LSU Baseball Offensive Coordinator Jay Johnson Likely To Make Lineup Changes Amid Slump

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

Much like LSU football coach Lane Kiffin, LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson is an offensive coordinator-type head coach.

Johnson runs the offense. And in the midst of a slump that began with last week’s 7-6 loss to McNeese State, in which the Tigers went 8-for-32 (.250), and a 5-2 win over Dartmouth on Friday, in which LSU went 5-for-28 (.178), Johnson said he would be putting in extra time coaching the hitters.

LSU then went 5-for-27 (.185) in a 3-1 win over Northeastern on Saturday and 4-for-30 (.133) in a 3-0 win over Dartmouth on Sunday.

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Asked why the offense continued to struggle after Sunday’s game, Johnson said, “I’m not going to get into it, because I want to attack it with the team and not through you guys, as much as I respect all of you. I’m going to be very clear on that.”

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And on Monday against No. 205 RPI Northeastern and its pitching staff’s 9.29 ERA, LSU had all of three hits through the first six innings and trailed 11-2 while committing four errors, which Johnson calls turnovers, to use a football term. Finally, some backups began hitting, and the Tigers nearly came back for a win, but lost 13-10 on 10 hits.

Johnson’s next move? Get ready for a few lineup changes when the No. 2 Tigers (11-2) play at No. 14 RPI Louisiana-Lafayette (9-3) on Wednesday (6 p.m., ESPN+).

“Let’s be better for what happened tonight,” Johnson said late Monday night. “In a way, I think we are. We showed some of the players who haven’t played a lot that there’s some depth and some options there. And we’ll utilize that going forward.”

Freshmen Ethan Clauss and William Patrick, junior college transfer Daniel Harden and redshirt junior Edward Yamin IV all got their first hits of their LSU careers on Monday as the Tigers scored eight runs on six hits in the final three innings. Yamin, a transfer from Dayton after the 2024 season, singled in the seventh and hit a two-run home run in the eighth to cut Northeastern’s lead to 13-7.

“Eddie Yamin wasn’t worried about a batting average,” Johnson said. “Wasn’t worried about anything. He was up there trying to take a great at-bat. And he did. I’m proud of him for that. And he just missed a pitch in the ninth inning, too. Daniel Harden put together good at-bats. It was good to see those freshmen just compete. And that’s what we want them to do. Want the whole team to do that. Hopefully, that’s what lands on all the players to help them.”

He particularly liked the energy of the backups.

“Just the enthusiasm that those guys competed with,” Johnson said. “That’s what I hope resonates with the whole team.”

Johnson said his reinforcements late proved how important “mindset” is in baseball.

“The term I use is psychological freedom,” he said. “It’s the freedom to play the game competitively and freely. Playing with character and not losing yourself in the midst of competition or struggle or difficulty, because it’s inevitable in the course of a game. Learning how to be able to have the correct response to be able to focus on what we need to do.”

Starting catcher Cade Arrambide, who was 0-for-7 over the weekend before going 1-for-2 on Monday, said LSU’s offense has a “couple of different” issues.

“We could run a little bit tougher at-bats once we get to two strikes,” he said. “That would be one of the main things. Other than that, making sure we’re competitive. And getting away from our previous failure, because as a hitter, one at-bat and a few games doesn’t define your season. You can get rolling immediately again. Just not getting caught up in failure.”

And sticking to the game plan at the plate. Or else.

“For me, I always try to keep them in a lane where they can have success,” Johnson said. “We need to readjust a little bit of that right now. That’s my job to do that. And I will do that. And I’ll do a good job of that to make sure that I have the right guys in the right spots and the right positions for success.”

LSU’s players have deviated from their coached approach at the plate at times recently during games.

“Yeah, I would say that’s a fair assessment,” Johnson said. “And it’s our job to help coach them to success. And we take a lot of pride in that. And we’ll make necessary adjustments to help them be better at that, so we collectively can be better.”

LSU is running out of time as far as the Southeastern Conference season is concerned to improve commensurate its expectations as a preseason No. 1 team after returning much of its 2025 national championship team. The Tigers open SEC play a week from Friday at Vanderbilt.

“We didn’t play our best over the weekend, either,” Johnson said. “So, there’s a little bit of growing pains for this team. I’m not going to single out a player or anything like that. But there’s some growing pains we’re going through that if used correctly will help us be what we want to be.”