Baseball Takes Series Against Hogs; New QB Recruit on Radar

BASEBALL

LSU won a big, big series this weekend at Arkansas after closing out a tight 4-3 contest on Sunday. Sunday starter Austin Ross had a good outing and gave LSU six solid innings. LSU once again turned to Chad Jones in middle relief and he pitched 1 hitless inning. Matty Ott then came on to pitch a scoreless 8th and scoreless 9th to secure another save. For much of this season, LSU has been missing that "bridge" between the starting pitcher and Matty Ott. For two Sundays in a row, Chad Jones has effectively filled the role of that "bridge." He still has only pitched under 2 innings on the season, so I'm not ready to call him the solution just yet. However, he's showing a lot of promise, and he could play a huge role on this team for the rest of the season.

At the plate, LSU wasn't spectacular this weekend as they scored a total of just 13 runs in 3 games. But, it was enough to get the series win and I suppose that's all that matters. Blake Dean continued his hot hitting going 4 for 10 with 1 HR and 4 RBIs on the weekend.

This weekend saw a big shake-up at the top of the SEC standings. Florida swept Georgia this weekend and in doing so, they took a 2 game lead in the SEC East. Ole Miss swept Auburn this weekend, and they pulled even with LSU in the SEC West. LSU, Florida, and OIe Miss are all tied for the overall SEC lead with 16-8 league records. That obviously makes LSU's series at home against Florida next weekend very big. The Box will certainly be buzzing. The good news is that LSU gets SEC worst Mississippi State on the final weekend of the regular season. I stand by my statement last week that LSU needs to finish with a 20-10 SEC record and have a solid showing at the SEC Tournament to secure a national Top 8 seed. However, that may or may not be enough to win the SEC regular season title. Winning the series against Florida next weekend is of utmost importance. It should be a very interesting finish to this SEC season.


RECRUITING
In recruiting news, LSU has thrown their hat into the mix for another QB by offering a scholarship. Jesse Scroggins from Lakewood, CA is 6'3" 195 pounds and has offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, Tennessee, and Nebraska. A threat both passing and running the ball, Scroggins looks very impressive on his highlight tapes. He's got a big arm and seems to make good decisions. LSU has historically recruited poorly in the state of California, but since Scroggins doesn't have offers from USC or UCLA, he's looking at going out of state to play ball. That seems to legitimize LSU's chances a bit.