By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson said goodbye to the good and bad part of the recent past on Saturday as the Tigers finally finished their regular season with a 15-11 loss to No. 19 Florida at Alex Box Stadium to complete another dark end of a three-game sweep.
“That was like no other Senior Day I’ve ever had,” Johnson said after the sixth straight loss for the Tigers (29-27, 9-21 Southeastern Conference), who will not reach the NCAA postseason for the first time since 2011. That is unless they win the single-elimination SEC Tournament that begins Tuesday and runs through Sunday in Hoover, Alabama.
The regular season from Hell is done …https://t.co/nRYw9LZRoA
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) May 16, 2026
“Because we always had postseason implications factoring into every decision that you make, and today they were not,” said Johnson, who won the national championship last year with many of the players returning on this formerly No. 1 ranked team this season. He also won it all in 2023 in his second year at LSU.
“And it wasn’t going to change anything for the seeding or the game times or whatever in Hoover,” Johnson said.
Johnson will not be in the postseason – barring a Hoover miracle with five wins in six days – for the first time since a 32-24 and 15-14 (Pac-12) season in 2019 as head coach at Arizona, which he took to the College World Series in 2016 and ’21.
On Friday, Johnson compared the historically rare state LSU baseball is in now to outer space.
“This is like Pluto,” he said.
And Pluto, it should be noted, has not even been considered one of the planets since 2006.
LSU set the school record for SEC losses this season with 19 on Thursday and added two more as the weekend progressed. The previous record of 18 was set in 1978 … when Pluto was still a planet.
The Tigers are the 14th seed in the 16-team SEC Tournament and will play No. 11 seed Oklahoma (32-20, 14-16 SEC) in the fourth game of the day Tuesday, scheduled for 8 p.m.
“Today, it was like, ‘Hey, man, let’s give the guys their flowers,’” Johnson said Saturday. “And some of them deserve it with what they accomplished last year collectively.”
So, Johnson used eight seniors, including three of eight pitchers. Junior Jake Brown, who was declared out for the season last month with a broken hamate bone in his wrist, even got a ceremonious, pinch-hitting announcement in the eighth inning with LSU down 9-4.
But Brown was immediately pinch-hit for by Eddie Yamin IV. Brown is not a senior, but he is not expected to return next season as he plans to enter the Major League Baseball Draft this summer. The Sulphur native missed LSU’s last 15 games, including three lost sweeps, but he still finished as the team’s leader in RBIs with 49 and slugging percentage at .642 among the regulars and ended up still tied for the home run lead with Cade Arrambide at 16.
“Just felt like he deserved it,” Johnson said. “It was originally going to be pinch-running, but I thought that this would be better. Certainly earned it. Great player. One of the main reasons we won a national championship (last year). It’s been a lot harder without him this year since he got hurt. Great career.”
Senior position players Zach Yorke, Tanner Reaves, Brayden Simpson, Seth Dardar and Chris Stanfield all started. Yorke, Reaves and Simpson have not been regular starters. Senior Zac Cowan started on the mound, and senior pitchers Grant Fontenot and Dax Dathe relieved. Red-shirt junior pitchers Gavin Guidry and Jaden Noot also pitched possibly one last time in the Box as they may be leaving for the draft.
“I’m glad we were able to get those people in the game, and the fans treated them well,” Johnson said. “I wish we would’ve treated them well with a win. Good fight at the end of the game, but came up a little short again.”
Johnson was able to use many pitchers all weekend, which included an 11-8 loss on Thursday and an 11-1 setback on Friday. So the staff will be ready for the SEC Tournament. LSU will have to win five games in six days to win the tournament and get the automatic NCAA bid.
“Everybody touched the mound this weekend on our staff,” he said. “Didn’t perform well, but at least we got guys out there.”
Johnson also got to enjoy one last game at Alex Box with some star players like junior shortstop Steven Milam and sophomore center fielder Derek Curiel, who were also vital in LSU winning the national title last season. Milam is expected to enter the draft as is Curiel, who will be a draftable sophomore.
“We’re not done yet,” Johnson said. “Trying to enjoy every single second with those guys.”
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