Jay Johnson explains why Dylan Crews is batting in lead-off position
As the college baseball season winds down and teams are shoulders deep in their conference tournaments, coaches are doing everything they can to adjust to the issues that their ball club faces. The LSU Tigers skipper Jay Johnson and among those trying to keep his squad competitive in the SEC tournament and prepared for the upcoming championship tournament.
Recently Johnson was asked about his batting lineup adjustment moving Dylan Crews into the leadoff position and starting Tre’ Morgan at first base for the first time since March. And the Tigers coach provided an inside look at LSU’s mindset on their pitching rotation for the tournament.
“I mean, I really don’t want to, but Dylan is the best player in the country,” said Johnson. “I only have him for 12 to 15 more games, so I just want to get him up as many times as I can while I have him. Just kidding, kind of, on that one.
“Then with — what was the second question? Tre’ at first. He hasn’t been able to play first base for an extended period of time because of some things going on. He’s able to do that now, and that’s a good thing for our team.”
Crews has been a nightmare for opposing pitchers this season. He entered into the SEC’s tournament adding a .421 and an on base percentage of .570. Crews also recorded 59 RBIs with 15 home runs and five stolen bases.
As far as the Tigers’ mindset, Jonshon has a clear perspective on what it is.
“Yeah, we have a plan going into it what we’re going to do,” said Johnson. “Wes and I met Monday and talked about how we want to line it up. We feel good about that plan. You want to win every game that you play. I feel like the competitive element is how Coach Bertman built the program, and there’s bigger games that are coming than the ones that we’re playing here. But we’re going to focus on this for right now and do it in a way that’s going to benefit us in the NCAA tournament.
“But yeah, it is what it is. This is the best event in amateur baseball outside the NCAA tournament, and we want to play well, want to pitch well. I’ll be the one that will be kind of mindful of what we need to do, how we need to do it, pitch counts, what days guys pitch, all those sorts of things, and we feel like we have a really good plan.”
LSU appears to have a solid pitching rotation setup for the tournament, which was on full display in their opening matchup against South Carolina.
The Tigers’ starting pitcher, Thatcher Hurd, and relief pitcher Nate Ackenhausen were lights out on the mound on Wednesday. Hurd faced 22 pitchers and 5.1 innings worth of work. He allowed three earned runs on four hits with one home run. Hurd also had four strikeouts to go along with two walks.