Friday Evening Recap

Friday was a night full of recent themes. Marcos Paz got the start and his struggles that began last week at Georgia continued. The overall struggles from anyone to step foot on the mound also continued. As discussed last night, Jay Johnson would clearly love a fast-forward button to skip this weekend and get to Hoover next week. The most notable occurrence of anything regarding Tiger pitching was that Casan Evans did throw what Jay termed a “high intensity bullpen”. He had a 40-45 pitch count and that’s what he made it through.

As for the offense, there’s not a whole lot to talk about. LSU finished with just 3 hits and got dominated by Florida’s Liam Peterson. Although it has been an up and down year for Peterson, he showed tonight why he spent much of the year as the Friday night ace for the Gators. With the 7-inning 10-run rule, he went complete game and struck out 11 Tigers.

Pitching

Marcos Paz was able to retire the leadoff batter of the game after LSU’s abysmal start on Thursday night, but that success did not last long. Up 0-2 on the second hitter, he hit Kyle Jones and then Ethan Surowiec followed his 1^st inning grand slam a night ago with an RBI double to put the Gators on the board. After a wild pitch and a walk, Florida had runners on 1^st and 3^rd with just 1 out. He induced a weak ground ball to Brayden Simpson at 3^rd base, but his only play was at 1^st, which brought home the second run of the game to make it 2-0. Paz was able to battle back from a 3-1 count to strike out Karson Bowen looking and prevent further damage. Unfortunately, more damage came in the 2^nd. After a lead off walk and a single, the Gators quickly had a scoring threat that they cashed in on a sacrifice fly. After a flyout for the second out of the inning, Brendan Lawson hit the furthest homerun that anyone in the stadium will likely ever see with their own eyes. He unloaded on a 1-2 pitch from Paz that went 496 feet over the Intimidator. Yes, you read that right. 496 feed. A strikeout would follow, but it was already a 5-0 lead for Florida. Paz finally found some success in the 3^rd by recording a 1-2-3 frame with a couple of weak groundouts and a strikeout. Despite a leadoff walk in the 4^th, he retired the next three hitters with 2 strikeouts to put up consecutive zeros. The freshman returned for the 5^th with his pitch count at 84, which had already eclipsed his previous season high of 79 against South Carolina. After allowing his 4^th walk of the game, the 3^rd of which was to lead off the inning, Surowiec continued to torment LSU with a 2-run blast off of the batter’s eye. Paz would strike out the next hitter and that would be all for his night.

• Final line: 4.1 IP / 4 hits / 7 runs / 5 K / 4 BB / 1 HBP / 99 pitches (53 strikes, 54%)

Ethan Plog took over and struck out each of the two hitters that he faced to end the inning with the Tigers now down 7-1.

• Final line: 0.2 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 2 K / 0 BB / 12 pitches (6 strikes, 50%)

Although he was not expected to pitch this weekend, Casan Evans took the mound to get some work in the 6^th. He rolled through the first two hitters of the inning with a groundout and a flyout, but then allowed a 2-out walk. He bounced right back to strike out the next hitter on 3 pitches. The sophomore returned for the 7^th and that’s when the struggles arrived. After striking out the leadoff hitter, Evans gave up a walk and a single, which set up a line-drive 3-run homerun from Gator freshman Cash Strayer to make it 10-1. Following a flyout, the Tiger ace reached his maximum pitch count and his night was over.

• Final line: 1.2 IP / 2 hits / 3 runs / 2 K / 2 BB / 41 pitches (25 strikes, 61%)

Despite not being at the ballpark on Thursday night due to sickness, Zion Theophilus was back on Friday and took the mound after Evans. Landon Stripling was the first batter he faced and three pitches in to his outing, Florida was up 11-1 with a solo homerun. That was followed by a walk, but the freshman was able to draw a flyout to end the inning.

• Final line: 0.1 IP / 2 hits / 1 run / 0 K / 0 BB / 8 pitches (4 strikes, 50%)

Hitting

Steven Milam, again, was the star of the night offensively. There wasn’t a ton going on for the team, but the star shortstop homered for the second consecutive night. This weekend has been what it was for LSU, but Milam walking out of this series with homeruns against Aiden King and Liam Peterson is quite the feather in his cap. He finished 1-2 with the 1 RBI, 1 run scored, and also drew a walk.

Jack Ruckert and Derek Curiel were the only other Tigers to record a hit. Ruckert had a line-drive single and finished 1-2, while Curiel had a 1-3 night.

Up Next

For the final time in 2026, LSU will take the field in Alex Box stadium tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 pm central. LSU has Zac Cowan listed as their starter, but considering all eyes are on the SEC Tournament, I would not expect him to go long. He, along with the other seniors, will be the focus of the final game of the regular season. Jay Johnson eluded to that in his postgame presser. For those interested, Senior Day festivities will begin at 1:30 to recognize multiple Tigers. The loss dropped LSU to 9-20 in SEC play, while Florida improves to 17-12.

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