As LSU baseball heads into the SEC Tournament this week, it marks the first time since 2006 the Tigers have done so without Paul Mainieri at the helm.
But new coach Jay Johnson made sure to call on the knowledge of the longtime LSU head coach with a call this week ahead of the annual showcase in Hoover, Alabama.
"He had a lot of success in this tournament," Johnson said on SportsTalk this week. "We shot the breeze a little bit. He gave me a couple good things from a mindset-wise that he felt like he used."
Listen to the full interview with Jay Johnson in the player below. Can't see the embed? Click here.
And those But all the pointers in the world won't change a ton for Johnson, who says the depth of the conference has led to every SEC series feeling a bit like a Super Regional.
"For me it doesn’t change a whole lot," Johnson said. "I approached the regular season as you’re in the playoffs. They don’t just give out NCAA Tournament bids because of the name across your chest, you have to go earn those. Which, our team has definitely done that. But we play every game like it’s a playoff game."
That mentality appeared to have filtered down to Johnson's team in the final weekend of the regular season, a dominating sweep of Vanderbilt that helped secure a No. 4 seed and bye into the second round of the tournament. The Tigers finished 37-18 overall, with a 17-13 record in-conference. They'll await the winner of Kentucky and Auburn, with the Tigers doing advanced scouting for both. That's particularly true for Kentucky, whom LSU did not play in the regular season.
Johnson declined to name a Wednesday starter until the matchup is official.
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ON DYLAN CREWS NAMED CO-SEC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
“There’s obviously a lot of reasons it’s great to be the baseball coach at LSU. But in all seriousness I did ask Scott Woodward when he was talking to me about the job just to make sure that Dylan wasn’t a draft-eligible sophomore and that we’d have him for two years. Great player. Great person. Great leader. Just an unbelievable hitter and he’s playing his best baseball right now. He’s worked really hard, made some small adjustments here recently and he’s seeing some of the fruits of that labor. Very well-deserving to be named co-SEC player of the year.”
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“I think he’s kind of in a class by himself in terms of what he can do on a baseball field both offensively and defensively. You really don’t see players show up like him in college all that often.”
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While Jacob Berry will be available to hit from the right-hand side of the plate, it's unlikely he'll be seen in the field any time soon as he continues to nurse a broken finger suffered during batting practice on May 6. Still, Berry was able to do enough at the plate to secure the SEC batting crown with a .381 average.
Catcher Alex Milazzo (knee injury), Gavin Dugas (thumb injury) and Cade Doughty (shoulder injury) are all questionable but could potentially play when the Tigers kick off the SEC Tournament on Wednesday.
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“I think he’s kind of in a class by himself in terms of what he can do on a baseball field both offensively and defensively. You really don’t see players show up like him in college all that often.”
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“Pretty special to have him on our team and good character and the type of person he is equals his baseball ability, and that says a heck of a lot.”