Why LSU will – and won't – sweep West Virginia in super regionals to reach College World Series

BATON ROUGE — Exactly how much was there to discern from LSU baseball 's convincing 16-9 victory over West Virginia in Game 1 of the best-of-three NCAA Super Regional series at Alex Box Stadium on Saturday?

There's plenty for Tigers coach Jay Johnson and his ballclub to be ecstatic about: the 13 free passes that directly resulted in nine total runs for the Tigers (47-15), the grand slams hit by senior Josh Pearson and sophomore Steven Milam to drive in runs, something that LSU has been inconsistent with over the past few weeks.

Ace Kade Anderson working another quality start, tossing seven innings, striking out seven while allowing seven runs, and earning the win with an outing in which he wasn't his sharpest.

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LSU's young arms performed well late in the game when called upon, and Johnson mentioned postgame he felt it paramount to get those young players, like freshmen William Schmidt and Mavrick Rizy, reps in a meaningful game with a big atmosphere.

With the Tigers one win away from returning to Omaha for the College World Series for the 20th time in the program's history, here's why they will — or won't — sweep the Mountaineers in Game 2 of the Baton Rouge Super Regional on Sunday night (5 p.m., ESPN2).

LSU baseball pitching staff is set up perfect with Anthony Eyanson, Casan Evans, Zac Cowan

LSU jumping out to a big lead was exactly what Johnson and pitching coach Nate Yeskie wanted. The Tigers will get to roll with junior righthanded ace Anthony Eyanson on Sunday, fresh off a relief appearance to close out regionals last Monday.

Eyanson arguably has been LSU's best pitcher down the stretch of the season and into the postseason. If the Tigers find themselves clinging to a one-run lead late in the game Sunday, having freshman Casan Evans available to come in and close the game down is a luxury. Evans threw six innings of relief against Little Rock on Monday night and struck out 12 batters to hold it at bay while the offense rallied.

"I thought it was good," Johnson said of how LSU's pitchers Saturday set them up for Game 2. "I thought D.J. (Primeaux), very efficient right there. They obviously have a number of left-handed hitters in the lineup. We may need to utilize him again. Doing it in two pitches — I thought it was good to get him back out on the mound again after the last appearance.

"And then I thought William did some good things. And I want to get him in these games because he's going to be starting one of them probably at some point next year. I thought that was good experience."

LSU offense patience, execution turning around at right time

After LSU lost to Little Rock last Sunday, Johnson said that going to the plate with no approach is not a plan. With the elements being what they were, LSU's lineup had a plan and the execution part of it was there as well.

"Staying within ourselves," LSU first baseman Jared Jones said after the win. "Not trying to do too much. I think we did a good job of controlling the zone and driving the baseball with guys on base.

"Being patient at the plate and just waiting for our pitch. When we get down in counts, just really battling and get pitch counts up. We're just taking it one game at a time right now. Just pitch-to-pitch and readjusting and just try to grind out at-bats."

Along with the eight walks and five hit-by-pitches LSU had, guys got the timely hits, too. LSU was 5 for 10 with runners in scoring position and that's a number the offense believes can remain with the right plate discipline.

"There's some things that I feel like I learned in the game today that we need to make some movement on to be better prepared for tomorrow," Johnson said. "So use that time well. But this isn't about, like, motivation at this point in time. This is purely about mindset and execution."

Will offensive consistency be there for LSU baseball?

This will be biggest question heading into Game 2 of super regionals for LSU. Can the offense roll over a good performance into the next game?

As Johnson said last Sunday after the loss to Little Rock, the lineup lacked an approach at the plate, one day after putting up a 12 spot on Dallas Baptist.

Hitting with runners in scoring position has been a fickle thing for the Tigers and there were games in the regional last weekend where they had around 10 left on base. If LSU struggles to get those timely hits, West Virginia could hang around and make the game interesting.

West Virginia can apply pressure on LSU defense with aggressive baserunning

A big part of West Virginia's identity is sacrifice bunts and stealing bases. And those aspects of a team's game applies pressure on defenses.

The expectation is the Mountaineers (44-15) will be more aggressive on the basepaths after falling down a game in super regionals. LSU will have to be ready to combat that.

It's a style of play that the Tigers haven't contended with very much this season. Catcher Luis Hernandez and the middle infield of Milam and Daniel Dickinson will have to be prepared for plenty of movement from WVU.

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Why LSU will – and won't – sweep West Virginia in super regionals to reach College World Series