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Lefty Schmefty: LSU Tigers Beat Baseball Myth
Published by BRITTAN DUHON on June 18, 2009
According to some, the blueprint to beat LSU used to be to start a left-handed pitcher. The Tigers, after all, are loaded with left-handed hitters such as Blake Dean, Jared Mitchell, Ryan Schimpf and Leon Landry.
Lefty hitters tend to have a little more difficulty with lefty pitchers than with right-handed pitchers, and so do right-handed hitters to an extent because lefty pitchers are rare.
Particularly at mid-season, this strategy seemed to make sense. The Tigers were struggling more than normal against lefties and fell below .500 or hovered around .500 against lefty starters. This became a hot topic in Baton Rouge.
The 53-16 Tigers, who next play in the College World Series at 1 p.m. Friday against the winner of Wednesday's night game between Arkansas and Virginia, have reversed the curse of the left ... if there ever was one.
"I think it was great that everybody thought we were weak against lefties and were talking about it," LSU coach Paul Mainieri said at practice Wednesday. "It helped me lure other teams into pitching left-handers. We were more confident against them than everyone else was."
LSU is 18-13 against southpaw starters with th...
Read Complete Article at Bleacher Report - College Baseball
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