Jay Johnson, Ty Floyd preview Super Regional vs. Kentucky

LSU is set to host Kentucky in a three-game series this weekend at Alex Box Stadium beginning Saturday afternoon and running through Monday if necessary.

The Tigers are the No. 5 seed in the country, while the Wildcats enters as the No. 12 seed. LSU beat Kentucky in two our of three games earlier this year in April when they met in the SEC schedule, but now the two will be playing with a spot in Omaha on the line. Here’s what head coach Jay Johnson and starting pitcher Ty Floyd had to say about the matchup.

Jay Johnson

Kentucky’s pitching staff: “Strength of them is the number of guys that can contribute for them on the mound. Their pitchers have done a good job. They know who they are.” Mentions the amount of pitchers who have over 50 innings on the season. Says he’s going to reevaluate Kentucky based on how they played recently. 

Starting on Saturday: “It works out last like week because we have an extra day.” Says the rest and workout schedule is the same.

On Paul Skenes learning from last outing vs. Kentucky: “He’s great at evaluation and given that that was two months ago, he’s in a different place than he was at that time and they’re a different team. We’ll look at it and he’ll look at it and look at any adjustments that need to be made.”

On Kentucky’s roster: “They’re an interesting case of new age college baseball. We got a lot of attention for using the transfer portal and adding superstar players, but they did a great job overhauling their roster and they’re one of the oldest teams in college baseball. They were close to an NCAA tournament last year and they have a lot of those pieces back too. I see them as a very solid team that has had a very successful season. When the brackets came out, I was pretty confident that’s who we’d see if we advanced out of our region.”

On playing clean vs. Kentucky’s offense: “It’s important all the time. I’m proud of how we’re playing right now. We had one error in the regional and one in the SEC tournament, so I’m pretty confident with where we’re at.”

On pitching coaching job: “People know me pretty well and they know where my headspace is at right now. It’s going to be the best position in college baseball. I was at great places in college baseball and there weren’t many place I would have left those places for and this was one. I anticipate a lot of interest, but right now people understand where my focus is at.”

On dealing with the Wes Johnson news coming out: ““We’re dialed in. That’s the way of the world now. You don’t get to choose things all the time. Our plan was to let them know Monday morning, but to get it to them, I thought it was important they heard it from me and Wes. It stinks a little bit that they just won a championship and that’s what it should be about. We had another meeting and we’re locked in from now until the end. It helps that we have great leaders like Paul and Ty.”

Ty Floyd

On Wes Johnson leaving: We were all surprised and sad he’s leaving, but we’re excited to see him go to Georgia and have a lot of success after this season is over. He’s had a huge impact on me. I’m not the same pitcher I was last year and that’s thanks to him.”

On Kentucky: “They’re a very scrappy team. They put up good at bats,  have some good lefty sticks and some older kids. It’ll be a really fun weekend. I trust coach Wes and coach Jay because they’re doing scouting all the time, so I just listen to what they say.”