By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – The 2026 LSU baseball team has literally been caged Tigers, chomping at the bit to take a bite out of somebody rather than themselves.
The defending national champions will finally be turned loose today vs. Milwaukee at 2 p.m. to open the regular season with a four-game home stand in Alex Box Stadium.
“These guys want to play,” said fifth-year LSU coach Jay Johnson, who has guided the Tigers to the school’s seventh and eighth national titles in the last three seasons. “They want to play games. They want to compete. I’d have a mutiny this weekend if we had to scrimmage ourselves again.”
The 2025 national championship squad, which finished 53-15 and won five straight College World Series games to capture the title, had nine players drafted (including six pitchers) and two players signing free agent contracts.
This season’s team, ranked No 1 and No. 2 in all the preseason polls, has 20 newcomers (11 transfers, nine high school signees) and 19 returning players, including its starting outfield (Chris Stanfield, Derek Curiel, Jake Brown) and shortstop Steven Milam.
The Tigers’ 21-man pitching staff features nine returnees, most notably sophomore Casan Evans (5-1, 2.00 ERA, 7 saves in 19 appearances, including three starts last season) and sophomore William Schmidt (7-0, 4.73 ERA, 6 starts in 17 appearances).
Johnson named Evans to start today’s game, the first of three vs. Milwaukee. Schimdt will start Sunday’s game and Kansas transfer Cooper Moore is Saturday’s starter. Monday’s starter vs Kent State is to be determined.
“I learned a lot from Kate Anderson (last season),” Evans said of LSU’s 2025 Friday night starter who was Seattle’s No. 3 overall first-round draft pick. “I looked at how he went about his work, what he did to prepare for the game, knowing that he was the Friday night starter, and that was the role I wanted to be in this year. It’s just preparing myself to do anything and everything, because I know it’s not going to be an easy task.”
The heartbeat of the ’26 Tigers, without a doubt, is Curiel, the 2025 D1 National Freshman of the Year.
Last season, he started in all 68 games and batted a team-high .345 with 20 doubles, two triples, seven homers, 55 RBI and 67 runs. He was LSU’s leading hitter in NCAA tournament games, batting .390 (16-for-41) with four doubles, one homer, 10 RBI and 13 runs. He was named to the CWS all-tournament team after hitting .316 (6-for-19) with three RBI and three runs..
Curiel’s approach at the plate is the gold standard for the rest of the Tigers.
“Slowing the game down (when batting) is everything,” Curiel said. “The game wants to speed you up. You have to do the best of your ability and have a good internal clock for slowing the game down.”
LSU’s infield is anchored by junior shortstop Milam, who hit 295 (71-for-241) last season year with 14 doubles, two triples, 11 homers, 57 RBI and 50 runs. He committed only five errors in 234 chances.
“I think we got a lot of versatility, a lot of athleticism, speed, power. .it’s a fun combination,” Milam said. “You just throw in one guy and you’re gonna get speed and another guy can give you contact. There’s a lot of ways we can beat you.”
Sophomore catcher Cade Arrambide and redshirt senior second baseman Tanner Reaves will start. Senior first baseman transfer Zach Yorke of Grand Canyon and third baseman Trent Caraway of Oregon State are new infield starters. High Point senior transfer Brayden Simpson will likely get the first look as a designated hitter.
The Tigers have 18 non-conference games (14 at home, 1 road, 3 neutral site) before opening SEC play at No. 23 Vanderbilt. They have eight games in the first 10 days, capped by matchups vs. Indiana, Notre Dame and UCF in the Live Like Lou Jax College Baseball Classic in Jacksonville starting next Friday.
“That’s a heavy lift,” Johnson said. “We have to be smart about doing what we need to do to win one game tomorrow (today) and then put this whole picture together.
“Our goal is to win every single game that we can, and figure out our best team as we go.”
No. 1 LSU vs. MILWAUKEE, ALEX BOX STADIUM, BATON ROUGE
Game 1: Today, 2 p.m. CT (SEC Network+)
LSU – So. RH Casan Evans (5-1, 2.05 ERA, 52.2 IP, 19 BB, 71 SO in 2025)
MILWAUKEE – Sr. LH Matthew Mueller (1-2, 5.23 ERA, 41.1 IP, 31 BB, 55 SO in 2025)
Game 2: Saturday, 1 p.m. CT (SEC Network+)
LSU – Jr. RH Cooper Moore (7-3, 3.96 ERA, 88.2 IP, 19 BB, 85 SO in 2025 at Kansas)
MILWAUKEE – Sr. RH Aric Ehmke (1-6, 8.70 ERA, 60.0 IP, 30 BB, 33 SO in 2025)
Game 3: Sunday, 1 p.m. CT (SEC Network+)
LSU – So. RH William Schmidt (7-0, 4.73 ERA, 32.1 IP, 22 BB, 41 SO in 2025)
MILWAUKEE – Jr. LH Riley Peterson (3-2, 1.84 ERA, 29.1 IP, 17 BB, 24 SO in 2025)
LSU SERIES VS. MILWAUKEE
Friday’s game marks the first-ever matchup between LSU and Milwaukee on the diamond. . .Milwaukee is a member of the Horizon League. . .The only current baseball-playing member of the Horizon League that LSU has faced is Youngstown State; the Tigers swept two games from YSU in 2021 at Alex Box Stadium.
A LOOK AT LSU
LSU has won 24 consecutive season-opening games. The Tigers’ last loss in a season opener occurred on February 10, 2001, when LSU dropped a 9-8 decision to Kansas State in the original Alex Box Stadium. . .The Tigers are ranked No. 1 by Perfect Game and USA Today, and No. 2 by D1 Baseball and Baseball America in the preseason polls.
A LOOK AT MILWAUKEE
Milwaukee was 24-35 overall last season, 16-13 in the Horizon League with a third-place finish in the conference regular-season standings. . .Senior outfielder Charlie Marion is the Panthers’ top returning hitter, batting .279 in 2025 with 15 doubles, three triples, 12 homers and 61 RBI. . .The Panthers batted .264 as a team last season with 118 doubles, 15 triples and 56 home runs. . .Milwaukee’s pitching staff registered a 7.40 team ERA last season with 395 strikeouts and a .292 opponent batting average in 501.1 innings.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com
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