Jay Johnson discusses LSU’s need to refocus ahead of College World Series

The LSU Tigers baseball team has been laser-focused this postseason. The Tigers have gone undefeated in Regional and Super Regional rounds, earning a trip to Omaha and the College World Series. Because of the success in the Super Regional round, making quick work of SEC rival Kentucky, LSU got the opportunity to get an additional day off to enjoy what they had just accomplished.

LSU head coach Jay Johnson recently discussed the importance of getting some extra time off but also highlighted the importance of his Tigers regaining their focus before their first game in Omaha. But before that, the Tigers skipper discussed the value of having players familiar with the expectation of the trip on the roster.

“It’s huge,“ said Johnson on Mik’d Up with Mikie Mahtook. “Got into it today and just had a meeting, no practice, but just a meeting at 1:00 with the point of like, hey, you celebrated it last night, hang out today, just relax. I want you to basically get all of that out of your system. So we show up tomorrow we go to work. And then we just laid out this is what the exact week is going to look like, in terms of what we’re doing tomorrow, when we’re leaving, on Wednesday, we’re going to practice on Wednesday, practice in the stadium on Thursday. Then you got the opening ceremony, where we’re practicing on Friday, at what time leading into probably playing on Saturday, like taking all the guesswork out of it.

“This team has done a really good job of knowing who they need to be, where they need to be, and when they need to be it. So, this is like the ultimate test of that. But I just trust him so much in their maturity of having that off switch when you deserve to have a stake dinner on Wednesday night and just hang out and laugh and feel great about being there. And then, when you’re taking the team picture by the statue, like, that’s awesome, that’s fun. The few hours were on the field practice. Let’s get locked in on what’s made us great and preparing well.”

More than anything else, Johnson is eager to get the next leg of the journey started. He is appreciative of the work his team has done so far. But the Tigers’ headman is adamant about LSU staying focused on the details and putting forth their best effort in their first game of the CWS on Saturday.

They know, hey, they put in the barn in the last two weeks to get ready to play on the weekend, and that’s materialized or manifested itself into great play. And they’re hyper-motivated to do that. So I think we addressed it and addressing the specific things you need to do relative to playing there to do well. We briefly talked about those things. We’ll go to work on them all weekend. And let’s go. Let’s do it.

LSU (48-15) will face off against Tennessee (43-20) on Saturday at 7 p.m. Eastern Time at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha. It’s the final game of the opening round in Omaha in the double-elimination format.

The post Jay Johnson discusses LSU’s need to refocus ahead of College World Series appeared first on On3.