Jim Schlossnagle praises pitcher Will Johnston for working out of early jams vs. LSU at SEC Tournament

LSU and Texas A&M are battling at the SEC Tournament in an elimination game ahead of the semifinals on Saturday, with only one going through after today’s action.

Both teams have done some damage on the scoreboard early, though they’ve also both put out some fires.

Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle joined the SEC Network broadcast crew live for an interview during the top of the fourth inning, with LSU leading 2-1. He praised starting pitcher Will Johnston for working through some tough spots.

“Well I’m real proud of him,” Schlossnagle said. “We’ve had some traffic. He walked a guy, obviously a great crowd here for LSU so the emotions get going. I’m real proud he’s been able to handle his emotions and execute pitches and get us out of the innings.”

Through the first four innings, Johnson had given up five hits and two runs, while striking out four and walking two. He’s been a touch up and down, but the Aggies trailed by just a run.

Texas A&M answered an LSU run in the top of the second inning with a run in the bottom half of the second in the SEC Tournament elimination game. Back-to-back doubles by center fielder Jordan Thompson and left fielder Ryan Targac plated a run to tie things up 1-1.

Schlossnagle feels pretty good with where his team is at in terms of the postseason picture after winning a couple games in Hoover.

“I think we’ve settled some guys into some roles,” he said. “We’ve been so sporadic from a starting pitching standpoint. Last couple weeks we’ve been a little bit more consistent about who pitches when and that way they can be more prepared.”

Still, Texas A&M will want to end the SEC Tournament on a positive note. Getting to the semifinals would certainly do that.

But it’ll take a comeback yet again at this point, as LSU plated a run in the top of the fourth inning to go up 2-1. Back-to-back doubles by second baseman Gavin Dugas and third baseman Brayden Jobert scored a run. A balk by Johnston with nobody out moved Jobert to third, but the Texas A&M pitcher was able to work his way out of the jam completely and strand the runner at third.

LSU led 2-1 in the middle of the fourth inning, with Texas A&M coming to the plate at the time of this writing.