Jay Johnson recaps LSU's 5-0 win over Tennessee in CWS

The Tigers took the 5-0 win over Tennessee in the elimination game of the College World Series on Tuesday night in Omaha. Here’s what head coach Jay Johnson had to say after the win.

Opening statement

COACH JOHNSON: Great game. Great night for our program. It starts and ends on the mound, winning baseball. And the two big left-handers here executed at a really, really high level.

Proud of Nate. Maybe a surprise, from a name, from a starter but not a surprise performance. Every game he’s pitched in this year I think we’ve only lost one time when he’s pitched the entire year. I look for those things. He did a great job executing.

And Riley at this point is probably one of the most experienced pitchers in pitching in this ballpark and having success. Did his deal.

Great performance by Dylan at the top of the lineup. We did just enough in my opinion one of the two best pitching staffs in college baseball. To beat them four times this year is a great accomplishment for us because the respect that I have for Tony and how well they recruit and the Tennessee program. So wrap that one up and on to tomorrow.

Q. I know you said that Nate pitches in a lot of games that you guys win in. But what else went into giving him the start today; were there ever any thoughts about taking him out earlier?

COACH JOHNSON: Trust in the competitor. This is a big deal, if you haven’t been here before. I think our team’s handled it great, honestly. And I knew he would handle it well. I knew he would throw strikes.

Saw some things in the matchup that I liked. Saw some things in previous games here just throughout the tournament that I liked that I thought he could be effective.

The thought really was three innings, 60 pitches, my initial target was 12 hitters. And he obviously accomplished a lot more than that.

Q. You said three innings, 60 pitches. Obviously you’re in the fifth he’s still going and you have a leverage situation. You went out to the mound and decided to keep him in the game. What went into the call there and what did you tell him in that moment?

COACH JOHNSON: I wanted to check on him in terms of the fatigue level and heartbeat level. As you can see he doesn’t get too wound up or rattled over anything. And just felt like he could make a pitch to, I believe, Ensley was up at that time.

And he got him off of the barrel with a fly ball to right field. And just trust, trust level. Felt like he had enough in the tank. He was throwing well.

And another big thing, he went out and got another full inning after that. And that really shortened the game which when you’re in this side of the bracket you need that. And if you’re going to have a chance to do something, you need a performance like Nate gave us tonight. Really proud of him.

Q. In February, you said the guys that were playing in March need to be different than the guys playing in June. You just alluded to it. How big is it to have somebody step up into a role that maybe they hadn’t previously shown they could do something?

COACH JOHNSON: It’s really big. And this tournament, you always find one or two of those. I just don’t see it as like a Cinderella thing because he’s one of the most important parts of our pitching staff.

He was down with a sore shoulder the beginning of conference, and that was right through Arkansas, Tennessee. I did not feel very comfortable about that because he was a huge part of it. Then there was a little bit of working his way back.

The pitchability lended you to believe he could start. I think it was — a key outing was when we extended him at the SEC Tournament against South Carolina, and we got him to 63 or 64 pitches. Had a good outing in a Regional against Oregon State.

And then fortunately in the Super Regional we won in two games, but he was kind of that piece that was going to be a part of a game three if we needed it.

So super job tonight. And maybe that time off allowed him to do what he did tonight.

Q. Do you feel like the offense started to find itself a little bit here at the end of this game I guess after a couple of rough innings?

COACH JOHNSON: Yeah, you know, it’s tough. These guys have played so good for so many games this season and set a standard of scoring runs and hits and on-base percentage and slugging, that when you run into this park, with the wind blowing in, shadows, and then Drew Beam — you heard the best hitter in baseball call him a Major Leaguer — and that staff we saw last night that we’ll see next — it’s not going to be easy; you’ll have to win 5-0. And the game changes a little bit in that regard.

I thought they kept with it. I didn’t feel like we got discouraged or stopped competing. It was just enough. The second run was big where we got the lead-off double by Tre’. Gavin laid a nice drag to move him over, they threw it away, gave us a little bit of breathing room. Strung together some good at-bats.

Again, that’s off Seth Halvorsen, who’s throwing 100 miles an hour. You’re not going to score 10 in this environment.

I’m proud of the way we kind of grinded it out. And the two pitchers did a great job to make that just enough.

Q. At first you had Pearson and Money in the pen. What made you change your mind and go with Cooper?

COACH JOHNSON: I didn’t have Pearson in the pen because he was playing left field. That’s okay.

Blake was throwing the ball really well. He was definitely part of the plan tonight. I think I didn’t feel like they were seeing Nate well. And I think Riley is about as comparable and close to Nate as possible.

And I wanted to stay with that look because they were in between. And when you’re pressing a little bit, when you’re in an elimination game and you’re trying to chase runs late, he’s the type of a pitcher if you give him an inch he’ll take a mile. And he did what he did tonight.

Q. Does Tre’ Morgan, what’s he been to this team over the last few weeks?

COACH JOHNSON: Phenomenal, playing his best ball. I know he’s had a great career, so I don’t want to minimize the impact. But he’s playing his best baseball right now.

He’s just one of those guys when you need him the most you get the most. He’s one of those guys you could throw on a big league diamond right now, full stadium, and he’ll go out there and give you three or four quality at-bats.

That’s what he’s doing for us, obviously playing exceptional first base. But the NCAA Tournament he’s been spectacular.

Q. You alluded to this, of course, the losers’ bracket, the number of games you have to have guys go deep. Now that Nate has done that and ate up so many innings, how do you feel about what you have left with the pitching staff the next few days when you go up against Wake Forest?

COACH JOHNSON: I feel great about it. The reason I feel great about it is because of the offense that I just alluded to, because Paul has been Paul and so astronomically out of this world good — we’ve had a pretty good year on the mound, but because of some injuries and because of two speed bumps in the best conference in the country, there’s this thought that we don’t have a great pitching staff.

I think we have a great pitching staff. We have plenty of guys to execute in a way that can give us a chance to be successful. I feel great about it.

Q. What do you take away from that first game against wake that you might be able to capitalize on tomorrow?

COACH JOHNSON: They’re legit. Going to have to go back and look at it again. When I saw this side of the bracket, like — and all eight teams here are amazing; I said that before the tournament.

The three times I’ve been here, this is the best field. There’s the most good players and good pitchers of the times I’ve been in the College World Series.

They’re certainly part of that. I thought Hartle threw an outstanding game. I thought their pen was good. They have more guys that they can go to. Offense, they have their way. And they do their thing really, really well.

So wouldn’t want to be playing anybody else. I’d feel like the four best teams in the country are the four best teams still playing in Omaha right now.