LSU will start Gage Jump on the mound on Friday morning’s game against Wofford. Jay Johnson said in his press conference on Thursday that they had still not decided who would pitch, but on the morning of the game, LSU announced that Jump is on the mound for the 11 a.m. CT contest in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
In the last outing from Jump, he pitched seven innings only allowing four hits and one walk with seven strikeouts and one earned run against an elite offense. Over the past month, Jump has been a lights out option for the Tigers alongside Luke Holman as LSU has made its surge into the postseason.
“He’s been great for a while,” Johnson said after the win over Georgia in the SEC tournament. “He’s one of the best high school pitchers I’ve ever seen. He picked UCLA over Arizona, which was a gut punch because I believed he would be as great as what everybody saw today. Then, he only had 14 innings before getting hurt. Then he came here in the fall and was tough to deal with for our players, then I don’t think he allowed a run in the non-conference. The start of SEC play was an adjustment because it was the first time somebody punched back and there was traffic on the bases. Once he got past the Mississippi State and Arkansas starts, he’s been elite ever since. There’s no doubt that he’s one of the best pitchers in the country.
What a performance. He’ll have more time before the NCAA Tournament now, which is great.”
With jump and Holman, LSU has two elite arms to throw in this regional to get them in the best position possible. The two have had extended rest with the SEC tournament outings coming on Wednesday and Thursday and now they’ll be tasked with helping lead the Tigers past Wofford and then the winner of North Carolina and Long Island.
“I think it’s good because those are workhorse type pitchers,” Johnson said. “The best teams I’ve had had workhorse pitchers and they fit that. I’ve won a lot of games with average pitchers and it’s so nice to have two really awesome dudes to put out there.”
In a regional with the No. 4 overall seed North Carolina and a quality mid-major in Wofford, the road out of this regional remains challenging. The Tigers lead off the action at 11 a.m. on Friday and look to get off to a great start behind Jump on the mound.
“This is my favorite day of the year, honestly. I’m very proud of our team for being in the NCAA Tournament and I can’t wait to dive in and look at three other teams in the regional. I believe Carolina won the ACC, Wofford won the conference tournament, playing seven games last week to win it. Congratulations to Long Island, I don’t know much about them, but the enthusiasm they had when their name was announced always stands out to me as a mid-major from a one-bid league. We’re playing three championship teams and that’s awesome.”
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