Press conference notes: LSU previews regional, postseason mindset

The Tigers already knew they will play host this weekend in the Baton Rouge regional, but on Monday afternoon found out they will be hosting Oregon State, Sam Houston State, and Tulane. LSU is the No. 5 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, a top eight seed for the first time since 2017.

Here are the press conference notes from senior LF/1B Tre Morgan and LSU head coach Jay Johnson.

Junior Tre Morgan

“To have the opportunity to play in front of the best fans in the country is the reward for what we work for. It will definitely be an advantage.”

Morgan says he’s been battling through injuries, especially with the wrist after taking a pitch to the wrist early in LSU’s season.

Says he’ll have a lot of family/friends from New Orleans coming up to watch him play against Tulane. Praises Tulane’s postseason run.

Says he’s now fully adjusted to playing in left field. Initially he had a lot of hesitancy, but now he wants the ball to come his way.

“I grew the most on the mental side. I’m an emotional player, but being able to stay even keeled is important. There are times when I can’t control it, but I’m trying.” Says he tries to be like Dylan who has a great mindset all the time.

“I remember [LSU’s loss to Southern Miss]. I remember the tears. I don’t want to cry in my own dugout this year. I want to cry in Omaha because it’s over and we won.” Says he watches every game, but especially every bad game to learn and motivate himself.

LSU head coach Jay Johnson

On the NCAA tournament field

“One of our strong messages from day one is it’s not about who we play, it’s about how we play. We’re playing great teams that have had great seasons and we’re a great team that’s had a great season. It’s not a given to be in the NCAA Tournament. Obviously we want to win a national championship and you can’t win that unless you’re in the field. They were very consistent throughout the year and earned the opportunity [to host]. I am very confident that we will play with the right mindset.”

Johnson says he understands the impact of the RPI and says the non-conference really helped them. He’s not surprised that the SEC had eight of the 16 host sites.

On the SEC Tournament

“The Georgia series will really be beneficial for us. We got another great start from Paul. We lost the lead, kept our composure, had Thatcher step up, and we found a way to win. Those games are valuable. In the second game, we played one of our best games. In game three we had already used up a lot of bullets to go 2-0.”

Johnson says there was no way he was going to let Paul Skenes throw more than 40 pitches in an inning in that game against Arkansas with the NCAA tournament coming up. “Under any other circumstance, he’s not coming out of that game.”

On offense’s struggle in Texas A&M loss: “We didn’t play well offensively. I’m not going to say we didn’t hit well, we didn’t play well offensively.”

“[The experience there] was needed and it wasn’t all positive. We’re in a good place to do what we need to do. They’re extremely tested. We lost only one weekend at home. They will enter this with great confidence. As good as we were for 90 percent of this thing, the struggles will help us get to where we need to be.”

On Dylan Crews: “There are players across the SEC that have turned down money from the pros that have gotten their teeth kicked in and he hasn’t had that happen. Players of that caliber only get in trouble when they try to do too much and swing at pitches outside the strike zone and he doesn’t do that. There’s guys that can’t do what he does in terms of controlling the strike zone and punishing mistakes.”

“I do like [Dylan] at the top of the order. We only have him for so long, so get him as many swings as possible. He’s coming up with guys on base no matter where he’s hitting.” Says the bottom of the order has really stepped up and played well to allow that.

The field coming to Baton Rouge to face LSU

“[Tulane] doesn’t  look like the same team. They’re playing incredibly well. My hats off to them. There’s a little familiarity, but we will rework the scout on them as though we have not played them.”

More on Tulane: “If you’re in, you’re usually playing good at the end. We’ve seen examples recently of teams getting hot at the right time and that’s a real thing because it’s such a mental game. Credit to them because they had a mass exodus with the coaching change. For them to survive the storm and win that tournament, which is a great league, that’s a big accomplishment.”

“I actually told the team in Hoover that we’re playing Nicholls State without knowing what was going on in the AAC. Then, for Sam Houston, being within 400 miles, we figured it was them or Louisiana Lafayette.”

“Now being out here, I get why no one knows anything about the Pac 12.” Talks about watching some Oregon State this year late at night. Names off a few top players and players who were there two years ago when he was at Arizona.