LSU Baseball Needs “Angels In The Outfield,” But Really On The Mound, To Win SEC Tournament

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

“It could happen,” little Roger Bomman keeps saying about his beloved but devilishly bad California Angels in the 1994 film “Angels In The Outfield.”

Bad, that is, until some actual angels start making all the plays for the Angels, and they miraculously turn things upward and win the pennant.

Life isn’t always like the movies, which the bedeviled LSU baseball team will likely find out in Hoover, Alabama, this week at the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

Jay Johnson endures an atypical last day of the regular season:https://t.co/LYexx96RZz

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) May 17, 2026

LSU (29-27, 9-21 SEC) finished the regular season as the 14th seed in the 16-team SEC and plays No. 11 seed Oklahoma (32-20, 14-16 SEC) in a scheduled 8 p.m. game and fourth game of the day on Tuesday at the 16,000-seat Hoover Met.

The winner plays No. 6 seed Auburn (36-18, 17-13) at 8 p.m. Wednesday. That winner gets Thursday off before playing No. 3 seed Texas A&M (39-13, 18-11) at 7 p.m. Friday. That winner advances to a semifinal Saturday at 4 p.m. The championship game is at 1 p.m. Saturday.

In order to get an automatic bid to an NCAA Regional, LSU has to win the SEC Tournament.

“We’re on life support and have to live up in Hoover to make it,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said after losing, 11-1, to Florida on Friday in seven innings via the 10-run, mercy rule. “We just have to play as well as we can and try to stay as long as we can.”

The Tigers lost the next day, 15-11, for their fifth sweep in the last six SEC series.

But Johnson is from Oroville, California, which is only two hours north of Oakland, where the baseball scenes in “Angels In The Outfield” were filmed in the A’s stadium.

And he and pitching coach Nate Yeskie did save most of their higher level pitchers for Hoover. Sophomore right-hander William Schmidt (5-4, 4.22 ERA), a regular weekend starter, did not pitch over the weekend and will start Tuesday against Oklahoma junior left-hander Gavyn Jones (0-0, 6.20 ERA).

Schmidt allowed one run on six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in a no decision of LSU’s 4-3 loss to Oklahoma at Alex Box on Sunday, March 21. Jones relieved two thirds of an inning in that game and allowed a hit and a walk. LSU lost the second game of that series, 4-2, in starting pitcher Cooper Moore’s last game as he missed the rest of the season with an arm injury.

LSU Explodes For 7-1 Win Over No. 7 Oklahoma Behind 15 Strikeouts By Casan Evans

LSU won the first game of that series, 7-1, behind starter Casan Evans, who pitched easily his best game of an off season that Friday night. He allowed zero earned runs over seven and two-thirds innings with 15 strikeouts.

Evans (2-3, 6.27 ERA) could relieve Schmidt tonight or start on Wednesday, should LSU advance. He pitched briefly on Friday against Florida just to stay on schedule for this tournament. He threw an inning and two thirds, allowing three earned runs on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

LSU Baseball Record Watch as regular season closes … but not exactly of the platinum kind:https://t.co/HzWnzBrejO

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) May 12, 2026

The Tigers’ pitching staff enters the tournament needing heavenly help as it has the worst ERA in the league at 5.69 ERA, which is not far from LSU’s record for worst ERA in a season at 6.08 set in 1981. LSU is also worst in the league in walks with 285 – 19 more than second worst Missouri.

Missouri (23-30, 6-24) is the 16th seed and opens the SEC Tournament at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday against No. 9 seed Ole Miss (36-20, 15-15). Game two at 1 p.m. pits No. 13 seed Kentucky (31-20, 13-17) and No. 12 Vanderbilt (32-24, 14-16). The third game will be No. 15 South Carolina (22-34, 7-23) and No. 10 Tennessee (37-19, 15-15) at 4:30 p.m.

“We’re not going to save any pitchers,” Johnson said, as if there are such souls worthy of that on this squad. LSU has exactly zero complete games this season with no pitcher collecting more than five wins or four saves. “Guys are going to have to be ready to pitch on back-to-back days, if we feel like they can help us win.”

Or if LSU wins a game. The Tigers have lost six straight and 15 of their last 18 in the SEC.

“We need to play well in the game,” he said. “We’ll put our best foot forward.”

And hope and pray for about five miracles in six days.