Guidry, Tigers focused on work during struggles

By Hunt Palmer

Focus remains on the process and not the outcome for LSU.

The Tigers have lost consecutive non-conference games in the regular season, the first time since the 2022 Shriners Hospitals Children College Classic when Texas and Baylor bested LSU in games 11 and 12 of the Jay Johnson era.

Johnson’s message to his team has not changed with a couple of setbacks on the scoreboard.

“Not at all,” said junior pitcher Gavin Guidry. “It’s about the play. It’s about how we play. It’s not about winning and losing. Obviously, everybody wants to win every game we play, but at this level it’s not about wins and losses, it’s about how you play. In the long run, you can’t control that. Sometimes you’re going to play good and lose. Sometimes you’re going to play bad and win. As long as you keep it about how you play, in the long run, it will go your way more often than not.”

The five-game weeks early in the schedule have limited practice time to an extent. The NCAA mandates one day per week to be designated as an “off day” where team workouts are limited. Johnson does put the team through pregame workouts on the weekend at times.

That work has continued, but it will ramp up as midweek games are reduced to one per week moving forward.

“We work as hard as anybody in the country,” Guidry said. “It’s not like we’re not trying to win games. We’re going out and trying to win games, showing up to practice and trying to figure some things out, working on things we need to work on. Things just aren’t going our way.”

Things have gone LSU’s way on the weekend. The Tigers are 9-0 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays outscoring opponents 86-29 in nine games, an average of 9.5 to 3.2.

Three more weekend games with Sacramento State and a midweek tilt with Creighton remain before the Tigers head to Nashville for SEC play.