LSU Baseball fall scrimmage notes: Friday, October 16th

Day 2 of week 2 of LSU fall baseball scrimmages is in the books and we saw more continuation of good performances from a few players, while one new face made his first statement in purple and gold.

It was a beautiful night at Alex Box with the first real taste of fall. The air was crisp and the breeze was refreshing, but that breeze turned in to a howling wind, which made a couple of swings look even more impressive.

Before we get going, I’ll list off the lineups for each team and who pitched. Cumulative stats for Friday night are included. We’ll then transition to some bullet point notes.

Lineups

Gold (visitors)

1.) DH – Jason Wachs – 0-3

2.) RF – Eddie Yamin 0-3

3.) CF – Nate Davis-Cleary 0-3

4.) 3B – Malachi Washington 1-2/RBI/BB

5.) SS – Steven Milam 0-2

6.) 1B – John Pearson 1-1/RBI

7.) C – Cade Arrambide 0-2

8.) 2B – Parker Loew 0-2

9.) Staff

SP – Lucas Nawrocki 1.2IP/2 H/0 ER/3 K

RP – Cooper Williams 3.0 IP/1 H/1 ER/3 K/3 BB

RP – Kaden Smith 2.0 IP/3 H/3 ER/1 K/1 BB

Purple (home)

1.) 3B – Jack Ruckert 1-4/HR/2 RBI

2.) 2B – Cade Kurland 1-2/2B/BB

3.) RF – Dominic Santarelli 0-4

4.) SS – Dawson Park 3-3/HR/RBI/BB

5.) 1B – Mason Braun 0-3/BB

6.) C – Omar Serna 1-2/RBI/BB

7.) LF – Dylan Minnatee 0-3

8.) CF – William Patrick 0-3

9.) Staff

SP – Landon Hood 3.0 IP/0 H/0 ER/2 K

RP – Danny Lachenmayer 2.1 IP/2 H/0 ER/5 K

Scrimmage notes

• Landon Hood followed up his great debut last Friday with another impressive performance. Through 5.0 innings pitched in two scrimmages, he’s only allowed one hit and has yet to issue a walk. His fastball was up to 94 mph in what looked to be a 4-pitch mix. He was mixing in a mid-80s slider, a mid-70s curveball, and it looked like a changeup. His velo dropped a little to around 92 for his second and third innings, but he was still effective with the only runner reaching base on him due to an error. It’s early, but I believe that Hood is fully in the mix for the weekend rotation battle.
• Lucas Nawrocki followed up his homerun last night with a solid performance on the mound. He allowed a double to Kurland and an RBI single to Park, but was really good outside of that. He was up to 95 with his heater and had plenty of offspeed in the mid-80s. He threw a ton of strikes.
• Parker Loew avenged his error at SS last night with a fantastic backhand play at 2nd base tonight.
• After entering to get the final out of an inning in relief of Nawrocki, Cooper Williams was fantastic in his first full inning of work. They started the inning with runners on 1st and 2nd, but Williams never allowed a runner to reach 3rd. His next inning got off to a tough start with the HR by Park and consecutive walks, but he locked in for back to back strikeouts and a pop out to escape from more damage. He walked the leadoff hitter in his next inning, but induced a double play ball to end his night.
• Malachi Washington accounted for 2 runs in one inning all by himself. With a runner on 3rd and 2 outs, he beat out a routine groundball to Park at SS. He then stole 2nd, moved to 3rd on the throw, and scored on a wild pitch. He’s electric.
• Dawson Park’s HR was an opposite field laser to the Diamond Deck.
• Danny Lachenmayer was really good. He was the victim of Washington’s heroics, but then dominated his next inning. He gave up a bloop single to John Pearson, then struck out the side with Arrambide, Loew, and Wachs. His offspeed command struggled in his first inning, which made him go to his fastball more in his second inning, making his 3 straight Ks much more impressive. They all came with runners on 2nd and 3rd.
• Kaden Smith was up to 95 mph, but struggled early. He got himself in to trouble with two singles and an E1, which eventually led to Ruckert’s HR. He was much more efficient in his second inning of work. He allowed a walk, but erased it with a double play.
• Jack Ruckert has now hit a homer in back to back Friday scrimmages. Last week was opposite field, but this week was pull side through a very strong wind. Early on, it looks like it’s going to be hard to keep him off of the field, which is why they’re playing him in both the infield and outfield.
• Steven Milam flashed defensively, as always. He made a backhand pick in the 6-hole with a runner on 1st and whipped a throw across his body on the run to nab the lead runner. His leadership was also on display, as Washington had a slow chopper hit his way that wouldn’t have allowed him any extra time. You could hear Milam telling him as the ball approached “gotta go, gotta go”, coaching up his young teammate on the fly.

Player of the night

Dawson Park had his breakout game in purple and gold. He went 3-3 with a HR, two singles, and a 4-pitch walk in his final at bat.

Next up

LSU will take Saturday off and then return to Alex Box for their final scrimmage of the weekend on Sunday at 4 pm. Gates will open at 3:45 pm at gate 2 and, as always, entry and parking are free.

Below is my video recap that I do after every single game. Follow me on X @DCBilliotJr for much more!