Just like it did several times in last week’s SEC Tournament, the LSU baseball team found itself playing from behind late in Friday’s Chapel Hill Regional opener against Wofford.
The Tigers trailed 2-0 late into the game but ultimately battled back with some timely home-run hitting, emphatically capped off with a walk-off solo shot from [autotag]Steven Milam[/autotag] to break a 3-3 gridlock in the bottom of the ninth as LSU won 4-3.
Now, as they prepare to face North Carolina in the winners’ bracket, coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] said his team is learning to roll with the punches during games.
“First off, I want to give credit to Little, he pitched exceptionally well (for Wofford). That was the story for the beginning of the game.” Johnson said, per On3. “A lot of guys are going through a lot of firsts and this is their first NCAA Tournament game and they want to do well, but we have to work through some of that. (Gage) set a good tone in the top of the first inning, then we didn’t help him in the bottom of the first inning and that’s part of the complimentary baseball — we have to play better.
“Relative to the toughness aspect, that’s just who we are now. We got cut. We got blistered. We got punched in the gut 50 times in the first five weeks of SEC play, but we got out of the hospital and this is who we are now.”
Johnson will hope his team can take more control early in games, especially as it draws a matchup against the No. 4 national seed. But LSU is learning how to battle back and stay in games, and that’s an important attribute if this team wants to return to Omaha.
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