Tag: Collegiate Baseball Newspaper

LSU’s Jay Johnson named Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball

Jay Johnson becomes the third LSU coach to win the award, joining Paul Mainieri and five-time winner Skip Bertman.

After capturing his first national title as a head coach and the first for LSU since 2009, [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] was the only logical choice for Coach of the Year.

Indeed, the head coach of the newly crowned champions received the honor by Collegiate Baseball on Thursday after a 54-17 season in his second year in Baton Rouge.

Johnson becomes the third LSU head coach to receive the award from the newspaper, joining [autotag]Paul Mainieri[/autotag], who won it in 2009, and [autotag]Skip Bertman[/autotag]. The legendary Tigers coach won the award five times (1991, 1993, 1996-97, 2000).

LSU defeated Florida and coach Kevin O’Sullivan — who won this award in 2017 — in three games in the championship series. The Tigers won a decisive Game 3 18-4.

Johnson has built a championship roster quickly through the use of the transfer portal and elite high school recruiting. Now that he’s gotten the first title out of the way, he’ll try to defend it in 2024.

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Paul Skenes and Tommy White receive National Player of the Week honors

The accolades continue rolling in for the Tigers baseball stars.

The accolades continue rolling in for [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] and [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] as they were both given National Player of the Week honors for their performances last week.

It is the seventh time this season the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper selected Skenes as a National Player of the Week. He used the powers of his mustache as he pitched seven innings against Mississippi State allowing only one earned run on three hits and 13 strikeouts.

White was named a Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Player of the Week for the second time this season after going 11-for-18 (.611) in four games last week with four doubles, two homers, nine RBI and six runs. In LSU’s series against Mississippi State, White batted .571 (8-for-14) with three doubles, one homer, five RBI, and three runs scored.

LSU lost their second SEC series in a row after dropping two out of three games to Mississippi State last weekend. Their next game will be Tuesday night against McNeese.

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Paul Skenes named Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week

We have yet to see Paul Skenes take any swings from the plate, but when it comes to receiving Player of the Week honors, he is 5-for-7 (72%). 

We have yet to see [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] take any swings from the plate, but when it comes to receiving Player of the Week honors, he is 5-for-7 (72%).

Skenes was tasked with trying to shut down an electric Tennessee Vols team on Thursday night, and he did that. He pitched seven innings and gave up five hits and one run on 12 strikeouts and one walk.

Unfortunately, he was not credited with the win, but LSU did pull out the win eventually. With his performance against the Vols, Skenes now has a 5-0 record this year with a 0.81 ERA. He has 83 strikeouts and only eight walks.

Skenes’ next start will come against the No. 6 South Carolina Gamecocks on the road Thursday night. The first pitch for that game is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. The Gamecocks have been a surprise this year as they have started the season on fire. We will see if they can keep up with LSU.

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LSU tops the preseason Collegiate Baseball National Ranking

The Tigers are poised to have a championship-contending team.

It is not much of a surprise, but LSU is ranked as the No. 1 team in the country entering the 2023 season, according to Collegiate Baseball.

[autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] is coming off back-to-back No. 1 recruiting classes and the Tigers have possibly the No. 1 pick in the MLB draft, [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag], roaming around in the outfield.

The team would be stacked with those guys, but I haven’t even mentioned the transfers. LSU picked up two of the top transfers in the country when the Tigers grabbed one of the best power hitters in the country, [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag], and one of the best two-way players in the country, [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag].

LSU is one of six SEC teams in the top ten of the rankings. They are joined by Florida (2), Texas A&M (4), Tennessee (5), Arkansas (7), and Vanderbilt (9). That goes to show just how strong the SEC is in baseball. It is going to be a great season to be at Alex Box Stadium.

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Where LSU baseball stands in the latest polls

LSU is falling in the polls after finishing at .500 last week.

Another week, another set of polls.

LSU finished last week 2-2 after winning against Tulane on Tuesday and taking the final game of the series against Texas A&M on Sunday. The Tigers went into last week ranked No. 8 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, then proceeded to drop the weekend series to the unranked Aggies.

That dropped LSU all the way down to No. 18, and it dropped out of the Baseball America poll entirely.

Catcher Tyler McManus led the Tigers in hitting last week, batting .444 (4-for-9) with two homers, four RBI, and three runs scored. They have another busy week of games ahead this week as they get a shot at revenge on Louisiana Tech on Tuesday night before starting a weekend series in Gainesville against the No. 7 Florida Gators on Friday.

Here’s how all the latest polls shake out.

LSU baseball’s Jacob Berry named National Player of the Week

Berry has been on an absolute tear the last week.

Expectations, Effort, Execution.

Jacob Berry arrived in Baton Rouge this year after an incredible year playing for Arizona in which he had a .352 batting average with 17 home runs and 70 RBI. He’s listed by mlb.com as the No. 1 prospect in college baseball.

The expectations for the sophomore from Queen Creek, Arizona, could not have been any higher. After getting off to somewhat of a slow start to the year offensively, Berry has caught fire since his 2-for-5 performance against the Texas Longhorns. He went 2 for 4 the next day against Baylor and then went on an absolute tear this week as the Tigers had a 4-0 homestand against McNeese State and Bethune-Cookman.

Berry was named the National Player of the Week by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper after going 9 for 18 with three home runs, a double, seven RBI, and seven runs scored.

Head coach Jay Johnson has moved him around in the top of the lineup a few times trying to find the spot Berry fits in the best. It seems as though the three-hole is where he is best suited.

Berry is wedged in the lineup between Dylan Crews and Cade Doughty which often gives him RBI opportunities and also gives him a chance to score a lot of runs himself. After a week of hitting .500, Berry hopes to carry that momentum into the game against Tulane tonight and as conference play starts against Texas A&M this weekend.

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