By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE — Finally, the 2024 season opener is here for LSU, college baseball’s defending national cham. . .
“This is not that team,” LSU third-year head coach Jay Johnson said. “It is a different team. We’re attacking a new opportunity.”
OK, let’s try this again.
Finally, the 2024 season opener is here for LSU, college baseball’s “attacking” national champions.
The Tigers begin their 56-game regular season schedule with a four-game homestand in Alex Box Stadium against two teams, VMI today at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. and Central Arkansas on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Monday at 2 p.m.
All LSU games are broadcast on KWKH-AM 1130 The Tiger, in Shreveport.
Despite losing a school-record 13 players to the Major League Baseball draft including the No. 1 (pitcher Paul Skenes) and No. 2 (center fielder Dylan Crews) overall draft choices, the Tigers begin this season ranked No. 2 by Baseball America and USA Today and No. 4 by D1 Baseball.
That’s a testimony to Johnson’s relentless recruiting of the best of the best high school and transfer portal prospects.
“We have incredible depth from the pitching side of things to the offense to the defensive side of things which gives you multiple ways to win a ballgame,” LSU grad student catcher Alex Milazzo said. “Whether it be on the mound, a defensive game or swinging the bat or stealing bases, it’s almost kind of like a Swiss army knife. It gives you a lot of options at multiple positions, and really how you want to approach the game.”
Johnson’s priority from Day 1, when he was hired in June 2021 to replace the retiring Paul Mainieri, was building pitching loaded with versatility.
His staff has grown from 19 pitchers (15 RHP, 4 LHP) in 2022 to 22 (16 RHP, 6 LHP) last season to 24 (15 RHP, 9 LHP) on this year’s roster.
Though Johnson has signed 31 pitchers through his first three recruiting classes – 16 freshmen/15 transfer portal – he has leaned more on the transfers.
Last season, six transfer pitchers accounted for 60.6 percent of LSU’s starts (43 of 71 games), 61.1 percent of the wins (33 of 54), 70.6 percent of the losses (12 of 17), 61.1 percent of the saves (11 of 18) and 56.8 percent of the strikeouts (453 of 798).
In LSU’s 11-2 NCAA tourney run, the Tigers’ transfer pitchers were 9-2 including 5-2 in eight College World Series games.
Transfers Thatcher Hurd of UCLA and Nate Ackenhausen of Eastern Oklahoma State, who combined for a 4-2 record in the NCAA tourney (3-2 in the CWS) lead this year’s staff. It also returns sophomores Griffin Herring (who picked up two NCAA tourney wins in relief) and Gavin Guidry (who emerged as one of the Tigers’ closers with a 3-0 record and 3 saves).
Then in the 2024 recruiting class, Johnson added Alabama’s Friday night starter Luke Holman and his teammate Cade Woods, All-Big East Conference reliever Justin Loer of Xavier, Hurd’s former UCLA teammate Gage Jump — who’s rounding into form after missing last season with Tommy John surgery — and highly regarded freshmen Cam Johnson and Kade Anderson.
“All the guys are very talented and going to help us in a big way,” said Hurd, who will start today’s opener. “It’s a good blend of experience and new talent. The depth is pretty awesome. We have a lot of different looks coming out of the bullpen.”
Junior third baseman Tommy White, who transferred from North Carolina State last season and led the nation with 105 RBIs for the Tigers while batting .374 with a team best .374, is the only returning starting infielder.
He’ll be joined by sophomore first baseman Jared Jones (.304 last season, 14 homers, 45 RBIs mostly as a designated hitter), junior second baseman Josh Pearson, who’s moving from his starting left field spot, and South Carolina junior transfer shortstop Michael Braswell.
The only true freshman starter is left fielder Jake Brown of Sulphur High. He’ll be joined by Arizona senior transfer center fielder Mac Bingham and sophomore right fielder Paxton Kling.
Sophomore catcher Brady Neal, who started 26 games last year before sustaining a season-ending injury, starts behind the plate.
He’ll be backed by Milazzo and fellow grad student Hayden Travinski, a Shreveport native and former Airline High standout who will be LSU’s starting designated hitter.
“He’ll be one of college baseball’s most dangerous hitters this year,” said Johnson of Travinski, who batted. 356 last season with 10 homers and 30 RBIs in 41 games after he finally healed from his third surgery in 14 months.
LSU has 18 non-conference games – 13 at home – before the Tigers play their first of 10 three-game SEC series starting at Mississippi State on March 15.
The Tigers’ home SEC series are Florida (March 22-24), Vanderbilt (April 4-6), Auburn (April 26-28), Texas A&M (May 3-5) and Ole Miss (May 16-18).
Besides playing UL-Lafayette on March 2 at Minute Maid Park in the Astros Foundation Classic, the Tigers have mid-week home games vs. Louisiana Tech (March 19), Southeastern Louisiana (March 26), Southern (April 1), McNeese (April 9), New Orleans (April 16), Nicholls (April 23), Grambling (April 30) and Northwestern State (May 7).
LSU was 7-2 last season in mid-week battles against in-state schools, losing at UL-Lafayette 8-5 and home to Nicholls 6-5.
“We treat every game like a playoff game,” Johnson said, “so the goal is to win each game in front of you and then improve while we’re doing that.
“Part of improving is finding out your best team. We’re not close to that right now, and I don’t mean that in a bad way.
“The emergence of some players from the fall until as we sit today has been remarkable. There’ll be guys that we’ll run out on the mound or positionally that in my head I didn’t have that player in the (preseason) projections. So, we have a lot of work to do to sort that out. And that’s a good thing.”
LSU has won 22 consecutive season-opening games. The Tigers’ last loss in a season opener was a 9-8 defeat by Kanas State on February 10, 2001, in the original Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers will stage a pregame Fan Fest starting at 11 a.m. before today’s opener. Admission to the Fan Fest is free and it will be held in the plaza area located in front of Alex Box Stadium.
It is a family-friendly event featuring food and drink trucks, inflatables, face painting, a caricature artist and the opportunity to take photos with the 2023 national championship trophy.
THIS WEEKEND’S PITCHING MATCHUPS
LSU (54-17, 19-10 SEC in 2023) vs. VMI (26-29, 9-11 Southern Conference in 2023)
(Today, 2 p.m., SEC Network+)
LSU: Jr. RH Thatcher Hurd (8-3, 5.68 ERA, 63.1 IP, 40 walls, 84 strikeouts in 2023)
VMI: RS Jr. LH Trey Morgan (2-2, 5.58 ERA, 40.1 IP, 16 walks, 22 strikeouts in 2023).
Series: First-ever meeting
LSU vs. Central Arkansas (23-31, 14-16 in Atlantic Sun in 2023)
(Saturday, 1 p.m., SEC Network+)
LSU: Jr. RH Luke Holman (7-4, 3.67 ERA, 81 IP, 31 walks, 87 strikeouts playing for Alabama in 2023).
Central Arkansas: Grad student RH Jesse Barker (7-4, 3.00 ERA, 96 IP, 22 walks, 100 strikeouts).
Series: LSU leads 1-0, won 10-4 last March 24 in Baton Rouge.
LSU vs. VMI
(Sunday, 1 p.m., SEC Network+)
LSU: TBA. VMI: TBA
LSU vs, Central Arkansas
(Monday, 2 p.m., SEC Network+)
LSU: TBA. Central Arkansas: TBA
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com