After a day in which the Tiger offense went nuclear against Samford, the bats came back down to Earth on day 2. LSU and Samford returned to Keesler Federal Park in Biloxi on Sunday for two more 6.5 inning exhibitions.
After winning the first game of the day (game 3) by a score of 4-1, the Tigers dropped the latter half of the doubleheader with the exact same score, except the Bulldogs taking the 4-1 victory for a 5-5 tie for the day.
LSU dominated Samford on Saturday by a combined score of 23-1 across
the two shortened exhibitions, which saw Jay Johnson’s squad hit 4 homeruns, 2 of which were grand slams.
So it’s easier to follow, I’ll summarize each Sunday game separately which stats and breakdowns. One quick note regarding pitchers, the radar gun was not fully consistent throughout the day, so it was tough to get consistent velocities.
Game 1
Pitching
Casan Evans
Last year’s Friday night ace made his fall debut by starting the first game on Sunday and he looked like vintage Casan Evans. He was only supposed to throw one inning, but after striking out two and going 1-2-3 on only 8 pitches, Johnson sent him back out for his second. He followed that up by striking out the side, working around a 1-out walk. William Schmidt has been electric through fall, so it should be a fun battle heading in to opening day on February 19th to see who pitches first on the weekends. It was great to see Evans back out there looking healthy after missing a few starts towards the end of 2026.
Final line: 2.0 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 5 K / 1 BB
Diego Velazquez
Velazquez followed Evans and looked very good. He was aggressive and in the zone. After two quick outs in his first inning, he surrendered back to back singles, but was able to draw a ground ball to Steven Milam to end the inning. He returned for his second inning of work and struck out two, wrapping up a really nice day.
Final line: 2.0 IP / 2 hits / 0 runs / 2 K / 0 BB
Braxton Beaty
Beaty’s final line is one of those situations where the stats don’t tell the full story. Yes, he allowed 3 hits in 1.1 innings of work, but two of them were just perfectly placed balls that resulted in singles, but were actually well-executed pitches from the freshman. After allowing a 1-out single in his first inning, he nearly got an inning-ending double play, but the batter beat the throw. That was no issue for Beaty as he struck out the next hitter to end the 5th. Back for the 6th is when he caught some bad luck. Samford caught Malachi Washington playing deep at 3rd base and executed a perfectly placed drag bunt to lead off the inning, which was followed by a high pop up in no man’s land in right field that fell between Cade Kurland and William Patrick. The wind was blowing it away from both of them and it dropped in the perfect spot, but that’s likely caught more times than not. After a groundout that moved runners to 2nd and 3rd, Johnson made a pitching change. Beaty threw a lot of strikes and looked solid, despite what the line looks like.
Final line: 1.1 IP / 3 hits / 1 run / 1 K / 0 BB
Kaden Smith
Smith has good stuff with a fastball in the mid-90s and LSU was hoping for a strikeout. It looked like he was going to get it, but the batter was able to put the ball in play on a 1-2 pitch to bring home a run. He then got a pop out in foul territory on a great play by Washington at 3rd to end the 6th. Smith issued a 4 pitch walk to lead off the 7th, but Omar Serna gunned out a potential base-stealer. He then got back to back groundouts to end the game.
Final line: 1.2 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 0 K / 1 BB
Hitting
-LF Dominic Santarelli: 0-2 / BB
-2B Cade Kurland: 0-2 / BB
-DH Lucas Nawrocki: 1-3 / HR / 2 RBI
-C Omar Serna: 0-3
-CF Angel Laya: 1-3 / triple
-SS Steven Milam: 0-1 / BB / RBI
-3B Malachi Washington: 2-3 / HR / RBI
-1B Dylan Minnatee: 0-2 / BB
-RF William Patrick: 1-2
It was a quiet day at the plate, aside from a few big swings. Nawrocki’s homer was to his pull side in right field, while Washington hit an opposite field laser that got out in a hurry at 101 mph off of his bat and an apex of only 52 feet. Laya’s triple probably should have been a homerun. It was ruled in play after hitting off the top of the wall in CF, but with the way the ball bounced, it had to have hit something behind the wall. With replay, it likely would’ve gotten overturned, but still a fantastic swing, nonetheless.
Game 2
Pitching
Coleton Brady
The freshman got the start in the final game and looked solid early. After a 1-out single, a wild pitch, and a ground out, Brady was able to get a massive strikeout to keep Samford off of the scoreboard in the 1st. He got in to immediate trouble in the 2nd, giving up a lead off single, followed by a HBP and a walk to load the bases. After a big strikeout for the first out of the inning, the Bulldogs were able to get a sacrifice fly to strike first and go up 1-0. Brady then escaped further damage with a 3-1 putout that included a nice play covering 1st from the mound. Although he got himself in to the trouble, he made some big pitches to keep things from going haywire.
Final line: 2.0 IP / 2 hits / 1 run / 2 K / 1 BB / 1 HBP
Braydon Wisener
Although Wisener walked a hitter and gave up a double, his stuff did look pretty good. He struck out 2 in his brief performance. The double off of the wall was a great piece of hitting. That came with a runner on 1st and appeared as if it would score a run, but Wachs in CF did a phenomenal job of getting the ball back to the infield quickly. Johnson chose to go to Plog for a lefty-lefty matchup, which was the end for Wisener. His allowed run was credited to him after he left the game.
Final line: 0.2 IP / 1 hit / 1 run / 2 K / 1 BB
Ethan Plog
Things didn’t get off to the best of starts for Plog, as he walked the hitter that he was inserted in to the game to face. He then threw a wild pitch that brought home a run before a groundout ended the inning. He got in to more trouble in his second inning (4th), hitting a batter, then giving up a single with 1-out. Plog got an important strikeout looking, followed by a fly out to escape.
Final line: 1.2 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 1 K / 1 BB / 1 HBP
Zion Theophilus
It was an up and down inning for the sophomore. After a leadoff single, Theophilus induced a ground ball that turned in to a beautifully executed double play by Park and Loew. Unfortunately, he then gave up a solo homer that extended Samford’s lead to 3-0, before notching his only strikeout.
Final line: 1.0 IP / 2 hits / 1 run / 1 K / 0 BB
Colby Stringer
After a quick-rise during his senior year that led to concerns that he may not even make it to LSU due to getting drafted, the freshman is in purple and gold and it’s easy to see why he garnered so much hype. He was excellent in his 1.1 innings of work, striking out 3 of the 4 hitters that he faced. There’s big things ahead for Stringer.
Final line: 1.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 3 K / 0 BB
Jordan Martinez
After starting the game at DH, Martinez showed his two-way ability by coming in to the game on the mound. His appearance did not get off to the best of start after entering with 1 out and no one on base in the 7th. A double and a walk put two runners on, leading to an RBI single to re-extend Samford’s lead to 4-1 after LSU had cut in to it. Arrambide then back-picked the runner off of 1st base, flashing his strong arm. Martinez then got a strikeout to end the inning. It’s clear that the freshman is extremely talented, as you can see by Johnson’s usage of him.
Final line: 0.2 IP / 2 hits / 1 run / 1 K / 1 BB
Hitting
-SS Dawson Park: 0-2 / BB
-CF Jason Wachs: 0-2 / BB
-C Cade Arrambide: 0-3
-1B Mason Braun: 1-2 / BB
-DH Jordan Martinez: 0-2
-3B John Pearson: 0-3
-2B Parker Loew: 1-3 / HR / RBI
-LF Jack Ruckert: 1-2 / BB
-RF Eddie Yamin: 0-2
-PH Dominic Santarelli: 1-1
After 3 games that included quite a few big swings, LSU’s offense was completely shut down in the night cap on Sunday. They finished with just 4 hits, none of them coming with a runner in scoring position. They got runners on base in the final 4 innings of the game, but were unable to get a clutch swing. Samford gave them more chances with 4 walks, but it still wasn’t enough. The Bulldogs starting pitcher, Andrew Marble, deserves a ton of credit for shutting down the Tigers. He struck out 6 in his 3.0 innings of work. Braun and Ruckert were the only hitters to reach base multiple times, but they each did so with one hit and one walk, as no one recorded multiple hits. Loew had the one big swing of the game with a solo blast to left field.
Final thoughts
It was an extremely successful weekend for the Tigers out on the coast. They blasted 7 homeruns in 25 innings in a minor league baseball stadium that isn’t necessarily small, especially in late October/early November. Pitching looked very good across the board. William Schmidt, Landon Hood, Cooper Sides, and Danny Lachenmayer continued their fall dominance on the mound on Saturday. The debut of Casan Evans was very good to see, especially considering that he looked unhittable.
Along with the overall pitching success, one of my biggest takeaways of this fall ball session continues to be the young talent on this roster, particularly in the freshman class. There was a lot made of Jay Johnson getting 7 or 8 of the top 100 high school draftees to campus back during the summer and it’s abundantly clear through 4 weeks of low-leverage baseball. Players like Washington, Santarelli, and Nawrocki are among a few that look like they’ll push for playing time, so the battles as we near opening weekend will be fun to watch.
What’s next
LSU heads back to Baton Rouge to prepare for an exhibition against Troy on Sunday, November 8th. It is not known whether they will hold intra-squads on Thursday/Friday, but I will report that if I learn that they will.
Troy should be a fun matchup for LSU, considering that the Trojans made it to the College World Series this past season. They have one of the best players in all of college baseball with catcher, Jimmy Janicki. He’s a consensus top-30 player in the 2027 MLB Draft prospects and ranked as the #1 catcher in the country by D1 Baseball.
First pitch on Sunday is scheduled for 1:30 pm central. More details to follow on entry, parking, etc.
Below is my customary quick recap video, covering both Sunday games.
