The LSU Tigers appeared to have captured their national championship-winning form from a season ago, and just at the right time. After two dominating wins to show off the SEC tournament, Tigers head coach Jay Johnson expressed his confidence in the team and its origins.
“Yeah, I believed in our team,” Johnson said when asked if he believed LSU could play like this the season. “I think last summer was critical— we won the national championship on Monday night, and we had the celebration and all that. Saturday, I was with him (Luke Holman) in North Carolina, and two days later, I was in California with Gage (Jump), knowing what we needed to do to retool to have this type of team. I believe with those two, we’re gonna be one of the best teams in the country.
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“Now, on the position player side it took a lot of retooling,” Johnson continued. “I’ll say it again: last year is one of the best offenses in modern college baseball history, with a lot of guys that had a lot of at-bats under their belt. Tommy (White) is really the only one that played wire to wire. And then the schedule that we had, like it’s the real deal. That’s win No. 20 against top 45 RPI teams; there’s five or six teams in the country that have that. So that and do us any favors as that group was trying to find its way in SEC play.”
Heading into the SEC tournament LSU was considered a bubble team for the NCAA championship tournament after finishing the year 37-20 and 13-17 in conference play. In nonconference matchups, Johnson’s Tigers were an impressive 25-3. Unfortunately, LSU plays in the SEC, which is widely considered the best college baseball conference and is currently projected to have 11 teams in this year’s field of 64. However, that misfortune of their conference home, Johnson believes, is also their saving grace.
“So we pushed them hard trying to get through that,” said Johnson. “And it got to the point where we just like, ‘hey, no matter what happens, we’re going to remain positive.’ I did believe in our team; the double edged sword of the league is it’s so good you kind of always have a chance if you just stay with it. And that’s what these guys did, and we’re playing better than anybody right now.
Up next for LSU and Johnson is a matchup against South Carolina on Thursday. The Gamecocks narrowly survived a comeback attempt from the Arkansas Razorbacks, winning 6-5 in their Wednesday’s SEC tournament showdown. Although both teams are practically guaranteed a spot in this year’s baseball championship tournament, Johnson and his tigers would love nothing more than to continue their scorching hot play, riding it to an SEC tournament championship, before heading into regionals.
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