By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
College baseball is the only sport in which teams play what amounts to practice games during the week before conference games on the weekend.
In general the top starting pitchers and relievers only pitch on the weekends. All the games count toward the record, but the non-conference games are not taken as seriously as conference games by the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), which is used by the NCAA Selection Committee when the field of 64 is named for the postseason.
A team is hurt by non-conference losses during the week usually, only if it loses a lot of such games. In general, a team can make up for a week night loss by winning the weekend series in the various polls and RPI.
Such is the case with No. 24 LSU (22-12, 6-6 Southeastern Conference) as it plays this weekend at No. 25 Ole Miss (23-11, 5-7 SEC) at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday on SEC Network +. If the Tigers can take two, that will likely erase a 10-7 loss to RPI No. 000 Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday for now. That loss and six other non-conference losses could come back to bite LSU at selection time … unless it moves beyond .500 in the SEC.
LSU coach Jay Johnson, meanwhile, is more concerned with how his team is playing at the moment, and the loss to Bethune-Cookman was ugly as far as errors, walks and hit batsman. And the fact that three of his best hitters – Steven Milam, Jake Brown and John Pearson – struck out in succession with the bases loaded in the seventh inning.
“It only impacts the weekend if we choose to let it impact the weekend negatively,” Johnson said. “And I don’t think that will happen.”
Johnson does remain concerned with his team’s inconsistent play.
“We structure our program around consistency,” Johnson said. “Mentally, physically, training, and we haven’t gotten that consistency yet. We’ve got to keep pushing forward. We’re going to keep chopping wood. We’re going to keep going. That’s always served me well in getting our teams out of these types of things.”
PITCHING MATCH-UPS
The Tigers will start sophomore right-hander Casan Evans (2-1, 4.97 ERA) on Friday against junior left-hander Hunter Elliott (3-1, 3.79 ERA).
LSU sophomore William Schmidt (3-1, 3.79 ERA) will start Saturday against sophomore right-hander Cade Townsend (2-1, 1.82 ERA).
And LSU senior Grant Fontenot (0-0, 1.50 ERA) will start for the second straight time on Sunday, facing sophomore right-hander Taylor Rabe (3-1, 3.20 ERA).
LSU BASEBALL REVENUE SHARE ALLOTMENT TO BE INCREASED
Meanwhile, Johnson has received some good news for the future of his program from LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry.
Tony Vitello and Jay Johnson have the last 3 national championships in college baseball. Will they be the first 2 to jump immediately from college to MLB manager jobs? COLUMN:https://t.co/BRzSMknaB8
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) April 3, 2026
In response to Johnson saying he is not ruling out a possible jump to Major League Baseball or to another college program first to Tiger Rag several weeks ago if his roster budget doesn’t stay competitive with other programs, Ausberry met with Johnson recently.
“We’re going to make sure that with baseball, their rev share is going up,” Ausberry told Matt Moscona on 104.5 FM’s “After Further Review” show on Wednesday. “We’re also going to have more money for them for NIL (Name, Image & Likeness to attract players). I’ve been meeting with Jay about that. He had some concerns about where we were and some things we had to do, and we met this week on that.”
Tiger Rag reported on Feb. 24 that several SEC schools have decided they can’t win a national championship in football – Mississippi State, Kentucky, Arkansas, South Carolina, Vanderbilt – and are pouring more money into baseball. More than LSU, that is.
“We’re not there yet,” Johnson told Tiger Rag concerning LSU’s baseball allotment of the $20.5 million revenue share LSU has to divvy up among programs and other funds toward his roster budget.
At the time, LSU’s revenue share breakdown had football getting 75 percent, men’s basketball 15 percent, women’s basketball five percent with all other sports – including baseball – getting fractions of the remaining five percent.
“I’m very happy with what I’m doing,” Johnson told Tiger Rag at the time. “And I’m exactly where I should be in my life right now. And I’m OK with that being out there. And that’s why the revenue share thing is important to me. Because I put my chips in (with his last contract) before LSU has made a real commitment in this new era of college baseball. And so, I’m hopeful that LSU will do the same thing.”
With Ausberry’s statement on Wednesday, LSU is moving in the direction Johnson wants for the baseball program.
“We had a great meeting this week,” Johnson said of his meeting with Ausberry to LouisianaSports.net, which is associated with 104.5 FM. “And I have full confidence in his leadership and commitment to help me make LSU baseball the best it can be. I’m very fortunate to be working with Verge. He was instrumental in hiring me at LSU, and he played a large part in our two national championships. He knows the importance of baseball at LSU.”
But will national champion LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey be meeting next with Ausberry about revenue sharing and NIL? New men’s basketball coach Will Wade has already had his meeting and may be signing an over-budget portal class as we speak.
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