Jay Johnson really wasn't sure what to say as he spoke following his team's heartbreaking departure from Hattiesburg. He hadn't taken a moment to consider that his team wouldn't be playing in the Super Regionals.
It was less about confidence than sheer determination to find a way to bring this team, his first as the head coach in Baton Rouge, all the way to Omaha. That wasn't the case, with the Tigers falling to Southern Miss 8-7 for the second loss to the Golden Eagles in less than 24 hours.
"I wanted to take this team to Omaha so bad, like I can’t even express it into words. … So that hurts right now," Johnson said, referencing veteran players like Gavin Dugas, Ma'Khail Hilliard and Devin Fontenot who opted to stay on through the coaching change from the legendary Paul Mainieiri.
"We’ll get there. I have no doubt in my mind that we’ll do that. … It just hurts because I wanted to do that with this team," he continued. "I think on the inside I knew how special that would’ve been for some things that we overcame, how bad these guys wanted it and how open they were to a new way.”
The Tigers were in prime position to do just that after a pair of breathtaking comebacks in their first two games set them up in the cat-bird seat. They rallied from an 11-4 deficit in the 8th inning to defeat Kennesaw State on Friday, and then from 6-2 down in the 9th inning to beat Southern Miss on Saturday. The Golden Eagles had to play an extra game and beat the Tigers twice, which they did largely on the strength of one of the most exceptional pitching staffs in the nation.
It was in that area where Johnson knew exactly what went wrong for his team.
"I think it’s really simple: We gotta pitch better. End of story," Johnson said. "That’s the story of this tournament. That’s the story of the SEC Tournament. That’s the story of the last regular-season game in Vanderbilt. There’s nothing about competitiveness. There’s nothing about heart. These guys don’t need more motivation."
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It was a struggle that the Tigers' dynamic offense nearly made up for. LSU trotted out seven pitchers in Monday's winner-take-all game. But the 7th inning was where things began to unravel, with Johnson heading out to the mound to make four pitching changes before there were two outs recorded in the inning. Southern Miss plated 4 runs to turn a 1-run deficit into a 3-run lead. The Tigers fought back to tie things heading into the 9th inning, but didn't have the final punch like they did in the first matchup.
In the four games in Hattiesburg, LSU pitching allowed 33 runs. In the two losses to Southern Miss, they allowed 8 runs in both games. The bitterness of the loss was even more pronounced considering the result of the Coral Gables regional meant an LSU date in the Super Regionals would've been hosted at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge.
“That’s all we did in this tournament is show fight," Johnson said. "I’m proud of our team for that. It’s a simple game, honestly. They’re infinitely better on the mound than we are.”
There will be time to answer the question of how the pitching staff will improve as the Johnson era continues. But he wasn't prepared to share those answers on Monday.
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There's "work to do," he said, and left it at that. His team fought until the end. There's a lot to be proud of, even if it hurts. Veteran outfielder Gavin Dugas was the hero in the 8th inning, belting a home run that for the moment looked like it could extend a season that was an injury battle for the junior, personally. Dugas' was choked up as he praised his team's resilience, with his coach reaching out to put a hand on his player's shoulder as he spoke.
"You can’t prepare for anything like this," he said. This is the worst time of the year, watching your season come to an end. I’m proud of what we did with this team, and what we've had. I know that I’m gonna have all these guys’ back for the rest of their lives, and I wish we could’ve went further. I truly believe we could have. But baseball, that’s the way it is sometimes."
Star slugger Dylan Crews put it a bit more simply.
“It sucks," he said. "It just wasn’t our time, I guess.”