Jay Johnson has ‘zero concerns’ about LSU preparing to meet Tennessee for a 5th time
By Keith Farner
Published:
Jay Johnson and LSU are set to meet Tennessee for a 5th time this season in a College World Series elimination game at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
The meeting is the nightcap after TCU and Oral Roberts will play at 2 p.m. ET.
Their Saturday meeting saw 12 strikeouts from LSU ace Paul Skenes, including carrying a shutout into the 8th, and LSU held on to win 6-3 in the College World Series. LSU also won 2 out of 3 in a Baton Rouge series in March.
After a Monday loss to Wake Forest, Johnson is confident his team will take the right approach.
“I have zero concerns about these guys preparing well, coming in and competing and executing our plan,” Johnson said. “We’ll have to do it against Drew Beam, who is one of the best pitchers in the country. So it will be a really good challenge, and we’re going to have to be ready for it.”
As for his message to his team following the disappointing Wake Forest loss, Johnson said he’s been in this position before.
“So that could be deflating. But I shared with them two things. Number one, I’ve had a team in this position before. Lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to Oklahoma State and then won 3 consecutive games to play for a national championship,” he said. “Then the very next year this program did the same thing. And they beat probably one of the best teams in modern college baseball history twice to get that opportunity. And I have all the faith in the world in our team that we can do that. So let’s stick to what we do. And if we do that well, then we’ll be in a good spot.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
