Out of an abundance of caution due to the weather forecast, Coach Mainieri made a tough choice just hours before last Tuesday's game against McNeese to hold Cody Glenn out of that midweek game and have him ready to start last night's series opener against UF. Despite it being an ESPNU Primetime game and the Gators announcing their staff ace Jonathon Crawford would start, Mainieri feared that if Aaron Nola started and the skies opened up, LSU would have to waste their strongest arm on a 1 or 2 inning outing. The rain never came, but Glenn took care of the Gators anyway. His 6 2/3 IP performance was enough to outlast Crawford and his 6 Ks on the night tied his career high. It wasn't enough to get the win, but this was the kind of solid performance that LSU needs out of a third starter to make the team truly championship caliber.
That's not to say it wasn't without its faults. In the 3rd inning, the Gators took advantage of a quirk in the LHP's delivery (he falls far off the mound to 3B at the end of his pitching motion) to plate two bunts, one of which scored on a throwing error later in the inning. But Glenn held his composure and sat down 12 in a row before giving up the lead on an RBI double. His relief of Rumbelow, Bourgeois(who got the win), and Cotton (who got his 11th save) held down the Gators for the rest of the night. They were helped by a mostly mistake free defense, including the return of some speedy work in the outfield by Mark Laird.
At the plate, LSU's offense showed signs of improvement, but the problems of the South Carolina series are still here, if only diminished somewhat. Instead of 2 runs off of 14 hits, the Tigers had 3 runs off of 8. There were only 8 LOB as opposed to a double digit figure. JaCoby Jones and Ty Ross hit a clutch home run and the game winning sac fly, respectively, but they also combined to go 1 for 7 with 5Ks. The rest of the Gator starters this weekend wont be as good as Crawford, so the Tigers need to take advantage and wake up the bats for the rest of the weekend.
Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Florida............. 001 000 100 - 2 6 0 LSU................. 001 100 01X - 3 8 1 -------------------------------------------