Jay Johnson’s Punchless Team Has Rendered Him Nearly Speechless

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

Sometimes, there’s just not much to say.

Now, is one of those times for the soon-to-be-not-No. 2-ranked LSU baseball team and its coach Jay Johnson after a 6-1 loss to Sacramento State Sunday night at Alex Box Stadium. It was the Tigers’ fourth loss in five games.

And it all added up to one big Lost Weekend. Other than LSU beating Sacramento State, 15-4, on Friday, the men’s and women’s basketball teams lost on Saturday to Texas A&M and South Carolina, the gymnastics team lost to Florida and the softball team was swept by Tennessee.

What the Hell’s going on out there?
No. 2 and falling fast LSU drops 4th game of 5 behind punchless offense.https://t.co/ZwgsCsOtkw

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) March 9, 2026

Over LSU’s last nine baseball games, the Tigers (12-5) have scored five runs or fewer six times and put up six hits or fewer another five times.

Asked what his attack will be with the Southeastern Conference schedule and much better pitching starting Friday at Vanderbilt (10-7), Johnson said:

“Yeah, practice on Tuesday at 1 o’clock before the game (6:30 p.m. vs. Creighton). The game is secondary to just improve the team. That’s the only focus I have right now.”

You can be sure he would be practicing Monday if he didn’t have to give his team the NCAA-required day off on Monday.

Asked how he can get his team to perform better, Johnson said:

“Work.”

It’s just that simple. There were no extended explanations of the Tigers recent woes after an 8-0 start with 97 runs on 56 hits that had them No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation. Look for a major drop in the polls on Monday.

“Work is the only way through it,” Johnson said. “You work your way through these things. I thought I did what was best for them today. I will reevaluate what I do to get the best out of them. We’re not getting to play the game like we want to play it.”

This is because they’re not getting enough hits or walks to have enough base runners.

“We try to create something, and we couldn’t get anything sustained,” he said.

Sacramento State starter Carson Timothy (1-1) limited the Tigers to one run in the seventh to cut the Hornets’ lead to 5-1. He allowed five singles over six and two-thirds innings for the win with zero walks and four strikeouts. Reliever Trevor Wilson allowed only one single in two and a third innings and two walks for the save.

“The take is our best friend right now,” Johnson said, delivering the quote of the day, if not the week, or of the season. “Far more good is happening when we don’t swing than when we do swing.”

A man of few, but wise and cutting words to the heart of the matter.

Johnson got a decent start from William Schmidt, who allowed three earned runs on four hits with eight strikeouts and zero walks. That would have been enough for the LSU team that this one is supposed to be. But the Hornets took a 2-0 lead in the third with an unearned run and added three more in the sixth for a 5-0 advantage that looked much larger, considering recent events.

“When you’re going like this offensively, sometimes down three feels like down seven,” Johnson said. “I think that’s what happened.”

At the moment, Johnson sounds like he really doesn’t know what’s happening.

And for an offensive expert that he is to see his offense flat line is flat scary.