By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
When you consider that LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson won two national championships in three seasons from 2023-25, it is hard to believe that he is basically back where he was when his first LSU season ended on June 6, 2022, with an 8-7 NCAA Regional championship game loss at Southern Mississippi.
The day before, he could’ve advanced, but lost 8-4 to the Golden Eagles.
“It’s a simple game really,” Johnson said in a crickety press conference in a bunker underneath 4,300-seat Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, after six of his relievers allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings. The day before, five LSU relievers allowed five runs on six hits in five and two-thirds innings.
“They’re infinitely better on the mound than us,” he said. “We have work to do. We’ve got to pitch better. End of story. This is deep pain. I didn’t want to let myself think what we’re not playing this weekend. I want to win the national championship. That’s why I came to LSU – to make a bunch of runs at winning the national title. We’ll get there.”
And he did – the very next year in 2023 and again in 2025. And he thought he’d there in 2026 as he returned a decent nucleus of last year’s national champions. But after getting swept at home by Florida, 11-8, 11-1 and 15-11, on May 14-16 to end the regular season, he sounded like 2022 in Hattiesburg all over again.
Only it was worse. LSU’s final Southeastern Conference record was 9-21, establishing a school record for losses in a league LSU has played in since 1933. The Tigers were also 29-27 for their worst overall record since coach Paul Mainieri went 29-26-1 in his first season in 2007.
“We’ve just got to get better on the mound,” Johnson said, matching that Hattiesburg presser. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s a turnover year for us.”
LSU’s “postseason” 2026 ended on May 20 at 30-28 overall after splitting two games in the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, as the Tigers failed to reach NCAA play for the first time since 2011. Johnson has been frantically manning the phones and recruiting ever since.
And today is the first day of the NCAA Transfer Portal window, which will run through July 1. Johnson said in mid-April that he would building his future rosters more through traditional high school and junior college recruiting.
“Yeah, I think it’s a deep-rooted thing,” he said. “We’re off, and it will never happen again. I made some mistakes in constructing the team,” Johnson said. “We should’ve looked to replacing them through guys already in the program with players who were athletic and could play defense and be more complete players. OK, we won’t make that mistake again. The power moving forward will come from players who start their careers here and develop it.”
And he has repeated that since the season ended. But you can bet he will be tapping the portal for pitching.
The Tigers set the school record for wild pitches with 86 in 2026 – 17 more than the previous record set in 1999 and tied in 2018. LSU pitchers finished the regular season with the most walks in the SEC at 281 – just 11 off the school record of 292 set in 1988. LSU pitchers had the worst ERA in the league at 5.69, which was not far from the school record worst of 6.08 in 1981.
And what Johnson and pitching coach Nate Yeskie really need is weekend starting pitching. The development of much-ballyhooed pitcher William Schmidt from Catholic High has not happened. Johnson even said during the past season that the sophomore may need to develop more pitches. Schmidt finished his sophomore season a mediocre 5-4 with a 4.22 ERA and 85 strikeouts with 31 walks. But his control got worse from his freshman season as he threw 11 wild pitches with seven hit batsman.
Casan Evans fell victim to the sophomore jinx after an All-American freshman season. He finished 2-4 with a 5.93 ERA. He struck out 89 with 31 walks, but had nine wild pitchers and six hit batsman. Evans did finish strong, though, after missing several starts with arm soreness.
LSU’s best returning starting pitcher may be junior Cooper Moore (3-3, 3.38 ERA), who struck out 39 with only seven walks and four wild pitches and three hit batsman. He was lost for the year early in the SEC season with an injury.
But Johnson and Yeskie will need to get at least two veteran starters from the portal for SEC weekends and a few middle and short relievers.
The good news is Johnson will be looking for significant numbers that are found in boxscores from games played, not necessarily velo and “upside.”
They also want pitchers who throw multiple pitches for strikes. That guards against the walk glut that killed his 2026 staff. It’s also simple math.
And such common sense – aka Moneyball – will be a good start for LSU’s 2027 roster.
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