#2 LSU at #9 ARKANSAS -- NCAA BASEBALL'S BIGGEST MATCHUP OF THE WEEKEND

Thanks.

 

Baseball America:


the Tigers made four truly sensational defensive plays Friday.

The first came in the seventh inning, when left fielder Raph Rhymes made a leaping catch at the wall to steal a home run away from Brian Anderson.

An inning later, shortstop Alex Bregman made a charging, barehanded scoop on a Jacob Morris squibber with funky spin, then threw to first in time to get the speedy Morris.

In the ninth, Tyler Spoon led off with a hot shot down the line, and LSU third baseman Christian Ibarra made a pretty backhanded stop and a strong throw across the diamond for the out. The next batter, Anderson, ripped a ball into the right-center gap, and center fielder Andrew Stevenson showed off his top-of-the-charts speed by ranging to his left and making the diving catch.

“This is the best defensive team I’ve ever seen in college—not even one that I’ve coached—ever,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said... “We make exceptional plays...People think I’m crazy because Laird plays center field like a big leaguer, but I put Stevenson out there and he’s better than Laird. So you put Laird in right and you get pretty good coverage out there. Then our infield makes the routine plays, but how about the play Bregman made and the play Ibarra made? And then I think we have the best defensive catcher in the country back there (Ty Ross). So we’ve got a really good defensive player at every position, and it allows our pitchers just to be very aggressive and go after hitters, and know that if they put the ball in play and it’s anywhere close to our players, they generally make the play.”
...
Nola dominated Arkansas primarily by pitching down in the zone and at the corners with his lively fastball, which hit 93-94 mph repeatedly in the early innings and still sat at 91 in the ninth. He didn’t have his best feel for his 76-79 breaking ball and his 82-84 slider, but he still mixed those pitches in effectively. The fastball, though, was his bread and butter.
“My fastball location was working tonight,” Nola said. “The whole game I couldn’t really find my curveball, but I got a couple good curveballs in there with two strikes, got a couple strikeouts with that. It took me a little while to find my changeup a little bit, but I made the clutch pitches when I needed to, and our defense was phenomenal with all those plays, and our offense was clutch.”
...
Every year, Mainieri seems to make a midseason lineup adjustment that gives his team a spark, like when he inserted freshmen Mikie Mahtook and Austin Nola into the lineup midway through 2009, or when he called upon freshmen Alex Edward and Mason Katz in 2010. This year’s midseason find appears to be McMullen, a junior-college transfer who has given LSU a lift as the leadoff man and DH over the past 11 games.
“McMullen has really made us better,” Mainieri said. “We were playing pretty well, but I was a little concerned about our leadoff spot. I think McMullen, the light bulb kind of went on for him. He kind of had gotten to that point where he kind of had his feet on the ground, he was confident and not overwhelmed by everything. I thought the kid had a chance to be an electric player for us when we recruited him, but he just seemed nervous, unsure of himself. Maybe it was a different coach, a different environment, the brighter lights, I don’t know. But a couple weeks ago, I could just tell his batting practices were better, he was just carrying himself with more confidence. I thought it was time to put him in there, and since we put him in there he’s made a big difference for our team.”

 

Today, taking the mound for Arkansas is what most consider THE GREATEST PLAYER IN THE SEC....

R Y N E S T A N E K


each of the following has Stanek graded as the SEC player the will be the first taken in the next draft (likely Top 5 overall)
MLB.com -- Stanek is #1
College Baseball Daily -- Stanek is #1
Baseball America -- Stanek is #1
Perfect Game -- Stanek is #1

last year, Stanek v. Eades was a great one:
--Stanek went 7.0 and held LSU to 1 run while striking out 10 and walking 1
--Eades went 7.1 and held Arky to1 run while striking out 8 and walking 1

 

notes on Stanek

--Baseball America: Stanek gives Arkansas one of the nation's most electrifying Friday starters, with a 93-96 fastball, plus power slider, solid downer curve and changeup.

--Stanek has been especially impressive in recent weeks, throwing a complete game in a win at South Carolina three weeks ago (for which he was named SEC Pitcher of the Week) and eight scoreless innings at Alabama

--Stanek will throw gas with good movement from 94-97mph with a nasty slider but inconsistent with it's location. If he's on he's almost untouchable.

--When he is on, he is hard to touch. Fastball ranges anywhere from 94-97. Has a slider that is nasty. If both pitches are working he is very hard to touch. Power pitcher.

--When he is on he is incredible, and basically untouchable.

 

Top 1

Stanek

Laird singles, then K K K


Bot 1

Eades

Mahan walks

grounder to IBARRA TO JONES TO KATZ!! DP!

Ground out to THE BOSS


Top 2

Stanek

Katz walks, Jones singles that was it


Bot 2

Eades

Gave up a walk, got a K, that was it


Top 3

Stanek knocks LSU down 1 2 3


Bot 3

Eades

Gave up Base hit but finished it with back to back K's

K K K

 

Top 4

Stanek gave up base hit to Rhymes, K'd Jones for out 3

K K K K for him

 

Bot 4

Walk

One of Arkansas' best guys up, Fico...he singles straight down the right field line. No outs, runners on the corners

 

K by Eades

K K K K

Mainieri huddles the team at the mound

 

Arkansas team captain catcher Wise hits a 3 run home run that left the park by one foot

3-0 Arkansas