SWEEP!!!

LSU trailed Villanova for an inning and a half on Sunday.  That's about the only negative I can come up with this weekend, as LSU absolutely bludgeoned the Wildcats to open up the new Alex Box. 

Villanova is not a terribly good team.  At best, they are a middle of the pack Big East team, and they probably aren't even that.  But this is baseball and inferior teams often beat more talented teams, and it's always difficult to sweep anybody.  LSU made it look easy.  They didn't just sweep Villanova, the games weren't even that close.  The mark of a great team isn't winning close games, it's winning by blowout.  LSU did what great teams are supposed to do: they ripped the heart out of their opponent and gave them no hope of winning.

It's hard to pick out the most impressive performance, though I'm partial to DJ LeMahieu banging out three triples, which is a season's worth of three-baggers.  Home runs are more valuable of course, but there is no play more exciting than the triple, and LeMaheiu delivered.  I'm also impressed that LSU not only displayed their usual power, but speed.  The Tigers stole 11 bases on 13 attempts.  That's a nice indication.  Hell, even the bench played well.

However, the most impressive thing from this weekend was the dominance of the pitching staff.  The rotation combined for the line of 16 IP, 2 R, 9 H, 5 BB, and 19 K.  I don't care who you are playing, that's awesome.  Even better, Bradshaw came out of the pen and probably looked better than any of the starters.  He pitched 3 innings and faced the minimum 9 batters.  He only threw 35 pitches and still struck out 5 of the 9 batters he faced.  Apparently, that injury isn't as serious as we thought. 

It's hard not to gush.  So let's click our heels and repeat this phrase to ground ourselves: it's only Villanova, it's only Villanova, it's only Villanova.