A call to arms: LSU's Johnson is still itching to find steady pitching

His lineup full of .300 plus hitters hit .227 this past weekend.

His pitching staff (two starters and six relievers) in the two losses on Saturday and Sunday at Auburn gave up 20 runs in just more than 15 innings with 20 strikeouts and 15 walks.

And for the first time this season with two weekends left in the regular season, LSU’s baseball team dropped an SEC series.

Yet you won’t find Tigers’ head coach Jay Johnson panicking after his team fell to No. 2 in the national rankings for the first time this season.

“I don't even use that word (panic),” Johnson said on Monday. “We're a no-drama program. That's why we're 37-10. . .there’s a difference between having intentionality and urgency in what you're doing and in panic. Panic is drama, intensity and urgency to plan.”

An LSU win in Sunday’s game three at Auburn would have not only won the series for the Tigers, but it would have put them in first-place in the SEC overall and in the West Division with two three-game series remaining vs. Mississippi State this weekend in Alex Box Stadium and at Georgia on May 18-20

.Instead after suffering its first run-rule loss of the year Sunday on the wrong end of a 12-2 beatdown issued by Auburn, LSU is third in the SEC at 16-7 behind co-leaders Vanderbilt and Arkansas at 17-7 and second in the West trailing only the Razorbacks.

The four highest ranked SEC teams heading into last weekend – LSU, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Florida – all lost their league series to lower or unranked teams.

“That's the 11th place team (in the SEC),” Johnson said of Auburn. “That team is in first place or second place in any other league.”

Also, the Tigers, who face Northwestern State at 6:30 Tuesday night in Alex Box Stadium, dropped a notch in the polls now trailing No. 1 Wake Forest of the ACC.

“The players understand that relative to what happens on the field and results, it (being ranked No. 1) is completely irrelevant.” Johnson said. “And it has been that from day one, so it'll remain that way.

“As competitors, you want to be on top and my hat’s off to them for how they've handled that. We'll make some adjustments that we need to whether it be mental or physical and get back on it.”

Johnson is much less concerned about the lack of LSU’s offensive production vs. Auburn than he is about his team’s pitching woes that continually puts pressure on LSU’s bats to produce enough runs to overcome dicey hurling.

LSU’s SEC eight series to date have mostly followed the same script:

Game 1: Because Tigers’ starting pitcher Paul Skenes has an ERA of 2.22 in his eight SEC game 1 starts that have all gone six innings or more in all but one (he was removed after three innings at South Carolina because an inclement weather delay), LSU’s offense only needs to produce five or six runs.

And LSU usually can get to the finish line with Skenes and one or two relievers.

Skenes struck out a career-high 15 batters in last Friday's 3-0 win at Auburn. On Monday, he was named Collegiate Baseball newspaper National Player of the Week for a sixth time this season.

Game 2: Because LSU starting pitcher Ty Floyd has a 6.75 ERA in his eight SEC game 2 starts that have lasted five or more innings just three times, LSU’s offense has had to up its production to eight or nine runs or more while the LSU bullpen has had to throw three or more relievers.

Game 3: Thatcher Hurd started the first three SEC game 3s and Christian Little has has had the last four game 3 league starts (game three at South Carolina was cancelled). Hurd and Little’s combined ERA is 12.46 with just one appearance lasting longer than 3.1 innings.

LSU has averaged 10.3 runs in its four SEC series game 3 wins and 5 runs in its SEC series game 3 losses. While the Tigers have used four relievers in four SEC game 3s and three relievers in three SEC game 3s, it has used the same reliever twice in a series (including in a game 3) 10 times including on seven occasions in the last two series against Alabama and Auburn.

Johnson has been scrambling since late March/early April when he lost relievers Chase Shores and Garrett Edwards for the year with torn UCLs and lost Nate Ackenhausen for two SEC weekends with a hamstring pull.

Edwards, Shores and Ackenhausen still have the three best ERAs on the team behind Skenes, While Ackenhausen is back in action, it has been a crapshoot for Johnson to find relievers consistently as effective as Shores and Edwards.

Johnson has increasingly leaned more on freshman Gavin Guidry (2.89 ERA in 9.1 innings in eight SEC appearances) and junior Bryce Collins (allowed two earned runs in six SEC appearances).

Hurd, the UCLA transfer who had an ERA of 20.25 in three SEC starts, has re-emerged as an effective reliever. In closing wins over Alabama and Auburn, he threw 2.2 scoreless and hitless innings.

“I like him pitching the way he's been pitching the last few times and that was an excellent performance on Friday night (vs. Auburn),” Johnson said. “He'll be on the mound, he'll be one of the key guys. I think with the way he's pitching that's going to be good for us.”

There’s also the hope sophomore Javen Coleman continues his remarkable comeback after missing all of last season because of Tommy John surgery. Coleman, who returned to action in April, has allowed two runs in 3.1 innings in his last two appearances including six strikeouts in 2.1 scoreless and hitless innings vs. Alabama.

And there’s no reliever Johnson has relied on more (with mixed results) than junior Riley Cooper, who transferred from Arizona last season when Johnson made his move from Arizona to LSU.

Cooper has an LSU pitching staff high 20 appearances this season including 11 in SEC play. He has pitched in two games of a three-game league series four times this season.

The problem for Johnson is finding any pitcher on his staff besides Skenes who can sustain consistency.

For instance, freshman Griffin Herring allowed just four earned runs in 11.2 innings in his first five SEC appearances. But in his last two league stints he has given up six earned runs in 2.2 innings.

“I still think there's enough guys to execute the way we want to win weekends and to win games,” Johnson said. “We’ve just got to get them a little bit better and get them in the right spot to be successful. And we're going work hard at that this week.”

After this past weekend’s crash-to-earth at Auburn against a team that is still below .500 in SEC play even though it beat LSU twice, Johnson’s team won’t overlook its last two SEC opponents.

Mississippi State, two seasons removed from winning its first College World Series title is tied for last in the West Division with defending national champion Ole Miss at 6-18.

Georgia, which hosts LSU to end the season next weekend, is next to last in the East Division at 10-14.

"Team one to team 14 (in the SEC), it does not matter,” Johnson said. “What you have to do to win is the same against every team in our league.

"The week-in week-out challenge of having to be at your best and bring it in all phases of the game both mentally, physically, emotionally. . .this (playing in the SEC) is the ultimate test and we're better for that. And we'll be better for that.”