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LSU vs. South Carolina reunites Jay Johnson and Paul Mainieri

On3 imageby:Matthew Brune•05/14/25•

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Jay Johnson, LSU
Jay Johnson, LSU - © SCOTT CLAUSE/USA TODAY Network / USA TODAY NETWORK

LSU and South Carolina meet this weekend in a matchup of LSU’s last two head coaches. Paul Mainieri and Jay Johnson are both national champions in Baton Rouge and, after taking a brief hiatus, Mainieri accepted the job at South Carolina this season to get back into coaching.

Now, LSU is third in the SEC with a 17-10 record while the Gamecocks are 5-22, 15th in the conference.

First pitch on Thursday night in Columbia, South Carolina is at 6 p.m. CT and begins a three-game series as Johnson looks to stay focused on the task at hand before the postseason starts up.

“We’re excited to get on the road.” Johnson said of playing South Carolina. “I think it’s one of the best ballparks in the conference. Love playing there. It’s a good opportunity for our team after, you know, three of the last four at home. We did a good job, obviously, winning three top-12 RPI series. I’m excited to get back on the road and looking forward to playing there in that ballpark. As far as their team, there’s a ton of talent, in my opinion. It’s a good challenge. Jake McCoy, really good left-hander, up to 96. Ethan Petry, who hasn’t played the last couple of weeks, I’d assume he’ll play this weekend. One of the best hitters in the conference. So, just another weekend in the SEC.”

For LSU fans, this matchup means something, but for Johnson it’s just another challenging SEC series. He admits he has faced friends and colleagues before, thinking back to a few meetings in the past decade.

“In 2015, I was a coach at Nevada, and we went and played at San Diego and faced Rich Hill—who, in my opinion, is the best coach I know. I worked for him for eight years. We were winning 8–2 in the eighth and lost. But I remember like 10 days later, we both clinched our championships on the same day, we won the Mountain West, and they won the WCC. It was a unique night.

And then, on the other side of it, Jason Kelly was on the other side of the field last weekend against Texas A&M, and I gotta be honest, I didn’t think about that one time. So, you know, I think it’s cool. And like I said, when Coach [Mainieri] decided to go to South Carolina, if anybody’s earned the right to do what they want to do and continue to coach, it’s him. It’ll be good to see him, and I’m just looking forward to the games.”

This is LSU’s final series of the regular season, with the SEC tournament beginning next week and the NCAA Tournament following the week after.

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