Hess gets the ball as the Friday night starter for his second start of the season
LSU coach Paul Mainieri always had it in the back of his mind of who he wanted his Friday night starting pitcher to be this season. He just didn’t tell the pitchers.
That’s why one week after Caleb Gilbert started the season opener against Notre Dame, the Tigers will turn to Zack Hess – last week’s Saturday starter – to set the tone against Texas this week.
Mainieri said he wanted to give Gilbert the chance to start the first game of the season, but always thought Hess would be the type of player to get the ball in the first game of a series.
“I’ve always thought that if Zack is going to be a starting pitcher, he’s going to be a Friday night starter,” Mainieri said. “If he is going to be a quality starting pitcher, he’s got the stuff to be a dominant starting pitcher and that’s the guy we want to throw on a Friday night.”
Neither Gilbert, Hess or Sunday starter Todd Peterson had a good day against the Fighting Irish last weekend as LSU dropped two of the three games.
Mainieri hopes all three pitchers settle in this time around.
“This is the second turn for all of these,” Mainieri said. “I think it goes without saying that everyone is looking for a significant upgrade out of the starting pitchers.”
Hess made six starts last season and none after going for five innings against Tulane on March 28. Against Notre Dame, Hess went 2.1 innings and gave up five hits, eight runs (all earned), six walks and struck out just two batters.
In his seven career starts at LSU, the innings were the least he’d ever gone, the hits tied for the most he’d ever given up, the runs and walks were career highs and the two strikeouts were the least he’d given up in a start.
Hess admitted to reporters on Thursday afternoon that he might have been trying to overdo it in his return to being a starter.
“It was my first start in almost a year in an LSU uniform so I think I might have gone out there and tried to do a little too much,” Hess said. “This week, I’m trying to go out there and just trust my stuff a little bit more. Just compete in the strike zone and not beat myself too much this week.”
Does it matter to Hess that he’ll be the Friday night starter with a chance to set the tone for the weekend? Not really.
“To me the only difference is you’re pitching one day earlier,” Hess said. “Regardless if it’s Friday, Saturday or Sunday, my goal is to go out there and help my team any way that I can.”
Texas enters the series at 3-1 after taking two of three from Louisiana-Lafayette in its opening series before defeating Lamar and former LSU assistant Will Davis on Wednesday night.
The Longhorns are led by former Tulane coach David Pierce, someone Mainieri has faced while he was the head coach at Sam Houston State as well as when he was with the Green Wave.
“They are going to play with a lot of confidence,” Mainieri said of Pierce-coached teams. “David is a very confident coach. His teams always pitch well. He’ll have them ready to play.”
Texas enters with a better ranking than the Tigers in two polls and are behind LSU in some others. Hess said that won’t change how he approaches his second start of the season though.
“For us we treat everybody with a lot of respect and we don’t take anybody lightly,” Hess said. “Regardless if it’s the No. 1-ranked team in the nation of the Sisters of the Poor, we’re going to give them our best every time.”
