LSU baseball shook up the starting rotation vs. Alabama. Games one and two remained the same, with Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson taking the mound. But Jay Johnson opted to roll with Conner Ware over Chase Shores on Saturday.
Shores entered the game in relief, but it was the first change to the starting rotation all year.
LSU dropped game three, but still left with a series. After the game, Johnson discussed the change.
Johnson said Shores wasn’t just available out of the pen on Saturday, but was available in games one and two.
“He was down there ready to go,” Johnson said, “And it was like trying to find the right spot to maximize him for the weekend. And I thought he did some good things tonight. Obviously, the homer, he’d like to have that back. But had some strikeouts and I thought he competed well in the game today.”
Johnson said he wasn’t ready to announce the plans for LSU’s next series yet.
“I haven’t really looked at next weekend yet from opponent match-up, all those types of things, closely at all,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he’s comfortable starting Shores, but wanted to give LSU flexibility out of the pen in the Alabama series.
LSU returns to action on Tuesday, hosting Northwestern State at 6:30 PM CT in Alex Box Stadium. LSU’s next SEC series is a home meeting with Tennessee. Game one will be on Friday.