As wins continue to pile up, LSU has the nation's attention

The good times continue to roll for LSU baseball who have won three straight games in Hoover in the SEC Tournament, most recently with a thrilling win on Thursday night over South Carolina 11-10. It marked the 17th win in the last 22 games for the Tigers, continuing LSU’s rise from the outside of the NCAA Tournament field to an RPI of 24 with now 21 wins over top 45 RPI teams this season.

It’s been a whirlwind for Jay Johnson’s ball club, but now, LSU has become the hottest team in the country and seems to be peaking at the right time.

“For the last month, every win we’ve had has been the most important win. Tonight was the best win of the season. A lot of things didn’t go well, but it was a great training ground for the NCAA Tournament. We were down 5-1 and we talked about how in the postseason, if you press and panic, the season gets away from you in a hurry. These guys have not done that the entire season and that was the best example of it tonight. Really excited about the off day tomorrow and we’ll get ready for Kentucky or South Carolina.”

Here, we’re going to get into the Tigers’ success, the projections, and the potential of this team in the NCAA Tournament.

What’s working

The success starts on the mound with Luke Holman and Gage Jump. The two have returned to their elite level they showed in the non-conference and are the only two pitchers on LSU’s staff with more than 45 innings pitched this year. They are a combined 15-4 this season and held Georgia and Kentucky to a combined one run in the first two outings in the SEC tournament – including Holman’s six inning no-hit outing. With those two on the mound, the Tigers always know they have a chance and that confidence has permeated throughout the rest of the team.

Then you get to Johnson’s decision to move Michael Braswell to the lead-off spot in the lineup, which has unlocked a new spark. Since moving Braswell to the top of the order against Ole Miss, the Tigers’ starting shortstop is batting .346 with four walks and four strikeouts in 30 plate appearances.

Finally, Tommy White continues to show why he is Tommy White. The junior third baseman was 13-of-23 with 12 RBIs in the five games leading up to last night’s 0-for-6 outing, and remains someone few pitchers want to face at this point in the year.

Steven Milam continues to be fantastic at second base. The trio of freshmen starters continue to stay in the moment and make some key plays. The bullpen has done enough to get the job done. There’s not much more to be said besides this LSU team is playing its best ball of the season and is currently one of the best squads in the nation.

New projections

Both D1 Baseball and Baseball America released their latest projections for the NCAA Tournament on Friday morning and LSU fans have to love the spot they are in. After being on the outside looking in just two weeks ago, the Tigers are now firmly on the two-seed line with an RPI of 24 and a resume that is looking more impressive as we approach selection time.

D1 Baseball has LSU in Stillwater, Oklahoma with No. 13 Oklahoma State hosting and Oregon and McNeese as the 3 and 4 seeds. This would be one of the easier paths, with Oklahoma State No. 15 in RPI and Oregon at No. 50

Baseball America has LSU heading to Norman, Oklahoma to face No. 7 Oklahoma along with 3-seed Georgia Tech and 4-seed Abilene Christian. The Sooners are No. 13 in RPI, while Georgia Tech is No. 48 currently.

Could LSU host a regional?

What would it take for the Tigers to sneak into the top 16? Best case scenario is a win over Kentucky then a win over Tennessee to win the SEC tournament at 5-0. Would that be enough? It would shoot the Tigers even higher in RPI, maybe even into the top 16 with these neutral site wins, but could a team that went 13-17 in conference host a regional?

The resume will be hard to ignore if we reach that point. It would mark 23 top 45 RPI wins, with several of those being top 25 wins. The non-conference record is outstanding. The series losses are to the No. 21, 29, 5, 17, and 4 teams in the country, but an SEC tournament run that includes five wins over top 21 teams has to counteract some of that. 

How much does it matter that LSU is playing at the level of a top ten team right now? Is it all resume based? This has the feel of a team that is in a different space than it was in March and early April and I think the committee has to weigh that into its assessment of this team.

I’ll tell you who wants the Tigers to host a regional – every top 15 team in the country, because none of them want to see LSU on the two-seed line next weekend.