When the Missouri Tigers (15-5) arrived in Baton Rouge for their Southeastern Conference opener against No. 16 LSU, it was clear what kind of firepower they would be up against.
LSU (14-7) is the reigning SEC champion and was runner-up in the 2017 College World Series. Its leader in batting average a year ago and 2018 D1Baseball Preseason Second-Team All-American Zach Watson is back in purple and gold this year. Junior outfielder Antoine Duplantis was named by SEC coaches to the Preseason All-SEC First-Team.
LSU as a team is slashing .302/.397/.456. Only one of its regulars doesn’t have a home run on the season, and that one player happens to be Brandt Broussard, who leads the team with a .388 average and 26 hits.
Fittingly, LSU scored 17 runs on Missouri over the weekend — the most MU has given up in a three-game series this year — and took the series 2-1. Bryce Montes de Oca showed significant command issues in Missouri’s 4-2 loss on Friday, walking seven Tigers, the most since his opening start against FIU. Andy Toelken surrendered his highest run total since his loss against Northeastern, allowing three earned in just three innings in the Tigers 7-5 loss.
There is a silver lining here despite the Tigers’ first series loss of 2018.
They’re showing improvement against intense competition. Missouri defeated LSU on Saturday 12-6. It was Mizzou's first ever win over LSU after starting 0-13. And it now has defeated three ranked opponents this year after beating then-ranked No. 24 Miami back on February 21 and No. 20 Wichita State last Tuesday. A team showing it can keep up with the best is far more telling than what the win-loss record displays.
In game one, Missouri had the bases loaded in the seventh down three with no outs but only got two runs on a Chris Cornelius sacrifice fly and a Trey Harris ground out. On Sunday, LSU kept a 3-2 lead until the sixth, when it scored three runs on T.J. Sikkema. Sikkema had previously been virtually untouchable, allowing just a run in 10.3 innings beforehand. Kameron Misner brought the Tigers to within two runs on a three-run jack in the ninth, but they went quietly after that.
On the positive side, Michael Plassmeyer was filthy again, striking out eight and allowing just two earned runs in seven innings on Saturday. Plassmeyer’s ERA is at 2.81 in a team-leading 32 innings. He’s walked four batters this year, and his 10.75 strikeout-to-walk ratio is tops on the team by a landslide. The junior’s taken a serious step forward this year, bringing his ERA down by more than two runs from 4.83 in 2017, and he is 3-0 because of it.
Missouri will break from SEC play this week when it hosts Arkansas State (8-8, 0-3 in the Sun Belt) on Tuesday and Wednesday.
