LSU baseball head coach Jay Johnson mixed up the Tigers’ lineup once again in Saturday’s super regional win over West Virginia.
Referencing the “56-game” approach to every season, Johnson said each player buys into their role no matter if they’re in the regular season or playoffs.
“I just think it speaks to good players, mental strength, attitude, team over me, understand their job and what’s required of them and being trained for it,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot that goes into it.”
Against the Mountaineers’ left-handed starting pitcher Griffin Kirn, Josh Pearson batted leadoff with Derek Curiel taking up the seven hole. The latter occupied the top spot for most of the season but Curiel wasn’t rattled as he finished with five RBI and three hits, including a home run.
“I just approached the game how we approach the game all the time,” Curiel said. “Whether I’m batting first, second, seventh, just trying to go up there and do my job. [I] feel like I executed that well today and that was just the plan.”
Along the same lines, Pearson remained ready for his opportunity to make an impact during the postseason and learned he’d be starting from Johnson on Friday. With Kirn on the bump, he batted in four runs on two hits and scored two runs himself.
“Every day I kind of show up to the field as if I would be in the lineup,” Pearson said. “[I] came today ready to go and saw my name in the leadoff spot and I knew I had a job to do and I had to get the job done.”
LSU returns to action on Sunday, looking to punch its ticket to the College World Series.
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