LSU skipper Jay Johnson puzzled by 4th inning ejection weirdness

Umpires threw out a “guy in a gray shirt,” during the fourth inning of No. 1 LSU‘s 8-6 loss to Auburn on Saturday. The entire LSU team was wearing their grey uniforms during the matchup, leading to some confusion on the diamond.

The officials’ vagueness caused LSU to send the wrong coach, video coordinator Jamie Tutko, to the back. They later found it was assistant coach Josh Jordan. Jordan left the game and Tutko returned to the dugout.

After some discussion, it was revealed that umpires were reacting to an argued balk call on Tigers RHP Ty Floyd. Earlier in the game, the LSU coaching staff argued a similar instance for Auburn that was not called a balk and led to the frustration.

LSU head coach Jay Johnson said after the game that he does not know why Jordan was ejected, as he did not see or hear anything from his assistant to warrant an ejection. Jordan’s removal caused LSU to be without a first-base coach for the final five innings of the game.

Before the fourth inning, where the drama started, LSU led 2-0. Auburn’s bats would get hot — and stay hot — en route to knocking off the nation’s top-ranked team, spliting the weekend series before Sunday’s rubber match.

LSU has yet to lose a series in SEC play at sit at 16-6 in conference play (37-9 overall). Auburn has a chance to end that streak on Sunday. First pitch between Auburn and LSU is set for 2 p.m. ET live on SECN+.

Jay Johnson wants LSU to be a team others don’t want to play

LSU has been atop the college baseball rankings for several weeks now, and they’re showing no indications of slowing down as we rapidly approach the postseason. Head coach Jay Johnson wants his opponents to dread a series with the Tigers.

“[We are] trying to build confidence in the team that if we play the game the way this team was designed to play it, then somebody’s gonna have to play great to beat us,” Johnson said. “The few losses that we do have, some of those you have to tip your hat to the opponent and how well they played and, and that’s what we want to do.

“We want teams to hate to play us. Be very fundamentally sound, and when you do that with talented players you can end up on the right side of things.”