By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – The one strand of hope LSU baseball fans can cling to is that three of Tigers’ head coach Jay Johnson’s previous four teams have gone 10-5 in the second half of SEC play.
In LSU’s national championship seasons of 2023 and 2025, it meant final regular-season league records of 20-10 and 19-11 (when the Tigers were 9-6 in the second half), respectively, winning 7 of 10 series both seasons and getting homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
In 2022 and 2024, it resulted in regular-season conference finishes of 17-13 and 13-17, respectively, and being shipped to Southern Mississippi and North Carolina, where LSU lost road regionals.
It’s now an even-numbered year – 2026 – so LSU (23-15 overall, 6-9 SEC) is in the reverse spin cycle of having its back to the wall when it starts the second half of league play here tonight at 6 against No. 10 Texas A&M (28-7, 9-5 SEC) in Alex Box Stadium.
“I feel like it still has an opportunity to take care of itself,” Johnson said. “Been in a situation like this before. It just comes down to winning games.
“The blessing and curse of this league is you’re in it (playing top-ranked competition). If we were in a similar situation as a mid-major right now, it might be a tough, tough road. In this league, it will be a tough road in terms of winning on the field, but not tough in terms of those things moving in our direction.”
According to this week’s NCAA RPI rankings (part of the equation used by the tournament selection committee), eight of the 10 SEC teams on LSU’s schedule are ranked in the top 30, and all are ahead of the Tigers (65th in RPI).
LSU has SEC series losses to Vanderbilt (94th in RPI), Oklahoma (17th), and Ole Miss (10th). The Tigers won their series vs. Kentucky (19th) and Tennessee (29th).
Awaiting LSU in the second half of league play are Texas A&M (15th), Mississippi State (22nd), South Carolina (72nd), Georgia (20th) and Florida (5th).
The table is set for an LSU comeback. And as Johnson pointed out, one of the few strengths of this season’s team is the ability to rise off the floor after being knocked down early in games.
“They show some fight at times where it’s like a dog backed into the corner with a bigger dog,” Johnson said. “You better swing and claw and scratch or the big dog’s gonna eat you. So, we’ve shown some of that. I’d like to see that combined with playing the way the game is designed to be played.
“Whether that means we’re a good team or not, there’s time for that to be decided. The reality is we haven’t played good baseball. We haven’t been a great baseball team.
“We’ll fight when the dog puts us in the corner. So now play good baseball, continue that fight. Get a two-out hit every once in a while, field the ball, and throw and hit the first baseman in the chest.”
LSU pitching – both starters and relievers – have control issues that suddenly appear from nowhere. The fact that the Tigers’ hurlers lead the nation in strikeouts with 453 doesn’t mean diddly squat, considering they’ve issued 173 walks and have hit 53 batters.
That’s an average of giving 5.9 free passes per game, not to mention the 52 wild pitches and 12 passed balls to help runners advance.
When pitchers manage to do their jobs, maybe inducing a potential inning-ending groundball or a double play, there’s no one on the infield who is automatic but returning starting shortstop Steven Milam.
LSU has committed 50 errors. Milam has committed one error in 140 fielding chances.
Then, there’s a rash of careless base running.
“You can’t make the first or third out of the inning at third base, which we’ve probably done six to eight times this year,” Johnson said. “In 13 years of coaching, I could guarantee you that I could add up all of the outs with no outs or two outs made at third base, and it would not equal that amount.”
The Tigers’ offense usually scores a couple of early runs, goes scoreless for five or six straight innings, and then can pound three consecutive solo homers in one inning.
They’ve done that in consecutive SEC series finale Sunday games at Tennessee and Ole Miss.
LSU trailed the Vols 5-0 before winning 16-6 in 12 innings, thanks to a barrage of seven homers (a school-record four by catcher Cade Arrambide).
Against the Rebels, a seven-run seventh inning by the Tigers tied the game at 7-7, but LSU’s relievers couldn’t hold the lead in an 8-7 loss to result in a series sweep.
“I take a lot of pride as a game manager of a pitching staff,” Johnson said. “It hasn’t been as smooth this year, and not as smooth as it should be for the talent that I believe that we have. There’s no shortage of talent.
“Maybe position players we’re a little off in terms of complete team, but the pitching staff should not be.”
LSU (23-15 overall, 6-9 SEC) vs. No. 10 TEXAS A&M (28-7, 9-5 SEC) Alex Box Stadium, Baton Rouge
Game 1: Today, 6 p.m. CT (ESPN)
LSU – LSU – So. RH Casan Evans (2-1, 4.91 ERA, 47.2 IP, 23 BB, 68 SO)
TAM – R-Jr. LH Shane Sdao (3-2, 5.77 ERA, 48.1 IP, 12 BB, 58 SO)
Game 2: Saturday 7 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
LSU – So. RH William Schmidt (4-3, 3.22 ERA, 44.2 IP, 18 BB, 63 SO)
TAM – So. RH Aiden Sims (6-0, 3.56 ERA, 48 IP, 15 BB, 51 SO)
Game 3: Sunday, 1 p.m. CT (ESPN)
LSU – TBA
TAM – TBA
LSU VS. TEXAS A&M SERIES
Texas A&M leads the all-time series 34-32-1. The series is tied 19-19 in games played between the schools since Texas A&M began playing baseball in the SEC in 2013. LSU is 8-7 vs. Texas A&M in its SEC regular-season games played in Baton Rouge since the Aggies joined the SEC.
A LOOK AT LSU
LSU is No. 7 in the SEC with a .285 team batting average, and the Tigers are No. 14 in pitching with a 4.84 team ERA. LSU pitchers lead the nation in strikeouts with 453. The Tigers led the nation in strikeouts in both 2024 (798) and in 2025 (760). Center fielder Derek Curiel is No. 3 in the SEC in hits (54) and No. 2 in triples (2) . . .Right fielder Jake Brown is No. 2 in the SEC in home runs (16), No. 3 in RBI (49), No. 6 in runs scored (43), No. 8 in base hits (49), No. 10 in slugging pct. (.684).
A LOOK AT TEXAS A&M
The Aggies are No. 3 in the SEC with a .316 team batting average …The pitching staff is No. 13 in the SEC with 4.73 ERA and has recorded 298 strikeouts in 291 innings while allowing 52 home runs and a .260 opponent batting average. . .The Aggies are led at the plate by outfielder Caden Sorrell, who is batting .368 with 12 doubles, 17 homers and 57 RBI.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com