By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU coach Jay Johnson is a stickler for playing the game “clean,” as he says, meaning few errors and walks with overall smart play.
That did not happen early as No. 19 Kentucky took a 7-0 lead in the third inning Sunday off six walks, an error and two wild pitches. LSU came back to cut it to 7-6 in the bottom of the third and went on to win 17-10 in a thriller at Alex Box Stadium.
“Sometimes your fight, your competitiveness, your character outweighs anything you do fundamentally,” Johnson said on his radio show Monday night. “For me, that matters a lot. I don’t like it when we don’t play good baseball, and it wasn’t great for three innings. But the fight, competitive character was the best this team has shown of this season. That made me proud as a coach.”
The Tigers (19-10, 4-5 Southeastern Conference) also won their first league series of the season, two games to one, and they’ve won three of their last four games. LSU hosts Southern (10-16, 4-5 Southwestern Athletic Conference) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday on SEC Network+ at Alex Box.
Johnson has also settled on an infield lineup, it appears, with John Pearson (.275, 4 HRs, 12 RBIs) at third base and Seth Dardar (.275, 3 HRs, 22 RBIs) at second base after experimentation at those two positions.
On Saturday in a rarity, Johnson made no substitutions with Pearson and Dardar at third and second, the usual shortstop and first baseman with Steven Milam and Zach Yorke and Mason Braun at designated hitter.
On Sunday, he made only one change at designated hitter with Brayden Simpson and Braun splitting time there.
“After this weekend, we are a lot closer to stable than we’ve been at any point with this team,” Johnson said. “We’ll continue to play both Omar Serna Jr. and Cade Arrambide at catcher. The outfield is set (Chris Stapleton, Derek Curiel and Jake Brown from left to right).”
Johnson said a more regular lineup can help on defense.
“We’re a lot closer than we’ve been at any point,” he said. “And I think that’s where we need to be and excited about that.”
The Tigers play at Tennessee (18-10, 3-6 SEC) Friday through Sunday.
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