's your lineup. Like that's those are the guys those are the guys who have been contributing all season and been producing. Now, the concern now, the thing for me is that means you take Josh Pearson, the veteran, out of the lineup. And the reason I don't like that is because I am I don't know why. There's just a couple players on on LSU's teams every now and then that I develop a, you know, kind of like one of my favorite players on the team or I develop a kind of strong like sense of like I really like this guy. Like 2023, Gavin Dugos was not the best player on the team in 2023, but he was arguably my favorite. I just loved Gavin Dugos. I loved what he did at the program all of his seasons that he was here. and I was a Gavin Dugas guy. And I really like I kind of feel similar about Josh Pearson, a veteran, a guy who was on the national championship team. So, I'm kind of conflicted as far as your best lineup, as I said before, has Ethan Fry and Jake Brown in it every single day. But that means Josh Pearson gets less at bats. And I don't know what that means because you need him you need him to be ready in in postseason play because he's that veteran presence on the team. But it it's just undeniable at this point with what Jake Brown and Ethan Fry did this weekend. Kate Aaron Bey hit a solo bomb off of Gagewood in the second. Good job stepping up for Aaron Bey. You know, Luis Hernandez has gotten most of the starts at catcher in SEC play, but Aaron Bey being able to step up and in his first at bat after getting the start on Saturday, hit a homer. Really impressive. And we've kind of seen it this season. I mean, Ashton Larson steps up a few weeks ago. Dalton Beck stepped up against Tennessee and Kate Aaron Bey at bat of a start against against Arkansas gets a solo shot. are really good by Aaron Bey. Gage Wood, starter for Arkansas, only pitched two innings. LSU really got after Gage Wood. Jake Brown hit another bomb in the third inning. It was Brown. Brown hit two homers in game two Saturday night. Again, Jake Brown just had an amazing weekend, especially on Saturday in game two. He had five RBI, which is a careerhigh for Jake Brown in a single game. So, really good for Brown. LSU scored another run in the fifth in the fourth, excuse me, off of a single, an error, and two walks. And then LSU had a big fifth inning. They scored six more runs in the fifth inning off of three hits and three walks, including a three-run bomb for Ethan Fry. So again, the guys who stepped up, Ethan Fry and Jake Brown were my MVPs personally at the plate this weekend for LSU. They stepped up and they showed in my mind that they need to be in the lineup pretty much every day at this point because of how much they've been contributing to this team. Six run fifth inning for LSU. It was Bri, it was his second straight game with a homer. So, he had a home run in game one and game two. Uh Anthony was fantastic once again in another start. You know, he pitched six scoreless innings on Saturday night against the Razerbacks, only gave up five hits, one walk, and 11 strikeouts. And in my mind, Anthony has been just as good as Kate Anderson lately. like that. I have the if you're asking me what heading into the postseason I have the most confidence in, I would argue I would make a strong argument that I think this one two combination of Katie Anderson, Anthony Iansson might possibly be the best in the country heading into postseason. And like I know we talk about the LSU lineup all the time and how deep they are and all of that, but looking at what Anthony Iansson has done in the past few weeks, we know what we're going to get out of Kate Anderson, but what Anthony has done in his past two starts is just flat out dominate two really good lineups. I mean, he had 14 strikeouts in the game against&m. He had 11 strikeouts against Arkansas. and he didn't allow a run against Arkansas. He only allowed one run in nine innings in a complete game against the Aggies. So Anthony and Kate Anderson are perhaps in my mind the best maybe the best one-two punch in in America, you know, starting wise. I mean, it just sets up a lethal one-two punch in the rotation heading into the postseason. I was going to ask you better one-two punch that you've seen over the last two years. Would it be Luke Coleman Gage jump or would you take Kate Anderson, Anthony Iansson? I'm taking Kade and Anthony. That's what I'm taking. I just feel like first of all, I mean, I haven't looked at the numbers, but I know they're both like at least top 10 in the nation or something in strikeouts. I mean, the dudes just absolutely fool hitters at the plate. They are getting double digit strikeouts in every single game. And I'll just say I I just love Anthony. His curveball is absolutely filthy. Like like his curveball is I I'm just marveling at it. While I'm watching the game on Saturday night and while I'm watching the game against&m, I just I have so much confidence in those two pitchers and Kate Anderson and Anthony Iansson. And I know Holman and Jump were great, but I'd have to take Kade and Anthony at this point in my mind. Yeah. It's funny because if uh if you were posed that same question probably three weeks ago, it probably would have been the opposite answer. But with how good Anthony Iansson's been, it almost like it shifts the conversation because I do think what you have with Kate Anderson at top is better than either Hullman or Jump. Yeah. But then now that I's come on and I don't know if you saw him in any of the scrimmages before the year, but he does it with such ease. He makes it look so easy when he's on the mound. Like he's not necessarily working hard. He clearly is, but it's just the his ability to have a repeatable delivery and then to throw any pitch for a strike at any count is what makes him a very dominant and strikeout pitcher because you don't know what's coming and you can't really spit on anything because he can throw everything for a strike at any count. Yeah, absolutely. The combination of Maverick Grizzy, Jaden New, and DJ Primo did give up three runs on three hits and a walk in the seventh. But then Daniel Dickinson scored on a crazy play to end the game in the bottom of the seventh. So Steven Milm struck out, but it was on a wild pitch that got away from the catcher. And then Daniel Dickinson's being aggressive kind of gets caught in a rund down. You think, oh no. But then the catcher throws to the third baseman. kind of a wide throw that allows Dickinson to run home and barely beat the tag to win the game for LSU and get them the 13-3 run win in seven innings. So again, Jake Brown, great game, three hits, two bombs, and a careerhigh five RBI's. Fry had two hits and four RBI Saturday. Curielle had two hits and Kate Aaron Bey had three hits. And uh stepping in for Luis Hernandez for one game, Aaron Bey had three hits including a homer. So that was nice to see by the freshman who obviously is going to going to be good. Yeah, good from Kade. Now game three, Sunday, Arkansas did win 7 to4. Kase Evans got the start against um Arkansas starter was Landon Vital Sheets. That was a starter. I had to I had to uh I had to sound it out before I said it. Landon Ble. She geez, I had to sound it out before I said it. Evans was pretty solid in the first two innings of the game. You know, a good stat for Evans. He threw first pitch strikes to the first eight Arkansas batters he faced, which was really good as far as command, as far as getting ahead in the count. It's so important for pitchers to throw first pitch strikes, and Evans did that. LSU got the scoring started. They put up two runs in the second off of two solo blasts by Luis Hernandez and Steven Milm. Evans did kind of, you know, the four the the the third inning was where it kind of fell apart for Case Evans. Evans gave up four runs in the third inning did Evans off of three singles, two doubles, a walk, and a sack fly through three starts through three starts the past three weekends for Case Evans. He had an amazing start against Tennessee. And I think you leave him in there as a as a starter for now. I I do agree that I think Kase Evans can definitely be can definitely be serviceable in the starting pitching role on a Sunday, your game three starter. He had a great start against Tennessee. The only thing is against Texas A&M and against Arkansas. So in his last two starts, he threw over 70 pitches in the first three innings. And we kind of talked about it before with Kane Anderson throwing 99 pitches in the first five innings. It's it's not that they're necessarily getting hit off of a ton. It's that I don't know. You just have to be a little bit more efficient. Like if you want to go deeper in games, if you want to get into at least the s the fifth or the sixth, you have to be able to to throw, you know, these guys can throw strikes, but it's just like you have to be a little bit more efficient. So, like what I'm paying attention to is like you don't want your starting pitcher to throw you don't want him to throw above 60 pitches through the first three innings. Kase Evans has thrown around 75 pitches through the first three innings in his past two starts. So, I believe Evans can, you know, figure it out and he's definitely I mean, he's got the stuff, he's got the skill. It's just his last two starts against Yes. Arkansas's a great lineup. Like, that's another point that needs to be made. They're a great lineup. I mean, Evans just kind of needs to settle in a little bit and uh just be a little bit more efficient as far as keeping that pitch count down. LSU did score a run in the third via three singles by Daniel Dickinson, Jake Brown, and Luis Hernandez. But yeah, Case Evans only pitched three and two/3 innings. Evans gave up four runs on seven hits, three walks, and four strikeouts. On a positive note, Sunday, I've really liked what I've seen out of Chase Shores in the bullpen. I've really liked him in a bullpen spot. Chase Shores started started a lot of games the first half of the season, the first half of SEC play. Had some good outings, had some shaky ones, but I really like what I've seen out of them the past three weekends in relief. You know, Shores pitched three and one-thirds innings on Sunday and gave up only one run on two hits, one walk, and four strikeouts. And he just he looks a lot better and a lot more confident coming out of the bullpen. Like, I don't know what it is, but some guys coming out of the bullpen just look more comfortable and then some guys starting just look more comfortable. And I just I I don't know. I just really like what I've seen out of Shores, out of the bullpen lately. And it does beg the question now that you've seen Evans in back-to-back appearances kind of struggle a little bit and certainly you've seen that move to the third the third starter from Case Evans. And I thought that was somebody that also when he came out of the bullpen was you could kind of chalk it up to it felt like a win whenever he could come in in a game and throw four to five innings out the bullpen. It felt like you were very secured in getting those whether it be a win on Saturday or coming in on Sunday and being able to kind of hold it together. But now that you've seen him, I don't want to say struggle, but not be as efficient as he was in his first start. Do you think that there's a world in which they move anybody else into that third Sunday, that third starter role that's not Kase Evans or Chase Shores? Because you do have one other arm that has starting experience and came back from Y Zack Allen. I mean, he threwundred what 110 innings last year at Walford and he was their ace. So, he has experience in that role. So, you could try it. Like, you absolutely could. I think the combination of, you know, Shores, Cowan, and Evans have all looked good out of the bullpen. It's saying which one of those guys is your best third starter. Which one of those guys is the most consistent as your third starter? That's the one you got to figure out. I wouldn't move Evans out of that spot yet because again, he did have a great start against Tennessee. Just kind of that that's the thing you have to figure out. But yeah, Shores was good in relief. I mean, when you got a guy throwing 99 out of the bullpen like Chase Shores, there's only so much Arkansas hitters could have done. Like that that's an advantage for LSU. And I like what I've seen out of Shores out of the bullpen the last three weeks. The LSU lineup did quiet down a little bit in innings four through seven before they scored one run in the eighth off of singles by Josh Pearson and Steven Milm along with an RBI ground out by Chris Stanfield. But then unfortunately four LSU relievers combined to give up two runs in the ninth off of one hit, a stolen base, and four walks. Arkansas eventually held on to win the game seven to four. So yeah, all in all, you would have loved to get the sweep, but all in all, I it was a massive success this weekend for LSU. Like it got them that much closer to top eight, top eight seed. They're the number one team in the country in every poll right now, right? So, look, it was just it was a really successful weekend and it's one that uh really gives you a lot of confidence heading into postseason play. And I I do think that and you you saw Jay talk about this during his press conference where he's like I feel like I get up here and I have to answer questions like we're not good because of I guess the conjecture around the LSU baseball teams at some points where people want to see them play perfectly but it's an imperfect game. It's a game of failure and LSU is doing that better than anybody in the country right now is they're the number one ranked team in the country and you're still having questions about you know certain things in the LSU you know LSU baseball office. But I guess the the reason that is is because of what you just highlighted on Sunday, which is it's the same problem every time. You have a you're in a what a 5-4 baseball game going into the ninth with a chance to sweep and you rely on what three guys out of the bullpen that can't throw strike four that can't throw strikes. Yeah. And I think that's what people focus on. So they're like, "Oh, they don't have enough." So, here's one point I did want to make as and we'll talk we'll spend like five minutes on South Carolina and get everybody out of here. But one point I had been talking about with a couple of people is do I think this LSU team can win a national championship? Yes. Do I think they can get the Omaha? Yes. My concern is besides there are five guys uh Kate Anderson, Anthony Iansson, Zack Callen, Kase Evans, and Chase Shores. Five guys I trust. Chase Shores specifically, I trust them out of the bullpen. He hasn't, you know, starting wise, he hasn't done much, but those those are the five guys. Shores, Evans, Anderson, Iansen, and Cowan in the guys that I trust. The thing is in Omaha or in a regional, you're gonna need more pitchers to step up than that. Like you're going to have to win games with Maverick Rzzy, with Connor Wear, with guys like that. And so, look, that's my concern as far as the postseason, as far as Omaha is like, I have five guys I trust right now pitching staff-wise. The other guys, I I I've seen good things, but it's not consistently good. Like, that's the thing. And especially with being able to throw strikes. Like, that's that's my biggest concern heading into postseason. Do I think this team can make it to a national championship? Can win it? Yes. But you have to have one or two of those other guys step up. Yeah. You've been wait and you've seen them all get opportunities. Correct. Like you've seen and that's why you have four people throw in the ninth inning because you're trying to find somebody that maybe can strangle hold this this sixth spot that you can kind of find more trust in somebody. Whether it be like the names that you listed, Jacob Meyers, you've seen William Schmidt you see continue to come in and I would say struggle and then I guess the other one on that list would be N's pitched well and he's starting to kind of take that kind of that the most the one I trust the most outside of the your top what your top four arms. Yeah, I'd say. And the thing is is I going back to not to I I don't like comparing championship teams to like this team, but like I'm going to do it anyway. 2023 2023. If you if we look back, Lloyd, heading into the postseason, the bullpin for the 2023 team was not in the greatest shape heading into that postseason, but you had guys step up like Riley Cooper. Riley Cooper, you know, not saying he was bad in the regular season, but he wasn't Riley Cooper postseason. He wasn't as good as that guy was. That guy was different. That guy came in every game and got you outs and was solid every single game. So, look, you're going to need another guy, one or two more guys like Riley Cooper did in the postseason. I I mean, Will Helmer's Will Helmers stepped up and I know we lost the game, but the dude had the game of his life in the postseason to where you had the lead in the seventh inning against North Carolina. I'm about to go to a super regional that you're gonna host. And so you're gonna need one or two of those other guys outside of those five arms I just listed to to step up. Like that's just what you're going to need. And we've seen it at LSU in the past. South Carolina, if you just want a few a few stats on South Carolina, they're 27 and 26 overall. They're 5 and 22 in SEC play. They've lost seven straight SEC games. They have a miserable 9.27 team erra in conference play, which is second worst in the conference. They have a 264 team batting average in SEC play, which is tied for eighth in the conference. And then they only have one pitcher, Ashton Crother, with an erra below a five in conference play. So, like this pitching staff has been miserable, pretty pretty bad in conference play for South Carolina. However, this is a big series for their team. And the reason why is they're not going to play any ball any more baseball after Hoover. They're not going to be in the postseason. So, this is their chance for their seniors, for their guys, their last home series, their last home games against the number one team in the country. They're going to be they're going to be up for it, especially with a coach like Paul Maner who probably has a point to prove this weekend or wants to try to prove this weekend. So, you know, I mean, Maneri, you know what he did at LSU, fourtime national coach of the year at LSU, being one championship in 2009, six SEC tournament titles, and made five Omaha College World Series appearances with LSU. So, yeah, I mean it this team won't play any postseason baseball after Hoover. So, this is a big weekend for them. And like I know we can look at them and we could say, "Oh, they're terrible." And they have been, but you know, I would say look at Missouri. Look at what they just did. Like Texas A&M had all the momentum. 0 and24 Missouri. Not only win the series, they sweep them. And they do it in game two and game three and dominating fashion. They won 10 to one in game three. Like it's it's baseball is the only sport. I I don't want to say the only sport, but it's like there's sports where if you're hot, you're hot. Like if you catch it on the right weekend, any team can beat any team. So look, as far as Yes, this LSU team should handle their business this weekend. They should. But it's baseball. So yeah, I mean that's kind of what now as far as what I want to see this weekend. You know, I've talked about it before. This LSU lineup has hit a lot better at home than they have on the road. On the road, this LSU lineup has struggled, especially in their past two SEC series against Auburn and Texas A&M. So, you've got a shot against a really bad pitching staff to change that this weekend. And you really need to. You really need to. So go out there, flex your muscle, and do it on the road this time. We know you can hit in Alex box. We know you can do it on the road this time against a pitching staff that has been really struggling lately. Gave up 26 runs in one game last weekend to Auburn. So flex your muscle and this time do it on the road. And then one more point, look for improvement. I just want to see a little bit more efficiency from Kase Evans this weekend. I think Kase has a good shot to be, you know, the Sunday starter, the third starter. I think he has potential and he has the stuff. I'm just look I'll be looking at his pitch count after three innings. Like that's what I'll be looking at. Like how many pitches has he thrown through three innings against South Carolina? Like that's the thing I'll be looking at as far as this weekend. I It's a team that has really struggled in South Carolina, but it's baseball. Excited to see this team go up against Palminer. Uh that's going that's going to be a little bit weird. Excited for I mean after this weekend it's on the Hoover. It's on to SEC baseball. Postseason baseball's right around the corner. Need want to see them hit better on the road. want to see a little bit more efficiency from some guys like Case Evans. And those are my main two things that I would like to see this weekend. Yeah. Anything anything from you, Lloyd, before uh we head out as far as this weekend? you touched on it a little bit, but I do think the the Paul Maner dynamic is one that's going to be very interesting because like you said for South Carolina, they're not most likely not going to play any postseason baseball outside of Hoover, but you've seen Paul be able to kind of get these go on these runs in the SEC tournament. I don't know if he wants to get that started now, try to find some momentum because I do think that this series maybe means more to him than what meets the eye because I don't think he really ever wanted to. He's unfortunate the way that he left when his health was obviously in a bad spot, but he also came back for a reason because he thinks he can still coach. And so I do think that there's a little bit of maybe in his mind he feels like he was forced out and that, you know, LSU would kind of run its course and they were ready to get a new head coach and he wasn't ready to leave. And so I do think there's something a kind of I want to prove to them that I can still do it type mentality and that could spark something in South Carolina. But I don't know, at some point talent wins out. LSU clearly more talented, but like I said, Palminer could enforce a little bit of we're playing for something more than just, you know, wins and losses here. It's like it's more important to me. And then you have an LSU team that doesn't need to really do anything outside of just playing the game there. It feels very much solidified as a top eight seed. I I don't think if they get swept that it really means anything. And then they can go into Hoover and maybe if you win one, I still think you're solidified as a top eight seed regardless. Yeah. Far as times this weekend closing out, first game, it is a Thursday, Friday, Saturday series in Colombia at South Carolina. So, uh, first game Thursday night is at 6. Second game Friday night is also at 6. And then the closeout game, game three is Saturday at 2. One other point, kind of want to plug, a watch party this Saturday, this Thursday night. This Thursday night, we will be doing a watch party for the Tingle and Co. Now to have to uh teach myself to to remember to say that now. Tingle and Co will be having a watch party for game one of the South Carolina series tomorrow, this Thursday, May 15th, at 6:00 for game one against South Carolina. Should be fun. Really excited. We haven't done a baseball watch party yet or I haven't done one yet. I'm I'm really excited for tomorrow. I'll be there. Lloyd, Noah, the rest of the guys, a lot of them will be there. So, really excited for that. See what diabolical things they come up with on this wheel. We do have a new wheel. Yeah. But, um, yeah. So, excited for this weekend and excited for after this weekend conference tournament, postseason play. Excited to see what this LSU team can do. a lot of momentum and let's see if they can continue it against uh Old Pulmonary this weekend. Thank you guys. Hope you have a good one. Like, comment, subscribe, and uh yep, have a good one.