LSU coach Jay Johnson reportedly paying for student tickets for Baton Rouge Regional

LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson is putting his money where his mouth is. The Tigers manager is reportedly paying for student tickets to this weekend’s Baton Rouge Regional.

A fan account on Twitter posted an e-mail from the athletic ticket office on Thursday after attempting to purchase tickets. The fan was delighted to find his tickets had been comped.

“We are excited to announce that your ticket request will be filled for the Regional this weekend,” the e-mail read. “Your tickets will be complimentary for this weekend’s game courtesy of Coach Jay Johnson! Coach Johnson wants to thank you for your support so he will be paying for your tickets this weekend.”

Other accounts seemed to confirm the news. Lonn Phillips Sullivan of LSUOdyssey.com also posted a screenshot of the e-mail portion confirming Jay Johnson was paying for the student tickets.

It’s a tremendous show of support from the LSU skipper, who has been immensely successful in his short tenure with the Tigers. Johnson won the national championship in his second season in charge, taking home the crown in 2023.

He’ll be looking to make another deep run to Omaha with this year’s LSU bunch, which goes into the Baton Rouge Regional as the No. 6 national seed. LSU will play Little Rock in the first meeting, a game that gets going at 3 p.m. ET on Friday.

The Tigers have two aces to lean on going in, with Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson two of the nation’s best. But could LSU opt to hold them both until after the opening game in the regional?

“We’ll look at that and decide what we’re going to do … we won’t announce a starter for Friday,” Jay Johnson said. “Everybody who knows me knows that. (Jaden Noot is) a possibility, too, but we won’t announce a starter until Friday.”

LSU heads into the postseason after beating Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament before losing to Ole Miss in the semifinals, and beyond pitching both Anderson and Eyanson in the win over the Aggies, the storyline was the lack of hitting for the Tigers, who combined for just seven hits and four runs in two games – with all four runs coming in the win over Texas A&M.

Still, with the support of the students — and it’s sure to be vocal, given the free tickets from Jay Johnson — the LSU bats are sure to roar to life again. Alex Box should be rocking.

On3’s Shea Dixon also contributed to this report.