Jay Johnson pleased with Ty Floyd on mound, LSU's offense early against Florida in College World Series finals

LSU pounced on Florida for an early lead in Game 1 of the College World Series championship series, leaving Tigers head coach Jay Johnson pleased through two-plus innings. Speaking with ESPN’s Kris Budden, Johnson was thoroughly impressed with starter Ty Floyd.

And while Floyd ran into some trouble in the bottom of the third, shortly after Johnson spoke, he pitched out of a one-out jam to bring LSU into the dugout up, 2-1, after three innings. It’s the consistency that Floyd’s brought to Omaha that’s given Johnson the most comfort watching him pitch.

“He’s throwing strikes. He’s got a lot of deception. I don’t think they’re picking the ball up very well right now and he’s applying a lot of pressure,” Johnson said.

LSU paired a strong start from Floyd with a string of pesky at-bats each inning. After plating a run and running Florida starter Brandon Sproat’s pitch count above 25 in the first inning, LSU came close to big breakthroughs in the second and third innings.

Either way, Johnson will take a 2-1 lead and 86 pitches thrown from the Florida ace after just three frames.

Budden asked the precise approach against Sproat, as LSU hitters patience was seemingly frustrating the Florida pitcher.

“I’m not going to tell you that, but I’m pleased with the at-bats,” Johnson said, eliciting a chuckle from Budden. “If we get one more good one in both the second or the third inning, we’re in a good spot. But he’s at 86 pitches through three innings and that’s about the best you could ask for.”

Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan considered how his team could get after Floyd and LSU

Speaking with ESPN’s Kris Budden in the bottom of the fourth inning, Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan discussed what his squad needed to do to breakthrough.

Mostly, he said, they needed to work on getting fastballs to hit and capitalizing when Floyd throws them. That, and getting a leadoff man would be a good start, O’Sullivan shared.

“We just need to be more aggressive with the fastball. Obviously Ty’s got a really good fastball. I think we’ve been taking too many pitches on the outer half of the plate and we’ve gotta get a leadoff man and get something going,” O’Sullivan said.

Through four innings, Florida had only scored a single run against Floyd. While LSU hadn’t gone gangbusters on offense, the Tigers worked Gators starter Brandon Sproat into a high pitch count early in the game.