Jay Johnson Anticipates Routine Of Less Games, Better Play As His Training Camp Ends

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

LAFAYETTE – After five games in six days, including the Tigers’ second straight loss in three days, 7-2, on Wednesday night at Louisiana-Lafayette, LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson is not exactly craving rest and relaxation for his team.

But he does desire a lighter routine of three games on the weekend and one during the week, which is the schedule from now on with Southeastern Conference play starting a week from Friday at Vanderbilt.

LSU loses 2nd straight ugly – 7-2 at ULLhttps://t.co/di5fMEx58p

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) March 5, 2026

The No. 2 Tigers (11-3) host Sacramento State this weekend, then Creighton on Tuesday before the first SEC weekend.

“Ready to get in a routine now,” Johnson said on the first base line at Tigue Moore Field. “A more traditional schedule. I don’t think I set the team up for success the way I set the schedule up.”

Johnson’s Tigers played five games over the first six days of the season, then traveled to Jacksonville, Florida, for a tournament. LSU started off 8-0, but is 3-3 since then.

LSU is hitting .207 over its last 5 games. “Maybe it’s on me for setting the schedule up the way I did, if you really want to be honest about it.”
-Jay Johnson, whose team plays its fifth game in 6 days on Wednesday.https://t.co/1dKX6nTiwf

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) March 3, 2026

“I’m not going to do that again,” Johnson said. “Because of it, we’ll get better. I’m glad we’re exposing some things. This is a good schedule, but I don’t know if we even need to do it because of the strength of the SEC. I think it will have value for us, but we’re past that point now. It’s Friday, Saturday, Sunday now with one mid-week game.”

His team needs a break and a regular routine. Its fielding percentage is a putrid .961 with 18 errors on the season, including 12 in the last six games and seven in the last two. And the Tigers are hitting .209 (39 of 186) over those last six games.

LSU is ranked No. 2 in the nation, but its Ratings Percentage Index sunk to No. 79.

“You can’t fix everything at one time,” Johnson said.

But he knows one thing he is definitely going to start focusing on like never before in his four previous seasons at LSU.

“I’m really going to go hands on with the hitting more than ever in my time at LSU,” he said. “That’s my baby. I spent more time with pitching this year than I have. And now through 14 games, I know what we have. Offensively, we just need to make sure we can make it easier on the pitching with the way the offense has been slumping. The last five or six games is probably as long a slump as we’ve had. We want to score more runs, and then we have to stay out of the big inning on defense.”

Johnson’s routine may be less games, but more work.

“We need more consecutive quality at-bats,” he said. “We need to get some sustained quality at-bats.”

Around some sustained, consecutive off days before weekends in the SEC.

“We’re going to be fine,” Johnson said.