pitching was in a bad place last week.
The had lost their starter less than an hour before the game. Their Saturday starter was already out for the year with an elbow injury, and their bullpen had struggled for much of the season.
Those issues resulted in LSU getting swept on the road against Mississippi State. But even without sophomore right-hander Casan Evans for another week, this weekend against South Carolina (22-27, 7-17 SEC) back at Alex Box Stadium was a completely different story.
LSU (28-21, 9-15) took down the Gamecocks 7-0 on Sunday, thanks to another lengthy outing from senior right-hander Zac Cowan. The Tigers only needed four pitchers to get through 18 innings during Saturdayโs doubleheader before Cowan tossed six innings to start the series finale.
Sundayโs victory completed a series sweep over South Carolina, ณขณงฑซโs first of the season in Southeastern Conference play.
โIt's great to sweep a series,โ LSU coach Jay Johnson said. โTaking a look at the names that aren't on the roster, this is a pretty good accomplishment for this group.โโฉ
Cowan, in his second start in six days, allowed just two hits and didnโt give up a run. He threw a season-high 82 pitches after tossing 73 pitches (his season-high before Sunday) on Tuesday. After surrendering a two-run walk-off home run last weekend at Mississippi State, Cowan has 14 strikeouts in 10 shutout innings this week.
โ(He) should be hands down SEC pitcher of the week,โ Johnson said. โIโve talked about him for two years, how important he is to our program and to me. That was awesome.
โSuper proud of him. Pitching staff all weekend was great, and no outing was better than that one today.โ
His outing further preserved a Tigers staff that used 20 pitchers at Mississippi State. This weekend, sophomore right-hander William Schmidt tossed six innings in Game 1 on Saturday, and freshman right-hander Marcos Paz got through five innings in Game 2.
โIt started on the mound,โ Johnson said. โThat's a heck of a lot closer to the standard we want to pitch at.โ
The healthy pitching plan allowed ณขณงฑซโs offense plenty of time to build leads on Saturday and Sunday, when the Tigers jumped out to a 6-0 advantage just before Cowan exited the contest.
LSU added two runs in the third inning on a two-run home run from freshman Omar Serna, scored twice more in the fifth on a sac fly and a run-scoring single, and took a 6-0 advantage on freshman Jack Ruckertโs base-hit that eventually drove in freshman William Patrick because of an error and Sernaโs ground ball fielderโs choice that allowed Ruckert to touch home.
Sophomore Cade Arrambide and Ruckert finished with two hits apiece. Serna drove in three runs, and LSU's leadoff hitters finished the day going 6-for-8.
โWe needed this, not only to boost our chances in the postseason and everything, but we needed this as a team to feel confidence going forward,โ Arrambide said. โOur next two weekends are against really good teams.โ
LSU faces Tulane in its final nonconference midweek game of the season on Tuesday. First pitch from Alex Box Stadium is set for 6:30 p.m., and the game will be available to stream on SEC Network+.