Jay Johnson wasn't surprised the weather had such an impact on his first home regional as LSU's head coach. He'd seen it all before.
in 2016 and then the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats, Johnson was in Louisiana at the UL-Lafayette regional. His team won en route to a trip to Omaha, and as they departed to Mississippi State, the regional in Baton Rouge was still going in due to the delays. That's just how it goes.
So his team was prepared for the repeated weather delays that forced a Saturday game to be played on Sunday, then delayed itself for three hours. His team didn't miss a beat, winning a pivotal game against Oregon State, then taking advantage of its position to win the regional on Monday afternoon with a game to spare.
"It's all mindset. And we're going to be a no-drama program. Tell us when to play. ... I was really proud of them for how locked in we were when we restarted the game yesterday," Johnson said after his team's 13-7 victory. "I was proud of them for showing up ready to play even though we didn't play on Saturday. And I think that is just maturity. And as it should be. We have old players. A lot of these guys, we were in a very tightly contested Regional last year. And they used that experience to their benefit this weekend."
The efficiency and maturity his team played with means, even with all the delays, they were the ones sitting and waiting to find out their super regional opponent with Kentucky and Indiana facing off in a winner-take-all game 6.
Related
MORE FROM JAY JOHNSON
ON THE DECISION TO START PAUL SKENES FRIDAY
"This is always one of my favorite weeks of the year. And I love the preparation part of it. Once we got the bracket, we started looking at each team and maybe where the potential trouble spots, problems might arise. It's postseason baseball. I think going with Paul, I'm guessing, is the nature of the question, I thought it would help the team settle into the postseason," Johnson said.
"And the weather thing, that was the real deal. And I have some underground sources, that I used all of them. And I'm not going to sit here tell you that was all of the decision but that was certainly part of the decision. ... So knowing that there was some weather, the potential that you could possibly pitch twice if that was needed, if the pitch count was low in one of those situations. And I don't think anybody gives Ty Floyd enough credit. The guy's undefeated. That means he's not lost a game. I'm not a genius, but I think it's good when you can pitch guys that have not lost a game."
Related
ON RILEY COOPER'S PERFORMANCE
"There's never been a question about whether he can do it or not. And I mean he's had some of the most important pitching performances of the two years that we've been here. He's just a winner," Johnson said.
"And sometimes it's not about velocity of the fastball. It's not about the metrics. It's about who is a winner. And Riley Cooper is a winner, and we're a winning time right now. That's why he was chosen today and the fact that we thought specifically, after watching the game last night, that he would match up well with Oregon State."
DID THE LOSS IN HATTIESBURG LAST YEAR GIVE ADDED MOTIVATION?
"I don't need any more motivation. This is my entire life. And I mean, there's losses I think about every day. That loss of the national championship game with tying run on third and winning run on second. I'm over it. I'm at peace with it. But I think about it every single day to this day. That one hurt. Not for the -- we didn't do this or didn't do that. I really wanted those guys to go to Omaha," Johnson said.
"You know what I mean? That's a group of guys that had not been there other than the guys we brought. So that's the part for me. It's like I want this for them. And so we don't need any more motivation, though. We could do some things like Coach Bertman has done and we'll still be plenty motivated around here, I promise."
Related
