By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
HOOVER, Ala. – A year ago, then-defending national champion LSU entered the SEC baseball tournament as the No. 11 seed, fighting for its postseason life.
For the first time in more than a decade, the Tigers were just 36-20 overall in the regular season. It included a pedestrian 13-17 SEC record, which was only made possible by LSU going 10-5 in the second half of SEC play.
LSU scored 11 or more runs in winning each of its first four SEC tourney games before losing 4-3 to eventual national champion Tennessee. It was enough to earn an NCAA tourney invite to the Chapel Hill Regional, where the Tigers lost to host North Carolina 4-3 in 10 innings in the championship game.
This year, it seems as if LSU has nothing to sweat. At 42-13 overall, 19-11 in the SEC and ranked No. 1 nationally, the Tigers apparently have locked up a No. 8 NCAA tourney seed, which would give them homefield advantage in the regionals and Super Regionals.
Win five games in Alex Box Stadium where the Tigers are 30-5 this season, and LSU will be off to the College World Series for the 20th time.
Yet when the Tigers finally take the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium field tonight at 6:30 as the SEC tourney’s No. 3 seed to face Texas A&M, it’s all gas and no brakes for LSU fourth-year head coach Jay Johnson.
“I want to win this tournament, because it’s competition, and I’m just a competitor,” Johnson said. “Everything is training for something. What a great opportunity to play three teams capable of winning the national championship. I’d like to have our players have that experience and to be able to draw from it for what’s ahead.”
A year ago, five SEC teams were among the top eight national seeds for the NCAA tournament.
No. 1 Tennessee and No. 3 Texas A&M played for the national championship. No. 2 Kentucky lost to the Vols in the Super Regionals. No. 5 Arkansas was eliminated in the Fayetteville Regional it hosted and No. 7 seed Georgia lost its home Super Regional to North Carolina State.
The SEC’s expansion to 16 teams this season, adding Texas and Oklahoma, increased competition with weekly predictable results.
Tennessee entered this week as a No. 8 SEC tourney seed, Kentucky No. 13 and Texas A&M No. 14, all total flips from last season. The latter two teams may not even make the NCAA tournament field.
With a bevy of transfers, key freshmen, and a core of returnees, LSU jumped in the opposite direction from last season as it has moved toward the top.
“With the amount of professional players that we’ve churned out over the last two years,” Johnson said, “the character thing was going to be really important this year. It’s a very eclectic blend of where players come from, via returnees from last year, high school ranks, from the transfer portal, or junior college. I’m proud of the way they’ve come together, and the only way they’ve done that is because of their solid human beings.”
The abundance of talent has meant at least five to seven position players bouncing in and out of the Tigers’ starting lineup.
“We’re going to play match-up games (hitters vs. pitchers) like lefty on righty,” LSU junior first baseman Jared Jones said. “Coach Johnson moves guys in and out of the lineup. But everybody’s done a great job of understanding their role this year and playing for one another.”
So much so that Johnson’s group of interchangeable chess pieces, which include designated hitters/outfielders Ethan Frey, Josh Pearson and Jake Brown along with reserve third baseman Tanner Reaves and pinch-hitters Ashton Larson, John Pearson and Dalton Beck, have been nicknamed “The Goon Squad” by LSU hitting coach Marc “Chief” Wanaka.
“It’s a lot of good guys that are owning their deal, knowing to be ready when they need to come in,” said Brown, who in LSU’s last two SEC series batted a combined .625 (10-for-18) with two doubles, three homers, six RBI, and eight runs scored. “Everyone’s doing pretty good so far. So we like it (the nickname). It’s fun.”
Johnson said he’s been pleased with his team’s improvement down the stretch, something not easily accomplished.
Some players, such Kade Anderson, took huge leaps of improvement.
An unsteady green and growing freshman reliever last season, the left-handed Anderson blossomed into LSU’s pitching staff ace named All-SEC first-team by the league’s coaches earlier this week.
“It (being selected All-SEC first-team) is a pretty big deal,” Anderson said. “Adding the slider has really developed my game a lot. Without that pitch this year, I don’t think I’d be where I’m where I am right now.”
No. 1 LSU (42-13 overall, 19-11 SEC, No. 3 seed) vs. Texas A&M (30-25, 11-19 SEC, No. 14 seed), SEC tournament quarterfinals, Hoover Metropolitan Stadium
PITCHING MATCHUP
Today, 6:30 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
LSU – TBA
TEXAS A&M – Jr. LH Myles Patton (3-4, 5.10 ERA, 72.1 IP, 79 KO, 16 BB).
LSU’s SEC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
LSU has a league-best 94-50 (.653) record in the SEC tournament, and the Tigers own a conference-high 12 tournament titles. LSU has reached the championship round of the SEC Tournament on 20 occasions, the most recent losing in last year’s finals 4-3 to eventual national champion Tennessee. LSU has won six SEC Tournament crowns since 2008, claiming the title in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, and 2017. LSU had reached the semifinal round in seven straight SEC Tournaments (2013-19) before dropping a first-round, single-elimination game to Georgia in 2021.
LSU IN THE SEC THIS YEAR
Series wins (7): 3-0 vs. Missouri, 3-0 vs. Mississippi State, 3-0 at Oklahoma, 2-1 vs. Alabama, 2-1 vs. Tennessee, 2-1 vs. Arkansas, 2-1 at South Carolina. Series losses (3): 1-2 at Texas, 0-3 at Auburn, 1-2 at Texas A&M
TEXAS A&M IN SEC THIS YEAR
Series wins (4): 2-1 at Tennessee, 3-0 vs. South Carolina, 2-1 at Arkansas, 2-1 vs. LSU. Series losses (6): 0-3 vs. Alabama, 0-3 at Vanderbilt, 1-2 vs. Kentucky, 0-3 at Texas, 0-3 vs Missouri, 1-2 at Georgia.
LSU-TEXAS A&M SERIES
Texas A&M leads the all-time series (which began in 1907) 34-31-1. The series is 19-18, favoring the Aggies (11-10 in College Station) in the 37 games played between the schools since Texas A&M began playing baseball in the SEC in 2013. LSU has posted 2-1 series victories over the Aggies in 2023 and 2024 before A&M won this year’s series, 2-1, in College Station. LSU is 0-1 vs. Texas A&M in the SEC tournament, losing 5-4 in a 2023 elimination game.
A LOOK AT LSU
LSU is No. 3 in the SEC in team batting average (.306), No. 2 in on-base percentage (.417), No. 4 in runs scored (446), No. 5 in hits (559) and No. 5 in doubles (114). The LSU pitching staff is No. 2 in the league in team ERA (3.78) and No. 3 in strikeouts (611) and opponent batting average (.224). Junior first baseman Jared Jones is No. 3 in the SEC in RBI (66), No. 3 in total bases (147), No. 3 in hits (76), No. 4 in home runs (19), and No. 8 in slugging percentage (.665). Freshman outfielder Derek Curiel is No. 7 in the SEC in hits (72), No. 7 in walks (41), and No. 8 in doubles (15). Junior second baseman Daniel Dickinson is No. 4 in the SEC in on-base percentage (.478). LSU sophomore left-hander Kade Anderson is No. 2 in the nation and in the SEC in strikeouts (133) and No. 2 in the league in innings pitched (83.0). Junior right-hander Anthony Eyanson is No. 3 in the nation and in the SEC in strikeouts (121), and No. 3 in the league in innings pitched (81.1).
A LOOK AT TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M is hitting .261 with 86 doubles, five triples, 95 homers, and 41 steals in 47 attempts. The Aggies are led at the plate by third baseman Wyatt Henseler, who is batting .316 with 15 doubles, 12 homers, and 33 RBI. Shortstop Kaeden Kent is hitting .279 with 12 doubles, one triple, 13 homers, and 49 RBI. Outfielder Jace LaViolette, who has recorded team-highs of 18 homers and 59 RBI, is limited because of a broken hand.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com