LSU Baseball: If Tigers Win 1 At Georgia And Sweep Gators At Box, They’ll Make NCAA Dance

LSU is still hospitalized, but the Tigers are off life support and breathing as far as an NCAA Regional invite.

The magic number for the NCAA postseason is usually a 13-17 finish in the Southeastern Conference, and that is now possible – though difficult – after LSU swept three from South Carolina dominantly over the weekend with a 7-0 win on Sunday to cap it off at Alex Box Stadium.

Suddenly, LSU has discovered pitching and defense.https://t.co/My1F5YJzDX

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) May 3, 2026

The Tigers (28-21, 9-15 SEC) took both ends of a doubleheader Saturday, 6-1 and 7-3, to start the hope train out of a dying depot.

“We needed to win it today to keep our hopes alive. And we did,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said Sunday after the game. “They’re alive.”

Now, however, it’s the best team on LSU’s schedule – No. 5-ranked and SEC leading Georgia (38-11, 18-6 SEC) in Athens on Friday through Sunday – 5 p.m. on SEC Network+, 6 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday on the SEC Network.

LSU will likely have starting pitcher Casan Evans (2-2, 5.47 ERA) back ready and perhaps refreshed and revived after two weeks off following some arm stiffness. Maybe he can return to his 2025 form as Zac Cowan (2-3, 4.40 ERA) did on Sunday and last Tuesday. And if William Schmidt (5-4, 3.90 ERA) can pitch as he did on Saturday, look out.

That’s quite a few ifs, and LSU’s sweep and sudden return to clean baseball did come against a dirty South Carolina team that dropped to 22-27 and 7-17 in the SEC.

“To sweep anybody short-handed is an accomplishment,” Johnson said.

And considering the way LSU had been pitching, to pitch excellently against even a team of statues is something as well.

“Great job by our bullpen,” Johnson beamed. “A lot of guys have turned a positive page.”

LSU’s offense has been performing like an upper level SEC team for two weekends now, so if they can do that in Athens and then at home against No. 25 Florida (31-17, 13-11 SEC) in two weeks, who knows?

What LSU needs is one win at Georgia. Then it will need to sweep the Gators in a rocking Alex Box to finish 13-17 in the SEC. That got LSU in two years ago when the Tigers were drowning at 3-12 in the league. But that was after four wins in the SEC Tournament before losing to Tennessee in the title game.

LSU, which had a suffering Ratings Percentage Index heartbeat of 60 entering the weekend, will need to win at least one or two in Hoover, Alabama – if not more – to get the bid. Wins over Georgia and Florida will push the RPI up significantly.

The problem that may end up surfacing, though, is LSU does not have the greatest non-conference RPI quotient. A win over Tulane (23-26, 8-13 American Conference) on Tuesday night will not exactly help much, but a loss would really hurt.

In the end, it will be close as the Tigers will try to avoid their first non-NCAA postseason since 2011 when they finished 36-20 and 13-17, but did not qualify for the SEC Tournament.

But Johnson likes what he saw this weekend at least. And at any rate, it will be interesting.

“Great job by the team,” he said. “It was an important game today. The starting pitchers were great this weekend. I thought we played offense really good again – moved the ball, bunted, got guys in from third with less than two outs. It was very positive. We did a lot of things well and have done a lot of things well.”

LSU youth movement went Fab-U-Lously in nightcap for doubleheader sweep.https://t.co/1KDLWcrA9M

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) May 3, 2026

LSU has won four in a row overall and clearly has different look with Johnson going to his freshmen more.

“Identity is a good word,” Johnson said of his new team. “Aggressive in nature, very focused, fundamentally sound.”

As in suddenly not as many errors, wild pitches, hit batsmen and passed balls.

“All the things that we’re about that we struggled with early in the season,” Johnson said. “A lot of guys are playing really good ball right now.”

April with its showers of nine straight SEC losses is finally over.

It’s May, which is LSU’s time of year, and it may just have a chance after all.