Three things Jay Johnson said after LSU baseball beat Oklahoma
· Yahoo Sports
LSU baseball beat Oklahoma 7-1 on Thursday night, kicking off a three-game SEC series with a win. It was a needed victory for the Tigers, who were coming off back-to-back series losses.
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LSU was led by ace Casan Evans, who tossed 7.2 innings without allowing an earned run. He struck out 15 and only walked one. Evans entered the game with a 6.45 ERA, but after the start, it's down to 4.80. The outing was, by far, Evans' best of the year.
If LSU is going to make a run in the SEC and contend to host a regional, it begins with starting pitching. Evans' arm is one of the best in the SEC, but he's struggled to find consistency. If Evans can build off his Thursday night performance, the Tigers have momentum heading into the heart of the schedule.
LSU will return to action on Friday night for Game 2. But first, here are three things Jay Johnson said about the win.
On Casan Evans
"It's right up there and no surprise to me. He's one of the best pitchers in the country and growing. We haven't lost very much when he takes the mound," Johnson said when asked about Casan Evans.
"It felt like it was 0-2 to everybody and did that a different way. I don't know how you get on a guy like that when they're landing four pitches for strikes and coming at you. It reminded me of Rhett Lowder a lot when we faced him in Omaha. It's like he was beating them in the strike zone. There wasn't much they could do with it. Just credit to him."
On the defense, limiting Oklahoma's lineup
"Infield did a great job. A little unconventional, but that's where we're at. It's our job to find solutions," Johnson said about how the Tigers played defense on the infield.
"It felt like with the personnel we had on the field, there was a way to play them. Obviously, when the pitcher executes the pitches, it makes it work."
"Those guys did a good job handling the ball. (Steven Milam), I don't know that anybody really appreciates how good he is. He makes very difficult plays look very routine. He's a big difference maker in our team. I credit John (Pearson) and Trent (Caraway). They did a nice job tonight handling the ball."
On how LSU prepared
With LSU coming out of a rough path, Johnson challeneged the Tigers this week.
"I'm just asking everybody around here to step up their game. It's great when you're putting up national championships and everybody thinks you're the greatest. The players actually need us the most right now," Johnson said.
"I have the best pitching coach or one of the most successful pitching coaches of the modern era. I have a great analytics guy. But we needed to get better, and so we sat together for three hours on Monday and itemized about six things and put them to work."
"Coach Yeskie did a spectacular job calling pitches tonight," Johnson said.
This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: Three things Jay Johnson said after LSU baseball beat Oklahoma