Tigers, Vols set to battle in their first-ever CWS meeting
LSU’s 19th trip to Omaha and Saturday’s College World Series 6 p.m. opener vs. Tennessee has been two seasons in the making for the Tigers.
In fact, it started not long after second-year LSU head coach Jay Johnson was hired in June 2021.
He laid out his plans to Tigers’ players how he prepared his teams and the amount of work, focus and belief required. He also made it clear he wanted an immediate buy-in.
“Like you can wait and see how this different approach to things goes and we're just going to waste time,” Johnson said. “Let’s not waste time feeling this thing out.
“And they didn’t do that. It’s got to be like an immediate trust and I know I had to earn that from them.”
The players bought in and it was especially evident this year with a roster bursting with valuable options, thanks to headliner returnees, key transfers and incoming freshmen ranked as the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class.
“That's an amazing collection of talent, but in the first meeting I said that doesn't make us a team,” Johnson said. “Developing them as people, developing them as teammates, not just accepting their role, but embracing it, and communicating it might look different in game 1 than game 10, it might look different in game 20, game 50, and then in Omaha.”
Which is exactly how LSU’s 48-15 season has transpired.
Current starting left fielder Josh Peason started just three of the Tigers’ first 17 games. In four games of a Texas road swing, he got just two at-bats.
“Josh Pearson was a starter all year last year,” Johnson said. “Kind of got beat out at the beginning of the year. Yet, when it's been winning time, that's the guy I want in the box.”
Current starting catcher Hayden Travinski didn’t make his first start of the season until the 39th game of the year.
“There's not a better hitter in college baseball right now than him,” Johnson said.
And not a better example of the type of team player that permeates the LSU roster – someone who tried to lift his teammates until he got his chance to shine.
“They've all been ready to make their contribution because they made it about the team rather than themselves,” Johnson said. “I can't speak higher than that because I think it's incredibly uncommon nowadays.”
The Tigers have benefited from a strong core of upperclassmen leadership, including juniors Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes.
It’s not just that center fielder Crews and pitcher Skenes are projected as the first two players likely to be picked in the MLB draft in July. They also lead through work ethic and their professional approach of preparation.
It’s why Crews has a .434 batting average (third in the nation) this season, a .380 188-game LSU career average and a .462 16-game NCAA tournament average. It’s why Skenes, in his one Tigers’ season after transferring from Air Force, is 12-2 with a nation-leading 188 strikeouts and a 1.77 ERA.
So when Crews and Skenes speak, as they did during a team meeting after LSU was eliminated in the SEC tourney to end the month of May with a record of 8-7, the rest of the players listened as the Tigers were about to embark on their NCAA tourney journey.
“We just said five games, just give us five games to get here and play your best baseball that you possibly can, forget about all the stuff that happened in the season,” Crews said. "Just focus on the present right now. Give us five games to get here, and I think everything will take care of itself as soon as we get here.”
The Tigers won the Baton Rouge Regional by beating Tulane and then Oregon State twice, then hosted and swept Kentucky in the Super Regional.
In the five straight wins that advanced LSU to Omaha, the Tigers batted a collective .352 (64 for 182), hit 16 homers, had 45 RBIs, outscored opponents 50-23 and committed just three errors.
Also, eight pitchers (three starters, five relievers) combined for an ERA of 3.40 with 61 strikeouts and 12 walks.
“We’re in a very good spot right now,” Crews said. “Everything is just kind of clicking for us right now. Bullpen is doing really well. Starting pitching has just been dominant. Our approaches have been great in the batter's box.”
The Tigers won two of three games vs. Tennessee in the regular season series in Baton Rouge March 30-April 1 in the third SEC weekend of the season for both teams.
The Vols, 57-9 last season when they went 25-5 in the SEC as regular season champions before being stunned losing a home Super Regional to Notre Dame, had high expectations entering this year.
But Tennessee had 10 players taken in the 2022 major league baseball draft, including the entire starting outfield, three of four starting infielders and four relief pitchers. The Vols also lost two starting position players to graduation.
After losing the LSU series, Tennessee was 4-5 in the SEC. Vols’ head coach Tony Vitello shuffled his pitching rotation and UT was vastly improved in the stretch of the regular season.
“The whole first half of the season had a lot of juggling and trying to figure thing out,” Vitello said. “There was just all this tinkering, and I think eventually we decided to go with a few different things that were going to be our specific approach day in and day out, whether it be the lineup or the defense we wanted to roll with.
“Eventually it settled in. There's been a lot more consistency from the coaches and the players together. We've kind of come together and done it as a group.”
While the 43-20 Vols are eighth in the SEC in hitting at .284 (LSU is first at .314), Tennessee’s pitching staff carries the load.
It has an SEC-leading ERA of 3.57 with a league-high 708 strikeouts. Andrew Lindsey, who will start against LSU, is second in the league behind Skenes with a 2.79 ERA. Drew Beam, UT’s third starter, is 11th in the SEC in ERA (3.78). Chase Dollander, a projected MLB first-round draft choice who was moved from No. 1 starter to No. 2, is fourth in the SEC in strikeouts (118) and reliever Chase Burns is sixth (105).
In six NCAA Tournament games, the Vols' bullpen has allowed just two runs in 23.2 innings, posting a 0.76 ERA. UT's relievers have combined for 29 strikeouts while issuing just 10 walks and have held opposing hitters to a .143 batting average.
During last weekend's Hattiesburg Super Regional at Southern Miss, Tennessee's relievers allowed just one run in nine innings. The Vols held the Golden Eagles scoreless over the final 15 innings of the Super Regional.
“They made some switches to how they lined up their pitching and they have great staff," Johnson said of Tennessee. “Offensively, a lot of the same guys are still playing and are playing confidently much like us.
“When I first saw the tournament bracket, I said we’re going to play Tennessee. It's a great team, a great opponent. I wouldn’t have it any other way. If you're going to win a national championship, making it even more validating is playing the best teams.”
No. 5 SEED LSU (48-15) vs. TENNESSEE (43-20)
WHERE: Charles Schwab Field, Omaha, Neb.
BALLPARK DIMENSIONS: 335 feet left and right field lines (five feet longer than LSU’s Alex Box Stadium, 15 feet longer than UT’s Lindsay Nelson Stadium), 375 feet left center and right center field (10 feet longer than Alex Box, 15 feet longer than Lindsay Nelson) and 408 feet center field (3 feet longer than Alex Box, 18 feet longer than Lindsay Nelson).
WHEN: Saturday, 6 p.m. ESPN.
GAMETIME WEATHER: 78 degrees, 40 percent chance of rain increasing to 48 percent by 8 p.m.
LIKELY STARTING PITCHERS
LSU: Paul Skenes, 12-3, 1.77 ERA in 101 innings, 188 strikeouts/18 walks.
TENNESSEE: Andrew Lindsey, 3-3, 2.79 ERA in 67.2 innings, 69 strikeouts/18 walks.
LSU VS. TENNESSEE SERIES
LSU leads the all-time series with Tennessee, 60-29. LSU has won 16 of its last 24 games versus UT. Tennessee has won seven of the past nine meetings. LSU claimed a 2-1 SEC series win earlier this season (March 30-April 1) in Baton Rouge. Prior to this season, UT had won six straight games over the Tigers, including a 2022 SEC Tournament win, a two-game sweep in the 2021 NCAA Knoxville Super Regional and a three-game sweep in the 2021 SEC regular-season series, also in Knoxville.
LSU IN THE COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
LSU is participating in its 19th College World Series, and its first since 2017 when the Tigers finished as the national runners-up to Florida. LSU is 40-27 (.597) all-time in CWS games, including a 7-3 mark in CWS championship games. The Tigers have six national championships (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2009), the second-most in NCAA history. LSU has never played Tennessee in the CWS.
TENNESSEE IN THE COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
Tennessee is participating in its sixth CWS and its first since 2021. The Vols are 8-10 (.444) all-time in CWS games. Tennessee is looking to break a five-game losing skid in the tournament which dates back to 2001. UT is looking for its first win at Charles Schwab Field, which replaced the original Rosenblatt Stadium in 2011.
STATS
LSU: No. 1 in the nation in shutouts pitched (10) and runs scored (588); No. 2 in on-base percentage (.438), slugging percentage (.569) and home runs (133), No. 3 in strikeouts pitched per nine innings (11.6), No. 4 in hit-by-pitch (131), No. 5 in scoring average (9.3 runs per game), No. 6 in hits allowed per nine innings (7.70) and walks received (367).
TENNESSEE: The Vols are No. 1 in the SEC in ERA (3.57) and strikeouts (708), No. 3 in home runs (125) and No. 8 in the SEC in batting average (.284).
STARS
LSU
CF DYLAN CREWS: Winner of the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award as college baseball's best hitter, National College Baseball Writers Association first-team All-American, SEC Player of the Year, All-SEC first team, All-SEC Defensive team, Golden Spikes Award finalist, No. 2 in the nation in on-base percentage (.576) and in runs scored (89), No. 3 in batting average (.434) and. walks (65), has 17 home runs, 15 doubles and 67 RBIs, and has increased his reached base streak to 67 straight games (all 63 games this season and the final four games of last season).
P PAUL SKENES: Winner of Dick Howser Trophy as the outstanding player in NCAA Division I baseball, National College Baseball Writers Association first-team All-American, College Baseball Newspaper National Player of the Year, Golden Spikes Award finalist, SEC Pitcher of the Year and All-SEC first team, No. 1 in the nation in strikeouts (188), strikeouts per nine innings (15.81) and WHIP (0.78), No. 2 in ERA (1.77), No., 3 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (10.44) and No. 6 in hits allowed per nine innings (5.47).
3B TOMMY WHITE: National College Baseball Writers Association first-team All-American, All-SEC first team, No. 2 in the nation in RBIs (97) and No. 3 in RBIs (1.67).
TENNESSEE
C/OF JARED DICKEY: Batting 325 with six doubles, three triples, 12 homers and 51 RBIs.
OF GRIFFIN MERRITT: Batting .315 with 11 doubles, 18 homers and 48 RBI.
P ANDREW LINDSEY: 3-3 record, second in the SEC in ERA at 2.79.