It's the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. trash talk chat. You also get an ad-free version of your favorite Locked On show and a whole lot more. You can check it out by tapping the Everyday Your Club link in the show notes. Is William Schmidt poised to live up to his immense potential? You'll hear from him next, Locked On LSU. Here we go. you are locked on LSU your daily podcast on the LSU Tigers part of the locked on podcast network your team every day okay let's get it it is locked on LSU your team every day I'm your host Matt Moscona thanks so much for making us your first listen we are free available wherever you get great podcasts, of course, on YouTube as well. So please subscribe. And as always, one of the fastest ways to help us grow is by leaving your comments below. So thank you sincerely for that. Thank you for helping make the Locked On Podcast Network the number one sports podcast network. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college basketball parlay profit boost. Head to FanDuel.com to get started. LSU wins three games over the weekend, punctuated by William Schmidt's gem on Sunday against Dartmouth. If you missed it, William Schmidt won a career best seven and a third, no runs, scattering just four hits. He struck out nine and did not walk a batter. His day did end, however, when he plunked the guy in the eighth, and that's when Jay Johnson lifted him. But if William Schmidt, with his dynamic big league stuff, can consistently harness it to throw the way he did against Dartmouth, then LSU all of a sudden becomes maybe the best team in the country because there's just nobody else. And I don't know every college baseball team. I can't tell you the roster of every college baseball team. Here's what I know. there's no other college baseball team that has a guy who passed on three million dollars plus out of high school to show up on a college campus that's throwing consistently the way William Schmidt is if he delivers the way he did on Sunday against Dartmouth which was amazing had a chance to visit with William Schmidt and we talked about a lot because this is back-to-back Really impressive performances. A week ago against UCF, he went five innings, allowing no runs on three hits, struck out seven, walked just one. So again, in his last two outings, William Schmidt has gone 12 and a third, 12 and a third, no runs, seven hits, 16 strikeouts, and just one walk. Yo. So, how's he improved? Yeah, it's been a big thing in my development from last year to this year, just not letting the little things bother you. Hitters doing their job, they're supposed to get hits off of you sometimes, and it's just part of the game. So, it's just figuring out a way to work around it. And Coach Jeske and I had a plan with the hitters that were coming up on what to do with them, and we executed that plan and got out of a jam. William Schmidt's with us. So I'm glad you said that because that was actually my next question from last year to this year. Obviously, it was your first taste of college baseball a year ago, and you had a great freshman season. But in what ways do you feel like you've changed from your freshman year to this early, right, but from last year at this point to this year? Physically, I've put on 15, 20 pounds from my first freshman year physical. but um mentally it's just like I said like how Kate and Ant uh were just so good at not letting the little things bother them and uh it was all about next pitch mentality and I mean that's just one of the things I've adopted from them and uh trying to put to use this year for me. William is that something that's learned or is that something you practice I mean how do you how do you do that you know I mean like how do you just start to to go into the next pitch mentality? yeah I mean it's something you can practice but it's honestly it's just a decision that you make while you're out there you just you don't get rattled bad umpire call I mean it is what it is there's nothing you can do about it you can't reverse the hit that you just gave up so it's just all about this next pitch and getting this guy out on this pitch right here he elaborated a bit on how he's improving but one thing I want to hone in on is you heard him mention what he learned from Cade and Ant. That's Cade Anderson and Anthony Ionson, of course, who were LSU's top two guys a season ago, pacing LSU to leading the country in strikeouts and, of course, a national championship. Well, remember, Cade Anderson, as a freshman, again, a Louisiana kid from St. Paul's in Covington, who came in as a freshman and was really good in his midweek starts, but struggled against conference plays. unfamiliar. In his freshman year, his ERA was just sub nine. Literally, it's a three nine nine was his ERA in 38 and the third innings pitched. He was was good, but he walked 20 when he struck out 59. So again, 59 strikeouts, 20 walks. This is Anderson in 38 innings pitch as a sophomore, 419 innings pitched. He goes for 180 strikeouts and just 35 walks. It was incredible. He commanded his stuff finally. And you can start to see some of that trend with Schmidt. Now, they haven't played a conference game yet, but Schmidt's ERA has gone from 4-7-3 a year ago in 17 appearances to 1-6-5 so far in three appearances. He has struck out 25 and walked just four. A year ago, he struck out 41, but walked 22. That was the problem. That's the command. It's there. So he elaborated a bit more on how he's been able to improve. Zoning in the big misses. Like sometimes people, like you'll complain about an umpire call, but you just threw the last three off the backstop So of course you not going to get the nibbled edge outside corner So I would say just like honing in the misses And then this week what was a big thing for me was the breaking ball was in the strike zone a lot more than opening day So just continuing to work on that and being more consistent with that and just being able to hold my stuff through a few innings. The long innings of the three and four run innings were starting to get to me at the end there. So just working on that routine and, you know, honestly, just staying consistent. I think against Dartmouth, the biggest key to that game for Schmidt, if you're looking at an individual moment in particular, it was the top of the sixth. Remember, he went through four without allowing a base runner. It was 12 up, 12 down. In the fifth, he allowed a leadoff single, then got a ground ball double play, single ground out, he was out of it. In the sixth, they went leadoff single. And then remember, when he was thrown over to check the runner at first, the ball got away from York, and so the runner went to second. So they have a runner on second with nobody out. After that, he goes strikeout, strikeout, ground out. That is what Schmidt's talking about there. Not allowing for the big miss. Not allowing the things that go wrong to compile and start to compound and lead to a much bigger issue. He's able to get out of those. It's back-to-back weekends. He's been able to work out of trouble whenever you've had runners on base. It's been amazing to watch that transformation here from William Schmidt. Now, he wasn't done talking about his progression, including quite honestly something that you wouldn't think necessarily bothered William Schmidt, but has been something he's had to deal with, and you'll hear that from him as we continue. It is Locked on LSU, your team every day. College basketball is nonstop. Big games, tight spreads, momentum swings every single night. From early tip-offs to late-night West Coast shootouts, there's always action on the board. And now FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college basketball parlay profit boost. You can build any college hoops parlay you want. Rivalry games, ranked matchups, whatever fits that you want. You can mix spreads, totals, player props to match how you see the slate playing out. Then you can apply the profit boost, instantly bump up the potential payout. So go safe. Go bold. Ride with the team you've been following all season. 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This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. get back into the conversation with William Schmidt but a quick reminder that you can get locked on LSU ad-free with the everyday or club plus members only discord access so join at the link in the show notes it's the everyday or club for locked on LSU so our conversation with William Schmidt continued with a lot of where he's improved from year one to year two with a lot of LSU fans obviously trying to draw parallels to Kate Anderson, a guy from Louisiana who was great in the non-conference, struggled in conference plays as a freshman, as a sophomore, boom, became the best pitcher in college baseball and was the number three overall pick. Well, we've talked a little bit about where Schmidt has already improved. One of the most incredible things, though, is calming his nerves, which he explains has been a real issue for him throughout his baseball career. Yeah, sometimes there's just nothing you can do about it. and I've just gotten used to it at this point. And, you know, I got a lot of people to help calm me down and a lot of people got my back from this team. So it definitely helps for sure. Yeah. You know, like in football, guys that would say they're nervous, they would like go throw up before a game or like the first time like you pop the pads or something like that. You know, like they say, okay, then you settle into it. Is there like a moment where, like is it after the first pitch? Is it after the first half inning? Like is there a moment where that – something that helps you kind of calm that down and settle into the groove? Nah, it's the first pitch. You throw the first one, and then you're just like, all right, that wasn't bad. Here we go. So it is somewhat telling that you're talking about a young guy there who is, I don't want to say struggling, but has had to work to overcome nerves. By contrast, you think about a guy like Aaron Nola, And I hate to make that comp because Aaron Nola was a top 10 pick and has become an all-star and a great major leaguer. And in my opinion, had the greatest career at LSU of any pitcher. Paul Skeens was a better physical talent. Ben McDonald was a better physical talent. Aaron Nola had the best career of any pitcher at LSU. and Nola was a guy that maybe was sort of famous for the fact that you never knew when he was throwing if LSU was up 10 down 10 if he was 0-2 or 3-0 in a count if there were runners on second and third or nobody on and two outs he just was unflappable well Schmidt's telling you there that's something he's had to work on throughout his career and this has been one of those instances in the first couple of outings this year sort of illustrate the fact that he has been able to work through some of that to not let the big miss or the big inning become a thing that compounds now he also said by the way this is a good one um and some of you may know what coming if you saw this on social media but um schmidt said he gained 15 to 20 pounds from year one to year two So you already seeing that a little bit in the velo right He gone to where he sitting 95 popping 97s and 98s Some of that is just his physical growth, development, and maturation. So I asked him how he gained the 15 to 20 pounds. You said you gained 15 to 20 pounds. How did you gain the weight? A lot of canes? What did you do? smoothie king what's your order just a medium strawberry hulk with a few whatever muscle gainer protein like i i have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on smoothie king in the last few years wait wait there's no i i refuse to believe that you could gain the weight just by doing smoothie. Like that's it. Well, you just, yeah. You, well, you just can't substitute it as like a meal. Like it's like it's a, it's one of my snacks and it's got like a thousand something calories. And it's like a really, it's a really good snack and it doesn't really fill you up that much. My guy said he's got hundreds of thousands of dollars at smoothie cake, but at this point you need to be an investor. Like you need to go. That's what I'm saying. Maybe you are. begging me my mom is begging me to get a deal with them uh you know what like I like we're gonna clip this Paul William we're gonna clip this we're gonna post it and we're gonna tag Smoothie King on every platform like if you don't have a Smoothie King deal by the end of this right now I might just quit my job actually I don't think I'm gonna do that but like we gotta get something for this guy you kidding me at least like some of the local franchisees that could hook you up I I mean, my goodness, this feels like fish in a barrel. Yeah, they see my car and they know what to start making. I don't even have to order anymore. So good. I am happy to report, by the way, that one day after that conversation, actually that night, I was inundated by a lot of people and the local Smoothie King franchisors did in fact, or franchisees did in fact reach out and on and a day later one day after that interview William Schmidt and I were at a local Smoothie King in Baton Rouge and they did work to work out some type of deal with Schmidt so I guess there'll be more details with whatever they do moving forward but the bottom line is we were able to get a deal for him so I love to see true NIL working in an organic way like it did right there. And I also love to see William Schmidt working the way he did. Now, the starting pitching for LSU in this weekend was absolutely the story. I know there's a lot of people who are focusing on the offense and LSU's offense over the last four games has struggled. Eight hits on Tuesday against McNeese, five on Friday against Dartmouth, five on Saturday against Northeastern, four on Sunday against Dartmouth. So you're talking about 22 hits total over four games. That is not good. But the bigger story is the fact that even when your offense has struggled and scuffled, you've still found a way to win baseball games, in large part because your starting pitching has been awesome. Case and Evans on Friday went five and a third, two runs on two hits struck out 10 and walked three. Remember also, he was also the victim of some bad luck. It last two outings in Jack and the Jack's classic, that third inning, which blew up on him one ball when they scored three runs, one ball left the infield, just one. There was a tapper down the third baseline that Aaron Beattie was going to let go foul. There was a, another infield hit on a tapper. Like it was a, an inning where it was a lot of bad baseball fortune. But five and a third, two runs on two hits on Friday. Moore went seven and two thirds, one run on three hits, struck out 10, walked one. And then Schmidt, seven and a third, no runs on four hits, struck out nine and did not walk a batter. So you're talking about 20 and a third innings pitch combined from your three starters. and they combined to allow three runs on nine hits and they struck out 29 walking just four. I mean, that is dominant. And I understand the competition. I'm not negating the fact that they were playing against teams that they overwhelmed, but the same was true against Milwaukee and the stat lines didn't look like that. When you're throwing the ball over the plate, the stat lines look like this. And that is encouraging. See if they can keep it up. Okay, but they're not done. Tigers do play again on Monday against Northeastern. So what might we see from LSU? And who do we want to see both in the field and on the mound? I'll give you some thoughts on that as we wrap up next. It is Locked on LSU, your team every day. 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Learn more at ololrmc.com slash LSU. tigers have won three games this weekend bouncing back after the midweek loss against mcneese and it's a busy week because they're not done they're going to play on monday against northeastern before taking a break on tuesday and then wednesday heading to lafayette to take on the raging cajuns at teague moore field a couple things that i'd kind of like to see on monday you know whenever you have a dynamic pitching performance like LSU did getting that much length out of your starters which is awesome I'm not complaining about it in any way the other part of that sort of the downside if there is a downside is you don't get as many pitchers work on the weekend now again by the time you get to the postseason if you're in every day or we've talked about this plenty you remember we talked about it a year ago by the time you get to the postseason you've pared down your rotation of the seven or eight guys that you trust now this weekend lsu went evans gidry and that was enough on friday they went more shearin and that got him home on saturday so through two games used four pitchers and then on sunday schmidt went seven and a third dothi pitched to one hitter hit him rizzy couldn't finish it and then newt came and got the final out So you end up using four, but really Schmidt ate up the lion's share of the innings. So what that means, though, is you didn't have an opportunity to get a lot of guys mound time that you would have liked. So what they do on Monday against Northeastern is going to be interesting. First midweek, you started Zach Cowan. Last week, they started Marcos Paz. Now, Paz, remember, is the elite-level, strong-armed righty who's a guy that nobody ever thought was going to show up on a college campus, had an arm injury in high school, ended up seeing his draft stock slip, and ended up at LSU, much to LSU's great benefit. And so Paz is a guy who started last week in the midweek in that game against McNeese that they lost, really struggled, and ended up, LSU obviously lost that game. might be an opportunity for Paz to get back out there. The other thing I'll remind you is you're going to play at ULL on Wednesday. So you're going to play Northeastern at home Monday, off Tuesday at ULL on Wednesday. So the question is, who do you want to start? I think you work backwards. You look and say, who do you want to start the game on the road on Wednesday? Do you want to go with a veteran like Cowan? Or do you want to give a freshman like Paz his first taste of starting on the road? Now, personally, I would like to see Paz start at home and Cowan start on the road. We'll see what ultimately Jay Johnson elects to do there. I would love to see Paz get back on the horse. and against Northeastern in a friendly environment feels like a better opportunity. Cowan has pitched in regionals and has pitched in Omaha in leverage spots. I mean, he took the ball in a huge spot for LSU and Omaha last year and shoved. So I'm not worried about Cowan having to go on the road and throw against ULL on a Wednesday. That's probably who I'd try to get the ball to on Wednesday, meaning if I'm looking to set pause up for success, Monday against Northeastern is probably the better opportunity. You also didn't use Cooper Williams. You didn't use Santiago Garcia as well. Situational lefty. There's a lot of guys I'm sure you'd love to get mound time for that you weren't able to this weekend because, again, you had a lot of guys extend, your starters extended. This is a great opportunity with the Monday game to maybe piece this together in the bullpen. Maybe give Paz the start and then try to piece it together behind him. Paz is a righty. You want to go righty-lefty. You could work in Williams and Garcia behind him. So a great opportunity for LSU to get a lot of guys mound time on Monday against Northeastern, depending on who starts. Again, I think, don't know, but I think they'd probably go Paz to start there. And then we'll see ultimately what they elect to do after that. But Reagan Rickon didn't pitch this weekend. A new through to one hitter. Dothie through to one hitter, hit him. Plo didn't pitch this weekend. That's another guy that you could run out there. Grant Fontenot, we didn't see him this weekend. So a lot of guys that you probably like to get some mound time that you could piece together on Monday against Northeastern. And then with who's left, I think you'd probably start Cowan on Wednesday and then piece it together behind him. The other thing that I'd probably like to see is Daniel Harden get a start in right field. Similarly, if you're going to give him his first start, I'd rather be at home against Northeastern as opposed to on the road in that environment against ULL. You've struggled and left defensively, and quite honestly, Tanner Reeves and Braden Simpson just haven't hit at the clip that you'd like to see them right now with their batting averages for both those guys. under with Reeves hitting, excuse me, I had it. There it is. So Reeves right now is hitting 250 and Simpson, Braden Simpson's hitting 400, but just 15 at bats. Probably a good opportunity to see if you can get Daniel Harden some playing time, some consistent at bats. Maybe we'll see it this week. 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