LSU Baseball fall scrimmage notes: Friday, October 23rd

Friday night was the second scrimmage of the third week of fall ball for LSU. It was the first intra-squad of the session that was closed to the public, as they hosted members of the Coaches Committee and players’ families. Media was allowed to attend, though, so I was able to get another full night of observations.

Although a few pitchers had some success on Thursday night, the offense was really good. Like I had mentioned, 10 of the 18 starters drove in at least one RBI and while there was only one ball that left the stadium for a homerun, it seemed like productive at-bat after productive at-bat.

On Friday, pitching fought back. Landon Hood and Danny Lachenmayer were two of the names that had very good outings, which is a continuation of what we’ve seen from them for the past three weeks. I firmly believe that Hood is a name to watch to land in that all-important weekend rotation come the spring.

Opposite of Hood was two-way stud, Lucas Nawrocki, who started on the mound after hitting a homer the night before. That’s two weeks in a row that he’s done that. He had his moments of struggle, but still flashed plenty of signs to be excited about.

Dylan Minnatee, Parker Loew, and Angel Laya each notched 2 hits, but the big swings were very limited against Nate Yeskie’s pitching staff.

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

Lineups

Gold (visitors)

1.) CF – Nate Davis-Cleary (0-4)

2.) 2B – Cade Kurland (1-3, BB)

3.) RF – Angel Laya (2-4)

4.) C – Cade Arrambide (1-3, BB)

5.) 1B – Mason Braun (0-1, 2 BB)

6.) SS – Dawson Park (1-2, RBI/BB)

7.) 3B – Jack Ruckert (0-2, RBI/BB)

8.) DH – Jordan Martinez (1-3, RBI)

9.) LF – Eddie Yamin (0-3)

SP – Landon Hood (3.0 IP/3 H/0 R/4 K/1 BB/61% strikes/6-11 1st pitch strikes)

RP – Cooper Williams (2.2 IP/4 H/2 R/3 K/3 BB/57% strikes/8-14 1st pitch strikes)

Purple (home)

1.) CF – Jason Wachs (1-3, RBI)

2.) C – Omar Serna (0-3)

3.) SS – Steven Milam (0-1, 2 BB)

4.) LF – Dominic Santarelli (0-3)

5.) 2B – Parker Loew (2-2, RBI/BB)

6.) 3B – Malachi Washington (1-3, RBI)

7.) 1B – Dylan Minnatee (2-2, 2B/BB)

8.) RF – William Patrick (0-2)

9.) DH – Lucas Nawrocki (1-2, 2B/RBI)

SP – Lucas Nawrocki (1.2 IP/1 H/1 R/3 K/4 BBs/40% strikes/1-9 1st pitch strikes)

RP – Kaden Smith (2.0 IP/3 H/1 R/1 K/0 BB/67% strikes/5-9 1st pitch strikes)

RP – Danny Lachenmayer (3.0 IP/2 H/0 R/5 K/2 BB/60% strikes/9-13 1st pitch strikes)

Scrimmage notes

• Lucas Nawrocki struggled with his command out of the gate. He struck out 2 in the 1st inning, but walked 3, which led to them calling the inning with just 2 outs. After he walked the leadoff in the 2nd, he locked in. Velocity was up to 96, but it was his offspeed that struggles, leading to plenty of pitches in the dirt, including some wild pitches. After he finished pitching, he walked down to the batting cages with a bat and eventually came in to the game. He hit an opposite field double to drive in a run in his second plate appearance.
• Landon Hood was REALLY good, once again, featuring his 4-pitch mix and getting up to 96. He threw 14 pitches in his 2nd inning with 9 strikes, then had a quick 1-2-3 with the help of a double play turned by Ruckert to Kurland to Braun.
• Jack Ruckert’s stat line doesn’t jump off the page tonight, but it was another game in which he found a way to be productive at the plate. His first AB was with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs and he did what he’s supposed to do by driving in a run on a hard hit ground ball out.
• Omar Serna threw out Dawson Park, adding to his list of caught stealing.
• Speaking of throwing runners out, Cade Arrambide gunned down Parker Loew twice tonight. Both catchers have thrown out quite a few guys through these early fall scrimmages.
• Dylan Minnatee continues to make noise at the plate, ripping a double deep in to the right-center gap. Davis-Cleary actually almost made a gold glove play because of his elite speed, but was unable to corral a tough sliding catch on a well-hit ball.
• Kaden Smith had probably his best outing in 3 weeks. He was up to 95 and showed grit. In his first inning, he got 2 quick outs, but gave up back to back singles to Laya and Arrambide, then started Braun 3-0. He fought all the way back with 4 straight strikes to get out of the inning without damage.
• Jason Wachs has a pretty good arm. He almost threw out Park trying to tag from 2nd with a good throw from CF, but Washington was unable to reel in the short up in the dirt. That’s something that will take time to get used to for the former outfielder.
• Dawson Park manufactured a run mostly by himself by singling and stealing 2nd with 0 outs, then moved to 3rd on that flyout to Wachs, which put him in position to score on a groundball with the infield in.
• Cooper Williams was up and down. He first came in and got 2 quick outs, but then issued a 2-out walk on 5 pitches. He immediately tried a pick off, but missed his target, allowing the runner to move in to scoring position, which promptly bit him on a single that drove the runner in.
• Danny Lachenmayer threw 9 of his 10 pitches for strikes in his first inning of work. His command slipped to start his second inning, walking 2 of the first 3, but then struck out Martinez and Yamin to get back on track. He went right back to pumping strikes in his third inning, holding strong through 50 pitches.
• Cade Kurland flashed his former shortstop defensive skills on a tough pick and throw up the middle.
• Cooper Williams breaking balls to lefties looked unhittable, but it’s the righties that he needs to find his out pitch for.

Player of the night

Although Landon Hood was very good, I’m going with Danny Lachenmayer. He struck out 5 threw 3 innings of work for the second week in a row.

As far as a positional player of the game, Dylan Minnatee and his 2-2, including a nice double, were probably two of the best swings of the night.

Next up

LSU has one more intra-squad game for the week and potentially for the fall session. With the next 3 weeks being their exhibitions against Samford, Troy, and SLU, I’m not sure if they will have any more public scrimmages. It’s possible, but we will keep you guys informed.

As for this weekend, they return on Sunday at 1 pm for first pitch. It’s back to being open to the public with gates opening at 12:45 and entry/parking free.

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