Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
LSU coach praises Smith, McEntire
FAYETTEVILLE — Seems with ace left-hander Hagen Smith opening every Arkansas SEC series that opponents have settled into hoping 2 out of 3 ain’t bad will suffice for their weekly SEC trilogy.
In posting opening night SEC victories over Missouri, Auburn and now Thursday night, 7-4 over LSU, Smith hasn’t faced an opposing ace.
LSU, the reigning national champion, currently nationally ranked eighth, 20-7, 2-5 in the SEC as of Thursday night, and reigning SEC champion No. 1 Arkansas, 21-3, 6-1 in the SEC as of Thursday night, were scheduled Friday night to continue their SEC West series at Baum-Walker Stadium and conclude at 2 p.m. today.
Luke Holman, 5-1, 0.78 ERA, is considered LSU’s ace like Smith, 5-0, 1.54 with 72 strikeouts and only 10 walks in 35 innings, is Arkansas’ ace.
But LSU Coach Jay Johnson had right-hander Holman scheduled to pitch Friday vs. Arkansas’ Mason Molina and tried piece-mealing seven relievers vs. Smith before Thursday’s 11,027 cramming Baum-Walker.
Johnson explained. He noted Smith had a full week’s rest since throwing 87 pitches and six shutout innings the previous Thursday in the 1-0 victory at Auburn.
Holman last pitched on Friday, March 22 throwing six 1-hit innings beating Florida 6-1, LSU’s lone win upon losing Saturday and Sunday.
“He threw 106 pitches, and we’re not a very good team if he’s not pitching for us,” Johnson said. “So we need to keep him on full rest. That’s the only reason, and we’d already moved him up once this year.”
Sounded plausible to Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn.
“Doesn’t surprise me that they gave him another day because he threw last Friday,” Van Horn said Thursday night. “You can say they’re pitching off or you could just say they’re giving him his normal rest. Doesn’t really matter. That [Holman] is who we go to try to beat tomorrow.”
Given the postgame respect Johnson paid Smith — touched for consecutive solo home runs in the fourth but otherwise superb with 10 strikeouts vs. no walks and 5 hits through 6 innings — and right-handed reliever Will McEntire — 8 strikeouts and 2 walks, 4 hits and 2 runs for 2 2/3 innings Thursday and three scoreless innings in two appearances against Auburn — Johnson still might have opted to save Holman for Friday even if well rested.
“Those guys have been really good here for a long time,” Johnson said. ‘“Both of them. I thought we did OK against Hagen. He’s the best. And McEntire’s been a winner. He’s got video game reliever numbers. We set up the table, got him to 60 pitches. Hopefully he won’t be able to come back this weekend.”
Van Horn summoned lefty Stone Hewlett to strike out LSU left-handed batter Josh Pearson ending the game, though McEntire had just recorded his eighth strikeout after wild pitching a run home.
“Just a really good job by our pitching staff,” Van Horn said.