Washington has reached into the SEC to find its next head baseball coach.

LSU pitching coach Jason Kelly is leaving the Tigers to lead the Huskies, according to Kendall Rogers of D1 Baseball. Kelly spent this past season with LSU, the previous 2 seasons at Arizona State, and helped guide Washington to the College World Series in 2018 on the way to Assistant of the Year honors.

Kelly served as Washington’s pitching coach for 7 seasons (2013-19), and produced 15 MLB Draft selections. After they made only one NCAA Tournament appearance in the 13 seasons prior to Kelly’s arrival, the Huskies earned 3 NCAA berths during his 7 seasons, including the 2018 CWS.

Kelly in 2021 directed an Arizona State staff that sparked the Sun Devils to an NCAA Tournament berth despite injuries to ASU’s 3 weekend starters and its closer.

Kelly led the Tigers’ pitching staff to the No. 4 ERA in the SEC (4.09), up from No. 8 during the 2021 season (4.53). His staff also held batters to the No. 4 lowest batting average in the conference (.235) as opposed to the previous year’s .252 (No. 9 in the SEC).