GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson has lived the College World Series from the most extreme of angles.
–He won the national championship with the Tigers in the 2023 season after losing the second game of the CWS, 5-2, to Wake Forest. He also lost the second game of the best-of-three championship series, 24-4, to Florida after winning the first game, 4-3, in 11 innings, then won the championship game, 18-4.
-While Arizona’s first-year coach in 2016, he and the Wildcats won the CWS opener, 5-1, over Miami and won the first game of the championship series, 3-0, over Coastal Carolina, only to lose the next two by one run – 5-4 and 4-3.
-And in 2021 in his last year at Arizona, he and the Wildcats went two and out, losing to Vanderbilt, 7-6, in 12 innings and to Stanford, 14-5.
Johnson will be in his fourth CWS on Saturday and second with LSU when the No. 6 national seed Tigers (48-15) play No. 3 seed Arkansas (48-13) at 6 p.m. Saturday on ESPN. The winner advances to a 6 p.m. Monday game (ESPN) against the winner of Saturday’s 1 p.m. game between Murray State (44-14) and 15 seed UCLA (47-16). The two losers play at 1 p.m. Monday (ESPN).
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The World Series starts Friday at 1 p.m. when No. 13 seed Coastal Carolina (53-11) plays Arizona (44-19) on ESPN, followed by No. 8 seed Oregon State (47-14-1) and Louisville (40-22).
From Johnson’s experience, going 2-0 is not do-or-die literally, or figuratively.
“Well, the two times I’ve been in the finals, we’ve lost one of the first two games,” he said. “So, to me, it’s not a death sentence, if you don’t. I would love to try the deal through the winner’s bracket one time just to see how it feels.”
Going 2-0 means two days off and the ability to reset your pitching.
“Postseason baseball is awesome, whether you’re in the winner’s bracket or the loser’s bracket in Omaha,” Johnson said. “And you just take the one in front of you.”
Johnson survived the loser’s bracket twice, playing eight games in 2016 and in 2023.
“We’ve played all eight that you could possibly play twice,” he said. “So, I feel like I have a pretty good gamut of how the flow of the tournament goes. And it really doesn’t get past one game for me.”
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As for his 2025 Tigers, Johnson feels they can also come back from a loss – if that happens – and keep advancing.
“Our team’s capable of winning three and losing one, losing one and winning four,” he said. “The benefit of being in the loser’s bracket and playing eight games twice, it gives you a full experience, if you will.”
And Johnson has various tips written down from his three previous trips. And each player gets a detailed itinerary.
“I’ve always taken a notebook with everything that could happen,” he said. “With all the ancillary things – opening ceremonies, the media, practice day – I want them to lean into that and enjoy that. Otherwise, you lose sense of, ‘Why did we put all this work in?'”
So the Tigers will have fun on the side and hit a classic steak restaurant or two or more.
“And then have the maturity to flip the switch to preparation, execution,” Johnson said. “That’s why laying out the schedule for them is really important, so they know to delineate those times and those opportunities.”
The Tigers leave Wednesday for Omaha and will be staying at the Embassy Suites in the Old Market section of downtown.
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Former LSU coach Skip Bertman, who went to Omaha 11 times with the Tigers from 1986-2000 and won five championships, gave Johnson a tip Tuesday morning.
“He would have designated times for the players with their families, and then move on,” Johnson said. “I haven’t done it that way. It’s more like we have baseball, and then we don’t have baseball. ‘You’re kind of cleared to do this.’ But I like that idea.”
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