If anything has been learned about LSU’s 8-1 baseball team as it heads into its first serious weekend of the three-week 2022 season to date, it’s that the Tigers have bought into the process-oriented, even-keel approach of first-year head coach Jay Johnson.
It seems as if no matter what has happened so far, good or bad, Johnson continually reflects a monotone, expressionless stay-the-course attitude whose mantra is seeking simultaneous winning and improvement.
The results come from the process, the process comes from staying in that precise moment when it happens and then focusing on the next specific nanosecond.
“I'm just pleased with the approach what we need to do to be successful,” said Johnson, whose Tigers open play vs. unranked Oklahoma (5-2) Friday at 3 p.m. in the Shriners Hospital for Children Classic in Houston’s Minute Maid Park. “We’re trying to win every game that we play, but we’re also trying to build a really sound foundation. Culture is a way of doing things. I think that’s been really sound so far.”
LSU entered the week ranked No. 3 by Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game, No. 5 by NCBWA, No. 7 by USA Today and D1 Baseball and No. 8 Baseball America. It won 11-3 over UNO Wednesday night in Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers’ lone loss so far is an 11-6 decision at then-No. 15 Louisiana Tech on Feb. 23. It is the only ranked team LSU has played until this weekend when it faces No. 1 ranked Texas (9-0) Saturday night at 7 before closing play vs. unranked Baylor (4-4) Sunday night at 7.
“You’ve got brand name schools, so it catches more people’s attention,” Johnson said of the upcoming weekend. “But we could go in there, play great and win all of them, but we have a long way to go. We may scuffle from time to time, and we’ve still got a long way to go.
“My hope is the players are gaining confidence in the correct approach to things and that they're getting rewarded with solid play with that approach and therefore it motivates them.
“We’re big on focusing on the task at hand in the moment. We see that with a couple guys with our team early, if you bring past performances to the current performance all you're doing is complicating a task. If you attach a ranking or a name to a pitcher, you're only complicating the task.”
The Tigers are batting .354. First baseman Tre’ Morgan, center fielder Dylan Crews, third baseman Cade Doughty and right fielder Jacob Berry – LSU’s four players at the top of the batting order – are hitting a combined .404 with 52 RBI and 23 extra base hits including 9 home runs.
Crews (.485, 2 home runs, 14 RBI) leads the team in hitting, but Doughty (.389) leads the team in RBI (16) while Berry (.342, 12 RBI) tops the team in home runs.
In the Tigers’ current five-game win streak, the team is batting .362 with nine doubles, one triple, six homers, 55 total hits and 52 runs scored. Morgan is batting .500 (8-for-16) in the last five games with one double, six RBI and eight runs.
LSU’s pitching staff has a 2.77 ERA, including a 1.05 ERA in the current win streak in which they have limited opponents to five earned runs on 18 hits and a .122 batting average in the past five games.
Blake Money (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 17 strikeouts, 3 walks, 4 hits all singles allowed) will get the pitching start vs. Oklahoma.
Johnson has been particularly pleased with his team’s relief pitching.
“The bullpen continues to be awesome, continues to be a strength of this team,” Johnson said after LSU’s win over UNO. “I really believed it would be and it’s bearing out.”
All three LSU games this weekend will be televised live on MLB Network and AT&T Sports Southwest and streamed live on Astros.com and the Houston Astros Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts as well as the MLB app. Subscribers to AT&T SportsNet Southwest can also stream all games live on the AT&T SportsNet app.
Also the game can be heard live on the LSU radio network affiliates and at www.lsusports.net/live. Live stats can be followed on lsustats.com.
“This event also carries a little more weight because of Alex Bregman being with the Astros, and he’s one of the greatest LSU players of all time,” Johnson said. “Our players are really fired up. We’re going to take each game as it comes, and not focus so much on the opponent, but more on how we play.
“It should be a lot of fun, and our kids come to LSU to play in these types of games. I’m trying to keep it in perspective. The things that we’ve done so far to be successful are the same things we’re going to need to do this weekend. There will be a lot of season left after this weekend, but I know our players are really looking forward to it.”
Here's a look at LSU’s three opponents in Houston:
Oklahoma: The Sooners return players from the 2021 team that accounted 48 percent of the hits, 45 percent of the RBI, 49 percent of the extra base hits, 47 percent of innings pitched and 41 percent of strikeouts on the mound from last season’s squad. Oklahoma won two of three games to open this season in the State Farm Classic in Globe Life Field in Arlington with wins over Auburn 3-0 and Michigan 6-1 with its lone loss by 14-4 to then-No. 15 Arizona (LSU coach Jay Johnson’s former team). Oklahoma has a frigid team batting average of .219 with three starters batting over .300 led by Diego Muniz at .385 and four starters hitting .200 or less. The Sooners’ pitching staff has a 2.90 ERA, led by lefthander Jake Bennett (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 13 strikeouts, 3 walks) who will start against LSU. Two years ago, Oklahoma’s Dane Acker threw an 11-strikeout, no-hitter in a 1-0 shutout of the Tigers in this same tournament.
Texas: The Longhorns are outscoring opponents 72-10. The pitching staff has already thrown four shutouts and allowed just six earned runs, while striking out 84 batters in 81 innings pitched. Texas returned six starting position players and four key pitchers from the team that went 50-17 and finished third at the College World Series in 2021. Texas has scored 48 percent of its runs this season with two outs. The Longhorns have 30 total two-out RBI of their 63 runs driven in. Texas will start right hander Tristan Stevens (2-0, 0.00 ERA) on the mound vs. the Tigers. Outfielder Eric Kennedy leads the team with a .414 batting average. First baseman Ivan Melendez provides the power with 12 RBI from two doubles and three home runs. Texas hits .300 as a team and its pitching staff has an ERA 0.67.
Baylor: Since being swept by then-No. 21 Maryland at home the opening weekend, Baylor has won four of its last five games and took two of three from then-No. 23 Duke. The Bears started their Houston road trip with a 9-0 win over Rice on Wednesday as six pitchers combined on a 2-hit shutout. Third-year sophomore pitcher Will Rigney, scheduled to start against LSU on Sunday, is finally healthy and contributing. So far this season, he has a 3.00 ERA with 10 strikeouts and no walks. His 4 innings pitched and 6 strikeouts vs. Duke were career highs. Baylor’s pitching staff, which has an ERA of 2.75, already has had double-digit strikeout totals in four games after having double-digit strikeout totals in just 16 games last season. Baylor ranks third nationally with 11 double plays turned and fourth with 1.38 DP's per game. The Bears are batting .240, led by infielder Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo at .286.
