LSU Baseball “Future’s So Bright,” Jay Johnson’s “Gotta Wear Shades”

June 23, 2025 Glenn Guilbeau Basketball Recruiting, LSU Baseball 0
Eight is Great! The Tigers dog pile after beating Coastal Carolina, 5-3, on Sunday to win the national championship at the College World Series at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. (LSU photo).

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

OMAHA, Nebraska – It was sunglass weather most of the last week here in Omaha, which has basically been LSU’s beach since 1986.

The Tigers have reached the College World Series here 20 times since that first summer, winning their eighth national championship on a hot, bright Sunday afternoon, 5-3, over Coastal Carolina at Charles Schwab Field downtown in front of 24,734 fans.

The state of the art stadium looked like a big bowl of Purple & Gold Jell-O with a few Teal-colored mints thrown in from whichever Carolina that is. That’s how the town looked, too, over the last 10 days or so, as eventually the ever-growing Jell-O Shot Blob of LSU Nation succumbed all other school colors and fans in its lusty path.

This is LSU’s beach. Not yours, Carolina, even though you have Coastal in your name. Go back to Myrtle Beach.

No program has been more dominant on this beach, kicking sand in everyone’s face, over those four decades than LSU. None have come close.

That September of ’86, a band from Madison, Wisconsin, – 400 miles northeast of here – called Timbuk 3 released one of the coolest songs ever – “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades.”

LSU coach Jay Johnson needs a dark pair quick. The LSU Baseball Train owns this historic Union Pacific Railroad national hub like no one else, and its conductor Johnson is not letting go or going anywhere, and that includes off the rails. As the song says:

Things are goin’ great

And they’re only gettin’ better

Sure, LSU will lose ace pitcher and draft-age sophomore Kade Anderson (12-1, 3.18 ERA), who still isn’t sure which Carolina that Coastal is in, so he just struck out 10 of its players for good measure. He had 180 strikeouts on the season to lead the nation. When you throw like him, geography’s overrated. Anderson could be the first player taken in the Major League Baseball Draft on July 13.

He needs a pair of shades, too. But if the Washington Nationals do take him with the first pick, he needs to know he may have brief stay on a farm club team of theirs in the Carolina League.

Junior pitcher Anthony Eyanson (12-2, 3.00 ERA, 2 saves) will also enter the MLB Draft and could go in the second round after one glorious season with the Tigers. He finished third in the nation in strikeouts with 152 as LSU led the nation in strikeouts for the second straight year – 760 this season and 733 last year.

The Tigers will also lose first baseman Jared Jones, who walked off Arkansas last Wednesday night to put his team in the finals, second baseman Daniel Dickinson, who’s been chewing on bullets since breaking the hamate bone in his left wrist a few weeks ago but continuing to play and hit, and three seniors in catcher Luis Hernandez, outfielder Josh Pearson and third baseman Michael Braswell.

Redshirt sophomore pitcher Chase Shores will also likely enter the draft after just beginning to scratch his Anderson-like potential. In four CWS relief appearances over seven innings, he saved two games with a 3.86 ERA while striking out eight with zero walks and three runs allowed on five hits.

If he decides to stay for 2026, he would be in the weekend rotation along with Casan Evans (5-1, 2.05 ERA, 7 saves), who will be a sophomore, and if he finds his control, maybe William Schmidt (7-0, 4.13 ERA), who will also be a sophomore. Or left-hander Cooper Williams (0-1, 1.80 ERA), another sophomore-to-be, will be in the rotation. Better get some more shades for those dudes.

Zac Cowan (3-3, 2.94 ERA, 6 saves), who had an excellent start against Arkansas on Wednesday, may return for his senior season. Jaden Noot (2-1, 4.13 ERA) may return as well. Another promising freshman who could explode next year is Mavrick Rizy (0-0, 4.74 ERA). And don’t forget about Gavin Guidry, who was the Tigers’ top reliever in 2023 and ’24 before a back injury sidelined for all of this season. He will likely be back for his senior season. Another injured pitcher, Deven Sheerin, could be a key member of the 2026 staff as a junior.

Among the freshmen pitchers vying for innings in 2026 from another top-ranked recruiting class by Johnson will be left-hander Briggs McKenzie of Wendell, North Carolina, Miguel Sime of Queens Village, New York, and River Hamilton of Woodvillage, Oregon, unless they get drafted and go pro.

Returning on offense will be some of the Tigers’ best hitters in 2025 (with their grade classifications for next season) – sophomore left fielder Derek Curiel (.345, 55 RBIs, 7 HRs), junior shortstop Steven Milam (.295, 57 RBIs, 11 HRs) and junior right fielder Jake Brown (.320, 48 RBIs, 8 HRs).

And LSU has a chance to return outfielders Ethan Frey (.331, 50 RBIs, 13 HRs) and center fielder Chris Stanfield (.298, 31 RBIs, 1 HR) for their senior seasons. Catcher Cade Arrambide was a jewel of Johnson’s 2025 freshmen class who had to wait behind Hernandez. Tanner Reaves could move to third or second base permanently next season as a senior. And look for Ashton Larson to return to a more featured role in the outfield in 2026 as a junior after starting in 2024.

Joining the Tigers’ offense from the portal are a couple of power hitters in Kansas State first baseman Seth Dardar (.326, 45 RBIs, 13 home runs) and High Point third baseman/first baseman Brayden Simpson (.389, 78 RBIs, 22 HRs) from High Point. Both will be seniors.

Incoming freshmen expected to make an impact if not drafted are No. 33 middle infielder Quentin Young of Camarillo, California, No. 54 outfielder Dean Moss of Atherton, California, and No. 56 outfielder Jaden Fauske of Willowbrook, Illinois.

“We can’t promise that we’re going to win two titles in three years, and you’re going to get to play in Omaha, especially going through the SEC,” Johnson said Sunday as he looked to the future. “But I do promise them that they will be better players. In 2023, we had 13 players drafted. That’s an SEC record. Last year, we had eight pitchers drafted – another SEC record. Maybe that’s why I’m so proud. This is a completely different team.”

Johnson is the complete package – dugout coach, preparation master, premium recruiter, motivator. And he can flip a roster as well as anyone in this wild Transfer Portal age. He is the fastest coach to two national championships in the history of the game – just four years. And he’s only 48. Look out Skip Bertman, Augie Garrido and Rod Dedeaux. Someone’s gaining on you.

While heaping praise on his pitching coach Nate Yeskie and pitching development director Jamie Tutko on Sunday, Johnson said, “If you’re a pitcher and you don’t want to come here right now, you’re out to lunch. You’re not thinking clearly.”

Yeskie could use a new pair of shades, too. He’s a young Skip Bertman – Miami version. As is Johnson – LSU model.

Then Johnson added, “We’ve got it all,” about his pitching development and performance. But he could have been talking about himself and his program overall.

Johnson has it all. He wouldn’t say this, so we’ll let Timbuk 3:

Well, I’m heavenly blessed

And worldy wise

So, as far as LSU Baseball’s future:

Things are goin’ great

And they’re only gettin’ better

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