By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson surely didn’t mean to, but he repeated the phrase made famous by new football coach Lane Kiffin in his introductory press conference last Dec. 1 – “It’s just different.”
Kiffin means it in a good way and keeps meaning it in a good way about Baton Rouge and Louisiana in general, whether he’s talking about recruiting football players, the rabid fan base, the winning tradition, the culture, the restaurants or overall lifestyle. New men’s basketball coach Will Wade has said it a couple times as well.
Johnson didn’t mean it in a good way after his newly No. 24-ranked team lost to Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) No. 212 Bethune-Cookman, 10-7, on Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium.
“Yeah, it’s a tough loss tonight. Like, there’s no getting around that.”
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) April 8, 2026
-Jay Johnson. https://t.co/O25FBPdRRh
“It’s just different this year for us in regard to that,” Johnson said in reference to non-conference, mid-week games, which are usually played on Mondays through Thursdays and mainly on Tuesdays once conference play begins. “We’ve done a really good job of taking care of Tuesdays since I’ve been here.”
Not this year.
LSU (22-12, 6-6 Southeastern Conference) dropped to 6-4 in mid-week, non-conference games played on Monday through Thursday this season. The previous worst mark by a Johnson LSU team was in his first season in 2022 when the Tigers went 9-3 in that category. LSU was 13-1 in such games last season on its way to the national championship, 13-1 in 2024 and 12-2 in the 2023 national championship season.
“Just got to stay in it,” Johnson said.
LSU previous three losses in such games were to RPI No. 187 McNeese State, 7-6, on Tuesday, Feb. 24, to RPI No. 156 Northeastern, 13-10, on Monday, March 2, and to RPI No. 47 Louisiana-Lafayette, 7-2, on Wednesday, March 4. LSU is 16-6 overall in non-conference play with the other two losses to RPI No. 169 Sacramento State, 5-4 and 6-1 on Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8.
If the Tigers continue to look like an NCAA Tournament bubble team or on the bubble for a host site near the end of the regular season in mid-May, those non-conference losses could hurt them significantly.
“Coach keeps telling us the pressure is on,” LSU center fielder Derek Curiel said Tuesday night. “We know we need to probably win two more SEC games now because we lost this one tonight.”
“That win is definitely up there in my coaching career.” … Jay Johnson, who missed a grand slam and a school record 10 runs in an extra inning since he got tossed in the 9th. https://t.co/Ekwri8CU5q
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) April 5, 2026
Yes, every SEC win tends to erase a bad non-conference loss or two. But LSU’s SEC opponents will be getting better over the next few weekends.
JAY JOHNSON WANTS TO “STORM THE CASTLE” IN OXFORD
LSU is at No. 10 RPI Ole Miss (23-11, 5-7 SEC) this weekend with a 6:30 p.m. game Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday on SEC Network+. Then No. 18 RPI Texas A&M (25-7, 7-5 SEC) will be in Baton Rouge the following weekend. After that, the Tigers travel to No. 15 RPI Mississippi State (26-7, 7-5 SEC) for “Super Bulldog Weekend” on April 24-26.
“These guys want to win. We’re better than we were,” Johnson said, referencing the Tigers’ 2-4 start in SEC play and a 2-6 overall mark in early March. “Big weekend this weekend against a top 10 RPI team that knows they’re good at Ole Miss. We’re going to have to go in there and try to storm the castle because it’s a team that playing with confidence. You can’t half step that. It’s going to take everything that we have to win there this weekend.”
Be the first to comment