LSU baseball beat Little Rock on Monday night to win game 7 of the Baton Rouge Regional and punch its ticket to the super regional.
LSU began the regional 2-0, cruising to shutout victories over Little Rock and Dallas Baptist. But Little Rock fought its way out of the losers’ bracket and pushed LSU to the brink. The Trojans pulled off the upset on Sunday and looked on their way to a historic win on Monday, leading LSU 5-1 in the winner-take-all contest.
But then LSU found life. Ethan Frey struck a three-run double, and Casan Evans started mowing down Little Rock hitters. At one point, Evans had nine straight strikeouts. The true freshman’s stuff was electric.
LSU is now two wins away from returning to the College World Series. All that stands between LSU and a trip to Omaha is West Virginia. The Tigers have the week to rest with the series not starting until Saturday.
Before our attention completely shifts to the next round, here’s what LSU baseball head coach Jay Johnson said after Monday’s regional win.
On Little Rock
“First, I want to just say congratulations to Coach Curry and Little Rock. Tremendous run here these last couple of weeks. Massive hat tip, massive respect, absolutely took us to the mat,” Johnson said.
“I don’t know that I’ve seen a better-prepared team, a more competitive team, or well-coached team at any point. I told the players, tonight is one of the best wins of my entire career, because of what they had to do to earn it.”
The grit of Monday’s win
“We won tonight because of character. And when I think about character, I think about Luis, I think about Ethan, and I think about Casan. And I’ve said this before, maybe in reference to them, but this is what an LSU baseball player is supposed to be and needs to be in all phases,” Johnson said.
On Ethan Frey and Luis Hernandez
“You look at the offensive performance by Ethan, that’s arguably the best game I’ve ever seen any one of my players play, considering the situation,” Johnson said.
“Luis, clutch. I mean, absolutely clutch. Sometimes you look at a player in the eye in the on-deck circle, and you go, this is about to be good. And special night tonight, great toughness catching four games in a row, really proud of him for that, and maintaining massive offensive production,” Johnson said of Hernandez.
On the environment of Alex Box Stadium
“I want to echo what the players said about the environment tonight was special. Like, maybe the super regional a couple of years ago, I don’t ever remember it like that. And it’s been great. I mean, that was like another bar. And the thing I’m most grateful for is maybe in those nervous moments for them, I felt like they really lifted the team,” Johnson said.
“They kept going. You know, they kept supporting the players. And that’s all I care about. And baseball is not a game to be played, designed to be played perfectly all the time. And the fans here, they love LSU no matter what.”
Did LSU feel pressure?
With top seeds falling across the country, Johnson was asked if that added any pressure to LSU. Johnson said he didn’t even turn on the TV in his office on Monday.
Johnson said he called the team in earlier than usual, too.
“The approach today was a little bit different. I actually brought something back from my past. I did it at Arizona when we’d host and we’d play really late games. I actually brought them in early in the day as kind of like a, hey, this is a checkpoint type deal. And they didn’t need any motivation today. It was actually pretty cool. I actually just wrote on the board the lineup. I wanted everybody to know the lineup early. I wanted everybody to know the pitching plan and the guys on the bench. And next to each name, I wrote down what their job was tonight. And it was pretty cool to actually see the game play out the way that it did,” Johnson said.
Bringing Anthony Eyanson out of the pen
Johnson said the decision to pitch Eyanson in game 1 was because he knew that would give Eyanson a chance to pitch in relief if needed on Monday. When LSU was losing on Sunday, Johnson said he looked to Eyanson and the transfer said, “I got it.”
Twenty-four hours later, Eyanson took a walk to the bullpen to warm up.
“He doesn’t take very long to get ready,” Johnson said, “I mean, the dude’s like a ridiculous athlete, ridiculous physical condition,”
Johnson said the decision to use Eyanson out of the pen in the SEC Tournament was to prepare him for a moment like this on a bigger stage.
The importance of Jared Jones’ home run
“Yeah, that’s probably the most excited I’ve been, at least in this season. He had a big homer as a freshman against Alabama in a crazy game that we’d kind of come back in like that. So I just love him,” Johnson said.
“He hadn’t had a good couple of weeks here, but we were working today, and there was just like one of those good coach moments where somebody is, you know, you can tell how hard they’re fighting themselves because they care so much. And they want to be the guy for the team. Wasn’t about him or his performance. He’s way past that. Like, he’s been such a great leader this year. And just the work that was put in today mentally and physically,” Johnson said.
“That was a huge deal.”
On the lineup change
Johnson went with a different lineup than he had the first three games of the regional. The starting nine was the same, but there was a new order.
“I just operate by this. When do you take a risk? You take a risk when you have a lot to gain. We had a chance to play a super regional at home, two wins to go to Omaha, seven more to win a national championship, maybe eight. It was time to take a risk. And then you don’t just do it to do it. There’s never a decision in this program made just because I want to make a decision,” Johnson said.
I’ll walk you through the whole thing. So Derek Curiel is the engine of this offense. That’s what he is. He’s the engine of this offense. And how he plays inspires the team,” Johnson said, “And then it’s Ethan Frey, one of the best hitters in the country right now, and I wanted to get him up as much as we possibly could.”
Johnson went on to say he moved Milam up to No. 3 thanks to Milam’s quality ABs throughout the regional.
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