LSU's Jay Johnson recaps LSU's win over Wake Forest

The Tigers once again stave off elimination and now are one win away from the college world series championship series with a 5-2 win over Wake Forest on Wednesday night.

Here’s what head coach Jay Johnson had to say after the win.

Opening statement

COACH JOHNSON: Great performance tonight by our team. Thought it was a great team win. Had a little bit of adversity early in the game there, and really responded offensively. In the second inning, we took some really good at-bats.

And big inning obviously there in the third with a great one by Cade.

Really proud of the pitching staff. Everybody contributed tonight. Was big of Javen to get out of the first inning with no runs. We didn’t do them any favors offensively in the first, going down on nine pitches and swinging at three or four balls, which was a little out of character. So we made it tough on him in the second.

Blake after giving up the single that was a big out right there with their best hitters coming up, and then obviously what a performance by Griffin to strike out Kurtz, to limit the damage there. And then really settled into the game and got us the length that we needed.

And then Gavin came in and executed incredibly well. And Riley finished off another one. So good performance and we’ll turn it over to tomorrow.

Q. What’s the thought process and the conversation involved with Paul Skenes and availability?

COACH JOHNSON: We’ll talk to him tonight. I think it’s a day-by-day deal. We have a pre-throw process that we go through with pitchers and their availability and testing and recovery and all of those types of things. So we still need to go through that tomorrow before we make any decision.

Q. I think if someone were to walk in here not really know what’s going on, they wouldn’t know these guys are playing elimination games the last two days by just their attitudes. Does that permeate through the entire roster, and why do you think your guys are so loose despite the pressure?

COACH JOHNSON: I think in the first meeting of the year, every year, one thing I tell them is, 365 days a year we’re going to work on mindset. We expect to be here. We expect to be playing important baseball in June.

And we play every game like we’re playing important baseball in June. Like, the Tuesday on March 22nd against McNeese is a playoff game to us. And the thought process behind that is if you do that all year long, then you can just stay in character when you get to the postseason.

And that’s something that I adopted early on in my career, and I think it’s really benefited us in tournament play.

Q. Yesterday you told us you didn’t see Nate Ackenhausen as a Cinderella story. Then you have a guy step up and extend further than he has all season in Griffin Herring. What was working for him and what made you believe he could go as long as he did?

COACH JOHNSON: I thought he mixed well. I thought he threw all his pitches for strikes. He had great composure. I think he plays older than his age. And I think throughout this season he’s pitched in enough high-leverage spots that — there’s a few Fridays in a row, I want to say, we brought him after Paul to complete Friday three weeks in a row for wins.

I want to say it was Ole Miss, somebody else, Alabama, Kentucky maybe. And he did a great job there. So I thought he would play well or pitch well against their lineup, and he certainly did.

Q. I guess following up on that, I think your pitching ERA for the postseason is right at a 2.0, something like that. What is it about this staff where it’s just kind of flipped for them in these last three weeks that’s allowed them to have so much success?

COACH JOHNSON: I have two thoughts on that. I think, number one, I don’t think the season was as bad as people made it out to be. Like, look at our schedule. Like just look back at who we’ve played.

And then the Southeastern Conference is not friendly as far as the environments that these guys pitch in. Not from a fan standpoint but from the ball — they’re small. I don’t have any other way to say it. And you’re going to give up some runs in league. And that’s every staff in this SEC.

So I think part of it was some of that. I think the best coach that any player’s ever going to have in their life is playing time and being through some of that. So when you look back at a couple of speed bumps — I think about Auburn and Mississippi State — we didn’t want to waste those losses or failure.

And I think we learned a lot of things, both as coaches. We’ve adjusted some of the preparation things. We’ve adjusted some of the usage, not just in how what pitches they throw but how we’re using guys.

And so I think it’s just been a good team effort and I think we’ve got guys that are good. I think we’ve evaluated really good with this roster. We feel like we’ve learned it better as the season’s gone along.

Another thought that we talk about early is let’s play well enough to win games early in the season so you can be in the NCAA Tournament, but let’s figure out our best team as we go.

Q. Cade Beloso, obviously he’s this great story but he’s also one of your best hitters. What is it about him that makes him capable of coming up in a moment like that?

COACH JOHNSON: I was just chuckling inside at one of the questions earlier about doing well here. I was looking down he has 15 home runs and a ton of RBIs. He’s had a great season.

I think he’s just worked really hard, which we’ve well-documented. Worked really hard going into last season and got hurt right before opening day and missed last season. And then doubled up on those efforts.

I mean, literally changed his swing, improved his body a little bit. Really honed in his approach and he’s got great hand-eye. He’s one of those guys, feels like he was born to hit a line drive somewhere. He has that kind of feel to him.

And that’s why he’s sitting right where he is in that order because you trust him to come up with guys on base and give you a quality at-bat, and that was a great one today.

Q. Can you talk about how big the offense came up today in the third inning there?

COACH JOHNSON: I did not like the first inning. And, again, we’re talking about three future Major Leaguers that hit for us in the first inning. But first-pitch out, and then I thought Tommy swung at a ball on strike three, and I thought Tre’ swung at a ball on 3-2.

Now, Keener is really good and has deception, like their whole staff does. And then we gave up two. Part of that was the offense’s fault for making Javen go out there that quickly after a tough first inning. That’s bad baseball.

Then we just gathered it up. It’s, like, we actually talked about a scenario where if you lose your plan in the postseason, that this can get away from you and it’s over. Just like that.

We had already talked about what I saw happen in the first inning. It’s like, no, we have to get back in character. And they did immediately against two really good pitchers tonight.

And Sullivan’s tough. He’s really tough. And we didn’t do anything really off of him, but I’m pretty pleased with how he tried to execute what we were trying to do off of him.

Q. This is the third game of the College World Series where you’ve had Riley Cooper come out and pitch in relief. What gives you that trust in him, and what does his recovery process look like?

COACH JOHNSON: I think when you’re physical and bigger and stronger, he’s one of the strongest guys, pound for pound, on the team, you tend to recover better. That’s part of what makes him – him is the stuff that shows up. But again I’ve said this before, probably over the two weeks before we got here, it’s not about spin rate right now. It’s not about velocity. It’s about pitch execution and winners. And he is a winner. And that’s why I believe in him.