Jay Johnson sees key opportunity as LSU hosts Texas A&M

LSU takes on Texas A&M in a pivotal three-game series this weekend in Baton Rouge beginning Friday night at 7 p.m. with game two on Saturday at 6:30 and game three at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Aggies enter as the No. 1 team in the country with a 39-6 record and a 15-6 SEC record, while LSU sits at 29-17 overall and 7-14 in SEC play, remaining desperate to buff up its resume in order to get into the NCAA Tournament

“They’re a very complete team,” head coach Jay Johnson said. “Offensively, they hit with power, they get free bases, run the bases well. From the mound, they’re very left handed with a couple right handed relievers sprinkled in there. They throw strikes. Not a lot of holes.”

LSU has lost every series against opponents this year, going 2-10 in those 12 games across four series. That’s what makes this series all the more important as LSU currently ranks 43rd in the RPI and needs to climb significantly in the final month.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Johnson said. ” When you are where we are, it’s a benefit to have a team with as good of a record that they have on your schedule still. For me, I look at it that way. It’s great this series is at home and the team has been in a good frame of mind for two-plus weeks, winning seven out of nine. This is one of those weekends you’re excited about when you play here.”

The Box will be packed and lively as fans attempt to will the Tigers to a key series win. Anything less keeps LSU in need of a strong finish to the season, but Johnson attempts to keep a level head as his team enters this series. Every game matters, but there’s a lot more to gain from this series against the No. 1 team in the nation, than there is to lose from it.

“We have ten regular season games left – We’re in a ten game playoff,” Johnson said. “I don’t think everything is hinging on this weekend for us because whether we win or not, we still have seven games that are going to have value or importance. Playing better gives us a better chance. Do I believe we have a better chance in this series today as opposed to two and a half weeks ago? 100 percent. Just getting settled in the way we need to should give us a better chance to be successful and moving forward there are different challenges. You get into trouble if you’re counting wins and adding external things to execution. I know that sounds boring, but I believe that to my very core. We’ve tried to lay it out for them about what it’s going to take and then execute so we can have a chance to do those things. We didn’t over a four week stretch against the best teams in the country and now you’re facing an uphill battle and you can only do that one inning at a time. The reason we’ve won seven out of nine is because we’re pitching much better.”

Starting with Gage Jump, LSU’s pitching has reached a level where it can compete with any team in the conference, unfortunately for the Tigers, they’re facing one of the top staffs in the SEC as the Aggies rank 7th in ERA in the nation, 9th in strikeouts per nine innings, and 10th in walks allowed.

Can LSU’s bats score enough to compliment the improvements on the mound? We’ll have to wait and see how this series plays out. Entering Friday, the message from Johnson was clear: This season isn’t over. This could be the weekend where it all clicks.

“We’ve played better. We’ve played freer, which is contradictory to the circumstances,” Johnson said. “That’s mental toughness. You have to focus on the task and focus on your job amongst all the other things going on. Baseball is so different where a different guy is taking the mound every game and he has such control of the game. If you want to have momentum in baseball, have great starting pitching and have two guys who can close the game out. I believe in contagious hitting, but that’s rooted in taking the right at bats and sustaining offense throughout the game. We’ve had that at times, but we haven’t had it against the best teams  in the league. The clock hasn’t expired yet. We’re all trying to play our best in these last ten, then in Hoover and go from there.”