Johnson trusts team’s effort during rough stretch

By Hunt Palmer

Entering Saturday’s game with Sacramento State, LSU’s week-long swoon felt like a memory.

The home run-heavy barrage of Friday seemed to erase the previous six games of relative offensive ineptitude. It all came rushing back after seven innings on Saturday. LSU had just a single hit.

“I thought this was an important game for us in the sense of, we’ve been a very good momentum team,” said head coach Jay Johnson. “When we’re going, we’re going pretty good like we were (Friday) night. Jacksonville obviously comes to mind. But we’re going to play a lot more games like (Saturday). That’s more of the norm, and we have to be able to find our way through it when we don’t have that going. So, I really wanted them to stay focused on that.”

LSU used some selective at bats and some help from the Hornets to claw back into the game, and the Tigers ultimately came up one swing short. The winning run was left stranded on first base.

Three hits was a season low and the fewest for an LSU team since being shut out on two hits in last year’s SEC Tournament by Ole Miss.

The struggles have held on long enough to become a narrative early in this season.

“They’re not trying to not play well,” Johnson said. “I trust the effort the guys are putting in. We’re putting in the time as coaches. (Saturday)’s a good indication of how you never have baseball. It requires the right kind of prep, focus, intent and ultimately execution. We have to stay the course with that.”

LSU will return to action at 6:00 on Sunday night in the series finale with Sacramento State.