LSU Coach Jay Johnson is Fired Up After Win over West Virginia

The LSU Tigers easily beat the West Virginia Mountaineers 16-9 in the first game of the Baton Rouge Super Regional. These two teams play again today to decide who will head on to the College World Series in Omaha. After the game, LSU coach Jay Johnson spoke to the media about the team’s performance and what needs to happen to win the game today.

On what he’s seen in Kade Anderson’s progress from last year to this year

Jay: I think there's a few things that come to mind. When we lost last year in Chapel Hill, it was a very difficult loss for all of us. The first thing I noticed, he took that really hard. Like, he pitched in the game before that we won. Didn't pitch in that game. Wasn't able to. And he took that hard.

And that was the first, like, kind of like that. I knew he was a great kid and all that, but I kind of liked that. And then he really went to work physically on his body. He's much stronger. He's very lean. He's athletic.

I said this, if I let him hit, he would probably be an everyday player for us at first base or in the outfield because he's such a good athlete. But he really worked hard in the weight room, put on some good weight, good strength. Continued to be a good mover. So I think that was probably the second thing.

And then just how he went about developing his slider, obviously, his big-game changer. And then it's been a constant work in progress to figure out how to use everything. And when he throws all four of them for strikes we can literally do anything we want.

I think the special part, you just heard him, we won, he's happy we won. He's ticked off because he gave up some hits and runs. Those are usually your highest performers that have that competitive level.

He's got all of it. There's very few guys that have all of it. He's got all of it.

On the consistency of Josh Pearson’s performance

Jay: He's a good player. He's a good hitter. Character, makeup, toughness, raised right, best parents in the world. It will be odd not having him here because it's my only guy. The four years together, like that's it.

And he's really dialed into the right things, much like Kade, much like Derek. The three guys that -- every time I come up here, I find them talking about who they are as people as much as players. He's at the forefront of that.

It's his last go-around here at LSU. He's had a good season. I'm pretty sure he's hitting over .300 or right at .300, has a bunch of homers, and kind of in and out of the lineup.

He's always ready when we call his name. Had a good series at South Carolina, started two of those games. He's the best. He's just the best.

On what needs to happen to win this game today

Jay: Well, they want to win it. They want to do it, and doesn't mean they didn't want to win it or do it last week either. I think we'll be in a good position to get some rest tonight, use the football facility to get recovered, re-set, get body temperatures down, hydrate, get a good night's rest. Coaching staff go to work.

There's some things that I feel like I learned in the game today that we need to make some movement on to be better prepared for tomorrow. So use that time well. But this isn't about, like, motivation at this point in time. This is purely about mindset and execution.

Watch the full press conference here: