And The Valley Shook - All Posts

Aaron Nola and Ryne Stanek Duel It Out, LSU Falls to Arkansas 4-1

2013-05-24T03:53:31Z

For once, the hype surrounding two starting pitchers actually delivered in a game. Aaron Nola and Ryne Stanek proved why they are two of the best pitchers in the SEC and both guys put on one hell of a show.

Nola went seven innings for the Tigers and looked to have minimal rust on him, considering he hadn’t started a game in close to two weeks. He struck out eight, walked one, allowed six hits, and gave up only one run. Nola had excellent command of his fastball and breaking balls all night, and limited Arkansas’ chances on the bases. However, Arkansas was able to run up his pitch count a bit, which is why he was lifted after the seventh inning.

Nola left the game tied at one, and Joey Bourgeois came on in relief. Bourgeois only managed to get one out and gave up two singles before being yanked for Nick Rumbelow. Arkansas’ Tyler Spoon executed a perfect safety squeeze bunt against Rumbelow and put the Razorbacks up 2-1 before the inning was over.

The Razorbacks widened their lead in the 9^th against LSU relievers Kurt McCune and Will LaMarche. Arkansas was really aggressive with their base running in the ninth, stealing two bases in the inning. Both runners would later score, and gave the Razorbacks a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.

LSU went quietly and quickly in the ninth, and are now headed into the loser’s bracket where they will face Alabama for the second time in the tournament.

Stanek performance tonight was very similar to his first outing against LSU. He was in command for most of the game with a few trouble spots where he managed to pitch himself out of trouble. He went eight innings, struck out four, walked three, and gave up six hits. The one run he surrendered was an unearned run. LSU scored its only run on a fielding error by Arkansas short stop Brett McAfee in the third inning, but Stanek shut the Tigers down the rest of the way.

The Tiger bats could never really get going. LSU fell behind early in the count consistently, and did not swing the bat with much authority tonight. Whenever LSU did manage to get runners on base, it was usually with two outs and they rarely made it into scoring position. LSU had the bases loaded in the fourth inning when Stanek walked the bases loaded, but Stanek came up with a clutch pitch against LSU designated hitter Sean McMullen and worked his way out of the jam.

LSU now faces an uphill battle to win the SEC tournament. If they are going to win this thing, they need to win three games in a row and have a better showing offensively than what we saw tonight.

2013 SEC Tournament - Session 6 GAMETHREAD

2013-05-23T19:30:04Z

In a double elimination tournament, your second game is often your most important game of the week. Especially if you win your first game. This is the "marble" game, in which the winner gets to sit back and relax while the loser has to win a game to force a rematch. And then if they win the rematch that they forced with that one win, they have to win again. That's a lot of winning. A loss here not only puts LSU a game away from elimination, but it means that the Tigers would have to win three games to advance to the finals. A win here and LSU will have two chances to win one game to advance. That's a stark difference. This game is huge.

Today's Opponent: Arkansas

Record: 35-19 (18-11), 3^rd in the SEC
RS/RA: 274/150
RPI: 49
ISR: 25

When Last We Met:

Preview
Results

LSU 6, Arkansas 2
Arkansas 8, LSU 3
LSU 5, Arkansas 3

What's Changed:

Arkansas won four of their final five series after the LSU series, but a lot of that had to do with the soft landing that was their schedule. Their one series loss was to Auburn, so let's not get too crazy. Still, they finished strong and have been rounding into postseason form. Give them credit, they took advantage of their easier schedule. Still, they are still the same pitching and defense team they were when they played them. And I still hate them and hope the field at the Met opens up and swallows their team whole.

What Drive-by Truckers Album Should Serve as the Soundtrack?

Look, the idea of listening to the CSS crew for a full game is just too much for me to take. I highly recommend cranking up Spotify or the Cloud player of your choice, and listening to some southern rock n roll instead of the broadcast. For each game, I will roll with a different DBT album, on repeat.

This is a big game, and one that is likely to stress me the hell out. So you need some tunes that will match your stressed out mood throughout. We need the slower tempos and darker subject matter of Brighter Than Creation's Dark. Even the songs that sound happy are depressing as hell (Perfect Timing, Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife). I plan to be a big bundle of stress, listening to the piano chords of You and Your Crystal Meth, praying that we can scrape out the win. This is not a game meant to be enjoyed, it will be survived. We won't talk about what went down at the Goode's Field Road.

Likely Pitching Matchup:

Aaron Nola v. Ryan Stanek

Let's roll out some aces, y'all. This is a heavyweight tilt, and it's an all hand's on deck sort of game. You have to win this one. Let it all hang out. Other clichés. Let's do this. Actually, Stanek is not Arkansas' nominal ace, but he did beat LSU in his start, and that has to count for something.

Session 6

TV: SPSO - SportSouth, Sun Sports, Fox Sports Southwest, Fox Sports Houston (Watch on ESPN3.com)

Radio: SiriusXM 91 (Free National audio stream from the SEC)

Game 11 - 9:30 a.m.

#3 Arkansas vs. #2 LSU - LIVE STATS

How They Got Here

Cody Glenn Wins a Pitcher's Duel; LSU Blanks Bama 3-0

Arkansas Beats Ole Miss 2-1 On Wild Pitch Walk-Off In SEC Baseball Tournament

Series Record - LSU 2-1 @ Arkansas

Probable Starters

ARK - RHP JR Ryne Stanek (8-2, 1.54 ERA, 82.0 IP, 32 BB, 72 K)

LSU - RHP SO Aaron Nola (10-0, 1.99 ERA, 95.0 IP, 13 BB, 97 K)

Game 12 - 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 11

#9 Texas A&M vs. #5 Mississippi State LIVE STATS

How They Got Here

Aggies Shock #1 Vanderbilt, Close In On Postseason Berth

Mississippi State takes 5-3 win from South Carolina in SEC Tournament

Series Record - State 3-0 @ A&M

Probable Starters

A&M - RHP JR Rafael Pineda (5-4, 3.09 ERA, 58.1 IP, 15 BB, 31 SO)

STATE - RHP SR Kendall Graveman (5-5, 2.99 ERA, 87.1 IP, 23 BB, 55 K)

2013 SEC Tournament - Session 5 OPEN THREAD

2013-05-23T14:00:06Z

Session 5

TV: SPSO - SportSouth, Sun Sports, Fox Sports Southwest, Fox Sports Houston (Watch on ESPN3.com)

Radio: Sat Radio XM 199/Sirius 158 (Free National audio stream from the SEC)

Game 9 - 9:30 a.m.

#6 Ole Miss vs. #7 Alabama - Elimination Game LIVE STATS

How They Got Here

Alabama Baseball Shutout by LSU in Round Two of 2013 SEC Tournament

SEC Baseball Tournament: Arkansas 2, Ole Miss 1 (10) -- Hog Wild (Pitch)

Series Record - Alabama 0-3 @ Ole Miss

Probable starters

OM - RHP FR Jacob Wageuspack (0-1, 2.89 ERA, 9.1 IP, 3 BB, 3 K)
BAMA - RHP SO Spencer Turnbull (4-3, 3.61 ERA, 77.1 IP, 30 BB, 41 K)

Game 10 - 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 9

#1 Vanderbilt vs. #4 South Carolina - Elimination Game LIVE STATS

How They Got Here

SEC Tournament: Mississippi State 5, South Carolina 3 -- Bulldogs Stare Down Defeat In Unusual Fashion. What's New?

SEC Tournament: Texas A&M 5, Vanderbilt 0 -- Hoover, We Have an Upset

Series Record - Vandy 2-0 @ South Carolina

Probable Starters

VANDY - LHP JR Kevin Ziomek (10-2, 1.99 ERA, 99.2 IP, 36 BB, 102 SO)
SCAR - LHP SO Jordan Montgomery (4-1, 2.11 ERA, 55.1 IP, 15 BB, 38 K)

Cody Glenn Wins a Pitcher's Duel; LSU Blanks Bama 3-0

2013-05-22T22:25:03Z

Cody Glenn continues to improve his game at a time when LSU needs the most from it's pitching staff. Each week he seems to get just a bit better, becoming another formidable starter on a team that already has two early round draft picks. Combined with the great defense behind him, Glenn isn't content to let the discussion of who LSU's #2 starter is end just yet.

LSU started off the game by hammering Bama's Charley Sullivan for a 3 runs on 3 hits including an error assisted triple from lead-off hitter Sean McMullen. Sullivan was able to settle down and only allowed 5 more hits the rest of the game. The Tigers only had 3 strikeouts and made good contact, just not enough to get balls past the Bama defense.

Glenn had another stellar, long outing, going 7 complete with 5 hits, 2 strikeouts, 0 walks, and 2 hit batters. The LSU defense had 2 double plays. Glenn was cruising along until there were 2 outs in the 7th, when he hit a batter and gave up a single. He was able to induce a ground out to get out of the mess and was followed in relief by Rumbelow and Cotton for an inning each to complete the shutout.

It was a fine performance by the Tigers, though the lack of production past the 1st inning is certainly noticeable. Given the low scoring results in the tournament so far, this is not entirely unexpected. Runs are hard to come by for just about everyone in Hoover, and will continue to be so as LSU moves toward it's inevitable clash with Vandy. They'll face Ryne Stanek going for Arkansas tomorrow. Stanek is one of the few pitchers to get a win on LSU this year, hold the Tigers to no runs on 4 hits through 6.2 IP with 5Ks. The Tigers will have Nola back for his first action in 13 days and hopefully there will be minimal rust to knock off.

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Alabama......... 000 000 000 -  0  6  1
LSU................ 300 000 00X -  3  8  1
-------------------------------------------

Box Score

2013 SEC Tournament Session 4 OPEN THREAD

2013-05-22T21:00:10Z

Session 4

TV: CSS/Cox Sports (Watch on ESPN3.com)

Radio: SiriusXM 91 (Free National audio stream from the SEC)

Game 7 - 4:30 p.m.

#1 Vanderbilt vs. #9 Texas A&M LIVE STATS

Series Record - Did not play in the regular season

Probable starters

VANDY - RHP Walker Buehler (4-1, 2.29 ERA, 51IP, 24 BB, 45 K)
A&M - RHP JR Parker Ray (0-1, 2.12 ERA, 51.0 IP, 15 BB, 33 K)

Game 8 - 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 5

#4 South Carolina vs. #5 Mississippi State LIVE STATS

Series Record - State 2-1 @ State

Probable Starters

SCAR - LHP SR Nolan Belcher (7-5, 2.17 ERA, 99.1 IP, 13 BB, 83 SO)
MSU - TBA

2013 SEC Tournament Session 3 GAMETHREAD - LSU v. Alabama, A Slight Return

2013-05-22T13:00:08Z

The SEC baseball tournament is technically meaningless for LSU. OK, there's an automatic bid at stake and there's the whole "banners fly forever" thing, if we hung banners for winning the SEC tournament around these parts. But LSU is going to be hosting a regional next weekend as a national seed, and nothing that happens this week will change that.

On the other hand, the last two times LSU won a national title, it won the SEC tournament. So it never hurts to start the postseason off right. We're playing these games, so we might as well win them. Besides, we owe South Carolina a bit of revenge, and we have to win a few games to set up that rematch.

Today's Opponent: Alabama

Record: 32-24 (14-15)
RS/RA: 297/248
RPI: 28
ISR: 39

When Last We Met:

Preview
Results

LSU 5, Bama 0
LSU 11, Bama 8
Bama 4, LSU 3

What's Changed:

Not much. Bama is still the same middle of the pack team that dogpiled after winning the final game of the series to prevent getting swept. They did play Vandy tough, but they were also swept by Mississippi State. They are a classic middle of the pack team: just good enough to beat you if everything breaks right, but a team you really should beat. No one outside of Bama and LSU fans are even remotely excited about this game. Sorry everyone.

What Drive-by Truckers Album Should Serve as the Soundtrack?

I really don't anticipate this game holding my attention, so I'm going to roll out the big guns early. Decoration Day is my personal choice as not only the best album in their catalog, but the best album of the past decade. Your mileage may vary. But I'm hoping one of our lesser used relievers is on the mound, closing out a 5 run lead in the 9^th to the strands of When the Pin Hits the Shell. That's the plan, anyway. After the game, we plan on burying the body in the old sink hole and looking the preacher in the eye.

Likely Pitching Matchup:

Cody Glenn v. Charley Sullivan

Mainieri is saving Nola for a potential matchup with Arkansas, which is probably the right call. If you can't beat Alabama with your #3 starter, then you probably weren't going to win the SEC tournament anyway. Bama has the added disadvantage of having played yesterday, so they had to use their pen a bit to outlast Auburn. On the other hand, Bama is rolling out their ace, which is also the right call. You save your biggest gun for the biggest target, and that's what we are.

You can pretty much see how both teams rate each other by who they are trotting out to the hill. Also, to be fair to Glenn, he was pretty darn good against Alabama last time, though he did get a hard luck loss.

Session 3

TV: CSS/Cox Sports (Watch on ESPN3.com)

Radio: XM 199/Sirius 158 (Free National audio stream from the SEC)

Game 5 - 9:30 a.m.

#3 Arkansas vs. #6 Ole Miss LIVE STATS

Series Record - Ole Miss 2-1 @ Arkansas

Probable starters

ARK - RHP JR Barrett Astin (4-4, 2.02 ERA, 75.2 IP, 19 BB, 63 K)
Ole Miss - TBA

Game 6 - 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 5

#2 LSU vs. #7 Alabama LIVE STATS

Series Record - LSU 2-1 @ Bama

Probable Starters

LSU - RHP SO Cody Glenn (6-2, 2.64 ERA, 75.0 IP, 16 BB, 35 SO)
BAMA - RHP SR Charley Sullivan (5-5, 3.58 ERA, 83.0 IP, 22 BB, 72 SO)

2013 SEC Tournament - Session 2 OPEN THREAD

2013-05-21T21:00:04Z

Session 2

TV: CSS/Cox Sports (Watch on ESPN3.com)

Radio: XM 199/Sirius 158 (Free National audio stream from the SEC)

Game 3 - 4:30 p.m.

#8 Florida vs. #9 Texas A&M - Single Elimination LIVE STATS

Series Record - Did not play in the regular season

Probable starters

UF - RHP SO Johnny Magliozzi (4-1, 2.14 ERA, 54.2 IP, 12 BB, 45 K)
A&M - RHP SO Daniel Mengden (7-3, 1.92 ERA, 98.1 IP, 20 BB, 80 K)

Game 4 - 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 3

#5 Mississippi State vs. #12 Missouri - Single Elimination LIVE STATS

Series Record - Did not meet in the regular season

Probable Starters

MSU - RHP Trevor Fitts (0-0, 1.65 ERA, 16.1 IP, 5 BB, 15 K)
MIZ - LHP JR Rob Zastryzny (2-9, 2.64 ERA, 81.2 IP, 22 BB, 75 K)

2013 SEC Tournament - Session 1 OPEN THREAD

2013-05-21T13:00:06Z

Session 1

TV: FSN (Watch on ESPN3.com)

Radio: XM 199/Sirius 158 (Free National audio stream from the SEC)

Game 1 9:30 a.m.

#6 Ole Miss vs. #11 Kentucky - Single Elimination LIVE STATS

2013 Series Record: UK 2-1 @ Ole Miss

Probable Starters

UK: LHP SR Jerad Grundy (6-5, 4.75 ERA, 77.2 IP, 20 BB, 60 K)
OM: RHP JR Mike Mayers (4-5, 3.21 ERA, 81.1 IP, 30 BB, 66 K)

Game 2 (30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1)

#7 Alabama vs. #10 Auburn - Single Elimination LIVE STATS

2013 Series Record: 2-2 (Bama 2-1 @ Auburn; Auburn 1-0 @ Montgomery)

Probable Starters

BAMA: LHP SO Justin Kamplain (1-0, 4.53 ERA, 51.2 IP, 18 BB, 48 K)
AUB: LHP JR Conner Kendrick (5-3, 2.03 ERA, 75.1 IP, 27 BB, 74 K)

As you read this, I am likely somewhere in Mississippi en route to Hoover. I wont be in place to cover Game 1 (any volunteers?) but I should be up and running to cover the IRON BOWL OF BASEBALL

I'll be covering today's games and the rest of the tournament in the same fashion as you've come to expect this season. Feel free to comment below as the mood strikes you.