Big bat Bengals pack their weapons for Wednesday night road date at LaTech

When it came to non-conference midweek games, former LSU head baseball coaches Skip Bertman and Paul Mainieri had the same experimental approach.

Use the nine innings to try different lineups, maybe get experience for young players. If a win happens, great. If it doesn’t, it’s not the end of the world.

LSU fans, of course, want to win every game. They want to take no prisoners.

Apparently, new head coach Jay Johnson feels the same way as his 3-0 No. 8 ranked Tigers play their first of 13 non-conference midweek games (12 against 11 in-state opponents) traveling to Louisiana Tech (3-0) for a 6 p.m. Wednesday night affair.

“It's the most important game of the season and I don't differentiate between that for a number of reasons,” Johnson said of he and his team’s similar approach to every game on the schedule. "If you're trying to create self-discipline and focusing on the task at hand, well, the task at hand is this game.

“When you look at external factors, the RPI doesn't differentiate between conference and non-conference. This (Louisiana Tech) is a team we're gonna play, it's gonna win 40 plus games probably, be a conference champion-type team and a top 25 team with a chance to host a regional which they did last year. So, it's a great opportunity in that regard.”

While Tech swept a three-game season opening home series over Wichita State, erasing three-run and five-run deficits on Friday and Saturday, the Johnson era of LSU baseball got off the most explosive start in school history in its sweep of Maine.

The Tigers scored a combined 51 runs in the three games, LSU’s largest run total in a season-opening series. It was also the most runs in any three-game LSU stretch since 2001, when the Tigers scored 52 runs in wins over Duquesne (twice) and Nicholls.

“We were locked in from pitch one and we didn't let up,” said Tigers’ infielder Cade Doughty, who was named the SEC’s Player of the Week after hitting .571 (8-for-14) with three doubles, two homers, seven runs and 12 RBI. “It was really encouraging to see.”

LSU batted .387 vs. Maine, totaling 11 doubles, three triples and seven homers in the series.

There was the expected, such as national Player of the Year candidates Dylan Crews and Jacob Berry banging the ball all over the park. Sophomore center fielder Crews was 6-for-11 with one double, two triples, four RBI and eight runs. Sophomore outfielder Berry, a transfer from Arizona where he was an All-American last season under Johnson, hammered two homers and had five RBI.

The unexpected was redshirt sophomore designated hitter Brayden Jobert, a transfer from Delgado Community College, who hit .667 (6 for 9) in the series with two doubles, two homers and nine RBI.

The Slidell Northshore High product, who was also a Collegiate Baseball freshman All-American at Nicholls in 2020, stepped in as a starter when junior Cade Beloso sustained a knee injury during the Tigers’ pregame huddle chant before game one last Friday night.

“I saw that he got hurt and it just broke my heart,” Jobert said. “He's an unbelievable person. He's a great leader for our team. He's helped me through everything. He's just been behind me and he's like, `Come on, man, you got this.'

"I just got ready and focused. I knew what I had to do. I just know if I go out and play my game, the results will follow. Like Coach J (Johnson) says all the time, just stick to your plan, not let the situation get too big for you, slow the heart rate down and everything will come.”

The Tigers used 12 pitchers in the season-opening series, highlighted by Friday night starter Blake Money.

Money, a sophomore who struggled as a freshman last season when he was 1-2 with an 8.68 ERA in 28 innings over 15 games (two starts), threw a two-hit (both singles) shutout in seven innings vs. the Black Bears.

He had a career-high 10 strikeouts, firing 58 of his 79 pitches for strikes. Also, he retired the first seven batters he faced, later retired 10 consecutive Maine hitters and allowed just one Maine base runner to advance beyond first base.

Johnson said he’s happy the season is underway so he can learn more about his team now that it is in the heat of battle.

“I think sometimes when the uniform goes on, there's fans in the stadium and there's consequence in terms of your performance and your at-bats, guys respond positive and negative,” Johnson said. “On our side, there was way more positive to that.

“And so that's good as a coach, I would way rather have it that way. I'm pretty demanding. I want them to be on it all the time. But I was pleased to see the response to competition. There's always going to be things that I'm going to believe that we need to get better.

“The saying is we're not going to accept in winning what we wouldn't accept in losing.”

LSU has not played at Louisiana Tech in 24 years. The Tigers beat the Bulldogs twice in Baton Rouge last season and also have a home game vs. Tech scheduled later this year.

Tech’s offense in its trio of wins (7-3, 9-6, 5-3) over Wichita State was led by Taylor Young, Philip Matulia, Jorge Corona and Cole McConnell. This foursome hit a combined .372 with 12 RBI and 17 runs scored.

Tech’s pitching staff, led by Conference USA Pitcher of the Week Kyle Crigger, recorded 14 combined strikeouts Friday night, 11 on Saturday and 13 on Sunday.

Crigger earned a win and a save in two appearances. He had seven strikeouts and allowed two hits in four innings.

“I thought we played extremely hard and that's who we are,” Tech coach Lane Burroughs said after Sunday’s series finale. “I thought we competed our tails off. Very, very pleased with our pitching. You cannot start it off any better.”