In what might wind up being an important victory for LSU, head coach Jay Johnson put Gage Jump on the mound. Despite throwing four days ago against Ole Miss, Johnson felt the need to use his team’s ace pitcher. The move worked out quite well as Jump allowed just one run with seven strikeouts in seven innings pitched.
Not too many college pitchers work every four days. Even Paul Skenes pitched once a week last season for LSU and he is now with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Johnson believes Jump will eventually be on an MLB roster and that’s why he decided to throw him on what most in college would consider short rest.
“That’s a Major Leaguer,” Johnson said. “That’s what he’s going to do in his life, pitch on four days rest. I just got out ahead of it of going like ‘Hey, we’re moving him to the first game.’ Then once we were playing well, won three series in a row, what we want to do is right in front of us. So, this game was probably going to be important… That’s the best offense in baseball, statistically.”
Georgia had not been held to one run in a long time, losing to Mississippi State 5-1 in a weekend series opener on April 5. What Jump and the LSU bullpen was not too common. SEC Player of the Year Charlie Condon was 0-4 as the Bulldogs recorded just six hits.
Since an April 19 start against Missouri, LSU has won five out of six games Jump has been the starting pitcher. In the same span, he’s given up just nine earned runs, striking out 46 and walking just five.
There would be no chance to make the NCAA Tournament if Jump was not performing like one of the SEC’s top pitchers. Johnson knows it, giving him another reason to throw him on four days rest.
“He’s why we’re one of the best teams in the country right now,” Johnson said. “Everybody got to see that today. I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as we thought. We were monitoring it very closely but his excitement level when I went to him a few weeks ago was like ‘Oh yeah. Let’s go.’ That plays a big part of it too.”
If LSU does keep advancing, there is a chance we see Jump pitches again in Hoover. Four days rest would put him up for the SEC Championship game on Sunday. Johnson would certainly like to get there to extend his team’s postseason.
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