Baseball Weekend Preview - Vs Youngstown St, Nicholls St.

LSU’s opening week was good, but not without cost. Giovanni DiGiacomo will be out for multiple weeks with a strained hamstring. Mainieri will start Mitchell Sanford and Will Safford in his place. Sanford started against USL in the midweek and went 1-2 with a hit and a walk. Expect more lineup experimentation this weekend, and for the starters to be extended a little further. This is still early season and LSU has a 5 game week ahead, so quick hooks and light loads on the arms will be the objective.

The Youngstown St Penguins (1-3, 4 games vs Troy last weekend) are playing their first ever games against LSU and Nicholls this weekend. The Penguins went 7-7 in the shortened 2020 with some wins over a ranked Houston on the road. The highlight in the lineup is 1B Padraig O’Shaughnessy. From Youngstown St PR (which I must complement on being very thorough):

Junior first baseman Padraig O’Shaughnessy batted .286 and slugged a team-best .714 with two hits including a home run in seven at bats over three games played at Troy on opening weekend. He also recorded two runs scored, three walks and an RBI.

O’Shaughnessy went 2-for-3 with a solo home run, a walk and two runs scored in YSU’s 4-2 win over Trojans in the series finale on Sunday. He hit his first home run as a Penguin in the top of the third inning to push the Penguins’ lead to 4-0.

O’Shaughnessy led YSU with a .417 batting average and a .563 on-base percentage during the shortened 2020 season. He recorded five hits including a double in 12 at bats over seven games and two starts last season.

And their mascot Pete is pretty great

Nicholls (1-2, vs Eastern Illinois last weekend) will be throwing So. LH Tyler Theriot in his first real action of the year on Sunday. Theriot notably got the win for Nicholls last year against LSU, in a outing with 7 Ks and 1 run on 5.1 IP. The Colonels are picked to finish 9th in the Southland this year and so far have just 1 home run on the year, by LSU transfer OF Wes Toups.

Probable Starters

YSU at LSU (Game 1) - Friday, 7pm

LSU – Jr. RH Jaden Hill (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 4.0 IP, 0 BB, 5 SO)

YSU – LH Colin Clark (0-1, 15.43 ERA, 4.2 IP, 1 BB, 4 SO)

YSU at LSU (Game 2) - Saturday, 2pm

LSU – Jr. RH AJ Labas (0-0, 13.50 ERA, 3.1 IP, 1 BB, 8 SO)

YSU – LH Collin Floyd (0-1, 7.94 ERA, 5.2 IP, 2 BB, 4 SO)

Nicholls at LSU - Saturday, 7pm

LSU – Jr. RH Landon Marceaux (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 5.0 IP, 0 BB, 4 SO)

NICH – So. LH Tyler Theriot (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.1 IP, 0 BB, 0 SO)

Also this weekend

Friday - Youngstown v Nicholls @ Nicholls, 12:30pm

Sunday - Youngstown v Nicholls @ Nicholls, 1pm

Tuesday - Nicholls v LSU @ LSU, 6:30pm

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