LSU Baseball may be one of the strongest all-around teams in the country, but some injuries are catching up to them and may interfere with their journey to Omaha.
With key components of the team getting injured, history seems to be repeating itself. Last season, the Tigers were rattled with injuries that ultimately impacted their National Championship hopes.
Going into this season, LSU had arguably one of the best bullpens in the country. Then the injuries started flowing in.
Right-handed pitcher Grant Taylor was injured during the pre-season with a UCL injury, impacting the bullpen's strength greatly as he was projected to be in the top 100 of this year's MLB Draft.
Other components of the bullpen, 2022 signees Kaleb Applebey and Jaden Noot were also hurt during the pre-season and will not be playing at all this season.
"I'd love to have Chase and Garrett and Nate, Grant Taylor. I mean nobody even talks about him anymore. We had three guys show up. They were hurt before they got here," Head Coach Jay Johnson said.
"You just got to keep going. I hope this is a lesson for the players. Like no matter what happens to you, there is always a way. Does it affect us? Yeah, it does, but we can't do anything about it," Johnson said.
First hitter in the batting lineup and second baseman Gavin Dugas experienced a shoulder injury during the first game of the Kentucky series.
Dugas is going to be back in action this season, but it was a scare for the fans as Alex Box Stadium went silent when he went down.
"You know I'll be there for him and stuff like that, but I don't know exactly what's going on with that. But you know that he's going to be tough, and whenever he's able to get back out there, he'll get back out there," short-stop Jordan Thompson said. "It was definitely a hard pill to swallow for sure."
LSU has the talent to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, but these injuries are raising doubts.
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