Everything Jay Johnson, Gage Jump said after LSU's SECT win over UGA

LSU seemingly sealed its fate, securing a spot in the NCAA Tournament with a huge win over Georgia in the first round of the SEC Tournament, 9-1, on Tuesday morning in Hoover, Alabama. The Tigers are on a roll, having won 15 of their last 20 and got the job done again with another strong outing from Gage Jump on the mound.

After the game, head coach Jay Johnson and Jump spoke with the media about what worked and the win. Here’s everything they said.”

Jay Johnson

Opening statement

“Very proud of our team. We’re playing the best baseball we’ve played all year over the last 20 games. We’re playing as well as any team in the country. With the stakes of today’s game, we controlled what we could control. Gage was phenomenal on the mound. We put this in play about three weeks ago if we put ourselves in this position, which was to be an NCAA Tournament team, so he was ready to roll against one of the best offenses in college baseball. Bg day from Josh and the lineup and another zero in the error column. We’ll get back to the hotel and get to work on Kentucky. Great win from the Tigers today.”

Was this Gage’s best performance?

“He’s been great for a while. He’s one of the best high school pitchers I’ve ever seen. He picked UCLA over Arizona, which was a gut punch because I believed he would be as great as what everybody saw today. Then, he only had 14 innings before getting hurt. Then he came here in the fall and was tough to deal with for our players, then I don’t think he allowed a run in the non-conference. The start of SEC play was an adjustment because it was the first time somebody punched back and there was traffic on the bases. Once he got past the Mississippi State and Arkansas starts, he’s been elite ever since. There’s no doubt that he’s one of the best pitchers in the country.”

On the expectation/handling of Jump in this outing…

“I was in the 90-100, but we were going to pay attention to how he felt. In a 9:30 game it’s different from what we’ve done all year. I was very intentful, watching the first couple of innings and it’s a great offense, you can’t make of leaving someone in too long or pulling someone too early. Then after he gave up the run, the third, fourth, and fifth went out like that. What a performance. He’ll have more time before the NCAA Tournament now, which is great.”

Setting up the plan for Gage…

“That’s a major leaguer. That’s what he’s going to do with his life is pitch on four days rest. I just got out ahead of it by moving him to the first game, then once we were playing well and won three series in a row, we knew everything was right in front of us, so we knew this game was going to be important and that’s the best offense in college baseball. He’s why we’re one of the best teams in the country right now. I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as we thought. We were monitoring it very closely, but his excitement level when we came to him with this a couple weeks ago was like ‘oh yea, let’s go and that plays a big part in it too.”

On Josh Pearson’s importance…

“If you look at this run we’re on, winning 15 of our last 20, in all these wins, walk-off hit against Auburn, bases loaded double against Texas A&M, and there were a couple last weekend. He’s a quality at bat machine. I haven’t figured out what’s different in May than March with this guy, but last year I decided, we’re playing him. He plays great defense in the outfield, moves the ball with runners on base, and I just trust him. He just moves our offense.”

On the approach of this game

“It was an unbelievable opportunity. I believe we’re one of the best teams in the country, we’re just playing all the other best teams. Of our ten league series, eight are going to be in the NCAA Tournament along with us. That’s our 19th win against a top 45 RPI team. Less than five teams have that. Logically, my brain says we’re in a good spot. Now, this was a great opportunity to take on RPI No. 5 and what a good win for our team.”

On the bats in this win…
“We’ve been getting better and our improvements get lost because it’s a results game. We’ve been just getting better. They understood what they needed to do, stayed within themselves. It was a very good example of professional hitting from our team.”

Gage Jump

What was working?

“Getting ahead and throwing the curveball lately as my offspeed pitch and having that with the fastball really helps.”

Pitching in this high-leverage game…

“Just having the opportunity to pitch this game in a must-win situation is what you dream of and what you love to do. I was super excited and didn’t care that it was a 9:30 game. Once we got two in the first, it was just about preserving the lead and then we added runs. It was a really good win.”

The preparation for this game…

“The preparation was the same. There are some things you have to change and listen to your body. Bullpen was cut a little shorter and the weight room was the same. I was just reacting to being on shorter rest, but I felt great and it was awesome.”

“I got up around 5:30, took a shower, then there was adrenaline early. I felt like it was a night game to be honest.”