LSU Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
LSU’s players got an unexpected delivery on Tuesday.
Head coach Jay Johnson wanted the team at the ballpark at 1:00 for a 6:30 p.m. game to practice. It’s spring break, so there are no restrictions on time with the team. Before the workout, the players gathered to address some things in the midst of a tough stretch.
“We had a freshman, and this is something that’s really impressive, something that stood out to me and almost inspired me, Zion (Theophilus) put a note in everybody’s locker.,” said outfielder Jake Brown. “‘This is what you’re good at. This is what people like about you’. At the end, he wrote ‘Believe it.‘ That kind of started the message throughout the locker room of the meeting (Tuesday) that was just like, let’s go out there and believe it. That’s what we did. We were able to handle some small adversity during the game.”
Theophilius was not one of LSU’s highest profile recruits. He’s only made three appearances this season and recorded a total of 10 outs. Often times a gesture like that comes from one of the stars on the team, especially at a place like LSU.
The unlikely source of the encouragement may have made it more impactful.
“He’s a really good pitcher, and that’s high level maturity,” Johnson said on Off the Bench on 104.5 ESPN Baton Rouge. “He got like a 35 on the ACT, so the intelligence level is there and the care level. I think he’s going to be a key part of our team from the mound just on the pitching contribution, but that’s very uncommon nowadays. Young players, they’d rather be liked than respected. It takes some courage to do something like that. I’m proud of him for that.”
Johnson didn’t know about the notes when he addressed the team on Tuesday. He said his message was actually very similar prior to first pitch against Creighton. Then it led to a humorous meeting with the freshman right-hander.
“I brought him in the office the other day, and I think he thought he was in trouble or something,” Johnson said. “I really wanted to validate that because I thought it was awesome…I think it was much needed for our team that he stepped up and did that.”
LSU responded with a come-from-behind win over Creighton is a game marred by all the issued that have plagued the Tigers for two weeks. Early errors, free bases, poor offensive innings and some poor fortune created a 4-1 deficit. LSU scrapped out of it and won the game 8-4 in the final pre-conference tune up.
On Thursday, LSU traveled to Nashville for the SEC opener with a win in the rearview mirror and 30 brutal games to play to determine what June may look like.
It now comes in a different frame of mind considering how the second half of the ay Tuesday played out.
“We had a good meeting at 1:00 (Tuesday) before the game,” Brown said. “A lot of that was just based on remembering who we are. Not too long ago we were scoring what felt like 13 runs per game against really good competition. So. it’s just remembering who we are, why we can win and ultimately trusting the people next to you.”
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