Jay Johnson shares what he learned from previous College World Series appearance

With LSU defeating Wake Forest in their deciding game on Thursday, the Tigers have earned their eighth trip to the tournament final. It is also their first College World Series finals appearance since 2017 when the Florida Gators defeated them; the same team they will face over the weekend. As for LSU head coach Jay Johnson, this is his first trip since 2016, when he was the skipper of the Arizona Wildcats, who ended up losing to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

Ahead of LSU’s massive matchup against their SEC rivals Florida, Johnson took time to discuss what he learned from his previous trip to the College World Series Final and how it will help his Tigers out against the Gators.

“I think having a plan for everything just coming into the tournament. And whether you win game one, lose game one, win the first two, lose one of the first two, and you can’t get too far down the road,” said Johnson. “And that’s probably the thing that helped us the most, I would say, over the last few days. I think if you lose your plan, you know, this is over quickly. And I think that’s probably the thing I’m the most proud of the last couple of days.

“I thought we were not on it in the first inning of Wednesday’s game. And we brought it up to the team. Like, we had had this conversation a month ago too, like, we have to stay right here, right now, and in character.”

LSU and Florida will face off for the first time this season. The two powerhouse clubs avoided each other in the regular season this year but will now get a chance to continue their rivalry on the biggest stage college baseball has to offer.

Johnson will look to his older players to help steady the ship as they prepare for a dog fight away battle against their SEC rival. According to the Tigers’ skipper, they are part of the most important part of having success in this championship series.

“And when you have old players that have had success that have a good blueprint in their eyes of how to be successful and have had success with it, you can kind of get them back on track. And then they’re good enough to go execute it. That’s the most important part of it.

“And then staying right there right now. And last night was special. That was a special game for all of the country to watch. And it was a big win for our program. And I wanted our players to feel that because if you don’t, you lose sight of why you’re doing this. And there becomes an expiration date on that, and then master the art of moving forward. And when you’re going to play seven or eight games here like we are, you have to be able to do that.”

LSU and Florida are set to battle on Saturday, June 24; it will be the first game of their series. That matchup is scheduled to start at 6:00 PM CT. Game two will be on Sunday at 2:00 PM CT; if necessary, game three will be Monday night at 6:00 PM CT. All the games can be viewed on ESPN or by using the ESPN app.