Jay Johnson on lack of team meetings in dugout: ‘They were not going to let each other lose’

The LSU Tigers went into Monday facing a win-or-go-home game against upset-minded Little Rock in the Baton Rouge Regional. They’d go down 5-1 quickly in the second inning. Despite that, head coach Jay Johnson never held a team meeting in the dugout.

Those dugout meetings aren’t uncommon for Johnson. However, as he put it after the game, he didn’t feel he needed one because of how his players were handling themselves.

“That’s a really good question and I’m really excited to answer this,” Jay Johnson said. “And I mentioned this being one of the best wins I’ve ever had. To a man, they were not going to let each other lose tonight. It was like next-level like conversations of staying with it, enthusiasm, let’s answer back, cut into the lead, three quality at-bats in a row. Get the lead-off guy on. And that’s why it was such a great win. They were not going to let each other lose tonight. In a way that you don’t see very often.”

Part of why Johnson was confident in his team is that they’re an experienced one. They’ve been in difficult situations before. Therefore, they knew how to handle themselves.

“But you guys have seen it,” Johnson said. “I mean, you’ve seen it. You saw it against Mississippi State. You saw it against Alabama and you saw it against Tennessee. So, they fully believed they could do it. I’m even more proud because we had a couple of opportunities that didn’t come through early. Like it didn’t come easily.”

Little Rock got to starting pitcher Zac Cowan, who only lasted 1.1 innings while giving up five runs, four of which were earned. By the time the second inning was over, it was a 5-1 hole for LSU to climb out of. That was when the comeback began.

It started with Jay Johnson turning to Casan Evans, who was able to provide six innings out of the bullpen, only giving up one run in the eighth inning. During that time, LSU was able to start punching back offensively, adding three runs in the fourth before getting one run in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. By then, the Tigers had a 7-6 lead that they’d finally blow open in the ninth to get to the final score of 10-6.

“It’s a great win, and I just felt good about where they were at mentally. There was no panic. The one time when I went out to the mound for the second time in the inning,” Johnson said. “It was like, hey, we made an error. I can’t remember the last time we made an error in the infield. I really can’t. And the ball fell in between Chris [Stanfield] and Danny [Dickinson], and then maybe I felt the sense of the nerves in the ballpark. I was like, okay, let’s get out of this at 5-1, and then number 20 took care of the rest from there.”

Now, LSU turns its attention to West Virginia in the Super Regional. That’s a best-of-three series that will be again played in Baton Rouge.