After missing out on the College World Series last season, the goal for the LSU baseball team this year is to get back to Omaha. They will hear and see the word Omaha a lot this weekend as the Tigers host the Omaha Mavericks of the Summit League.
Omaha is not a contender for the College World Series as they have not had a winning season since 2019 when they also reached the NCAA Tournament. This season the Mavericks are picked to finish third in the Summit League.
Omaha is off to a 1-3 start as they have been in Louisiana since the season opener. They were swept by Tulane last weekend and beat Nicholls on Tuesday.
The real competition for LSU is among themselves as several players are battling for playing time at catcher, in right field or as a designated hitter. Also, there’s about a dozen pitchers trying to show Coach Jay Johnson and pitching coach Nate Yeskie that they can be counted on as a starter or in high leverage situations out of the bullpen.
“I don’t like the word competition, because we are all on the same team, but guys know that there is a lot of guys who can play, there is literally no drop off that’s awesome,” Johnson said. “If that elevates everybody that’s awesome, good for us.”
The battle for at-bats, playing time in the field, and innings pitched is one reason why LSU has looked so sharp through four games.
Ashton Larson, Ethan Frey, Jake Brown and Josh Pearson are sharing time between right field and designated hitter. Larson, Frey and Pearson are all off to hot starts and you can count on Pearson for big hits when the games really start to matter.
Catchers Luis Hernandez and Cade Arrambide have been behind the plate the most and Hernandez looks like the better defender.
There are also guys like Mikey Ryan, Blaise Priester, Tanner Reaves, John Pearson, and Mic Paul hoping to impress Johnson in their limited opportunities.
LSU has used 20 position players and Johnson says the guys have been mature about sharing playing time.
“It’s been great we have been able to get so many players into the game and get some of the newness of the season off of everybody, we still have a couple of guys we need to pitch,” Johnson said.
Junior right-hander Gavin Guidry is one pitcher who has yet to throw an inning. He was expected to throw several innings against Nicholls on Wednesday, but the game was postponed.
Guidry is still someone the coaching staff looks at as a guy who can close games, but he will have a chance to throw multiple innings to start the season.
LSU will also play on Monday as Nicholls will come to Baton Rouge, giving Johnson a chance to play a lot of players again over the next four days, before the Tigers head to Texas and take a step up in competition.
