LSU begins its baseball season on Friday night against Maine, and this team is getting quite a bit of hype entering the year. The Tigers lead the nation with three players on the 2022 Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List released by USA Baseball on Tuesday.
The announcement of the 55-player watch list begins the process of identifying the top amateur baseball player in the country for the 2022 season. The LSU players on the Golden Spikes Award Watch list are, sophomore outfielder Dylan Crews, sophomore first baseman Tre’ Morgan, and sophomore infielder Jacob Berry.
LSU is the only school with three players on the list and is followed by Arizona State, Arkansas, California, Florida, Ole Miss, Texas, and Vanderbilt, all of which have two representatives.
Crews, the 2021 Perfect Game National Freshman of the Year, hit .362 last season with 16 doubles, two triples, 18 homers, 42 RBI, 64 runs scored, and 12 stolen bases. The product of Longwood, Florida, also received All-America, Freshman All-America, Second-Team All-SEC, and Freshman All-SEC recognition, and he was voted the Louisiana Freshman of the Year.
He finished No. 1 in the SEC last season in total bases (163), No. 3 in batting average, No. 3 in on-base percentage (.453), No. 4 in base hits, No. 4 in runs scored, No. 5 in doubles, and No. 5 in home runs.
Morgan, a product of New Orleans, La., batted .357 (89-for-249) in 2021 with 16 doubles, four triples, six homers, 42 RBI, 64 runs scored, and 15 stolen bases. He received Freshman All-America, Second-Team All-SEC, and Freshman All-SEC honors, and he was named to the SEC All-Defensive Team. He finished No. 4 in the SEC in batting average, No. 4 in base hits, No. 4 in runs scored, No. 4 in triples, No. 5 in doubles, No. 5 in stolen bases, and No. 7 in on-base percentage (.441).
Berry, who transferred last summer to LSU from Arizona, led the Wildcats to the 2021 College World Series and the Pac-12 championship.
A product of Queen Creek, Ariz., Berry batted .352 in 2021 with team-highs of 17 homers and 70 RBI, and Collegiate Baseball newspaper named him the National Co-Freshman of the Year. Berry earned first-team All-America recognition from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, and he received second-team All-America honors from D1Baseball and Perfect Game.
This will be the first season with Jay Johnson at the helm after longtime coach Paul Mainieri retired at the end of last season following a 15-year tenure. Johnson made the College World Series twice in his previous job at Arizona, and he’ll have quite a bit of talent to work with this offseason.
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