Jay Johnson previews CWS, matchup with Tennessee
Less than two days after LSU punched its ticket to the College World Series, Johnson was back talking to the media, clearly focused on the next task at hand.
Johnson’s been to the College World Series twice before while the head coach at Arizona in 2016 and 2021, reaching the championship series in 2016, before losing in three games. Now, he leads LSU to the College World Series for the first time since 2017 and in just his second year at the helm.
First up for the Tigers in their bracket is Tennessee. The two met from March 30 – April 1 in Baton Rouge, with LSU taking two out of three, but the Volunteers gave LSU plenty of problems with their pitching, holding LSU to 18 runs, the second lowest total of its nine three-game SEC series.
The Volunteers are now 43-20 on the season and come off of an impressive series win over Southern Miss in the Super Regional on Monday night.
“Not a surprise at all,” Johnson said of seeing Tennessee. “When you look at the bracket when it comes out, you look at the team in front of you, and then you kind of look at what that first game [In Omaha] might be and that’s basically who I anticipated we would play. Great team. Great talent. It should be a great night for college baseball.”
After losing four of its first five SEC series, Tennessee won four of its last five, sweeping through the Clemoson regional, then beating Southern Miss in a game three on the road.
“They’ve made some switches to how they lined up their pitching, obviously, and they have a great staff,” Johnson said. “They’re going to be able to save runs because they have a good staff. Offensively, a lot of their main guys are still playing and are playing better and playing more confidently. Much like us, they had a very tough stretch to begin SEC play. They realigned some things with how they were pitching and now they’re playing well but that’s not a surprise.”
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The road ahead
LSU and Tennessee make up two of the three SEC teams in the College World Series. In the lower half of the bracket, LSU has Tennessee, Wake Forest, and Stanford, placing a formidable challenge ahead for Johnson’s squad.
“Honestly, we wouldn’t have it any other way,” Johnson said. “Making it even more validating is playing the best teams. We had to beat a team again in the super regionals, then we got another SEC team in game one of the college world series. It’s really exciting and a great night for our program and a great night for college baseball.”
As he continues to stay consistent for his team, Johnson feels more prepared now than he has at any other point in his career for a postseason run.
“Other than holding the trophy, I feel like I have a pretty good pulse on everything that happens over those two weeks,” Johnson said. “More importantly than that, is the self discipline and self control of our team. They just need to be themselves and play in character and we’ll have a chance.”
