Tag: Wes Johnson

Nicholls names LSU baseball assistant Brent Haring head coach

Jay Johnson lost another member of his staff on Tuesday.

LSU is losing another assistant to the coaching carousel with Nicholls hiring [autotag]Brent Haring[/autotag] as its next head coach.

D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers reported the new. Haring will replace former Nicholls head coach Mike Silva, who Arkansas State hired after leading Nicholls to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024.

Haring joined LSU in August of 2023 as the director as baseball operations after serving as the associate head coach with BYU. This is Haring’s first head coach opportunity in the college ranks, but he previously worked as the head man for the American Samoa National Team.

A Utah native, Haring has spent most of his baseball career out west, but he handled BYU’s recruiting operation and should be familiar with the state of Louisiana after working with LSU.

Haring is the second LSU assistant to leave in recent weeks after [autotag]Terry Rooney[/autotag] joined former Tigers head coach [autotag]Paul Mainieri[/autotag] at South Carolina.

Haring’s hire marks the second straight year a [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] assistant took a head coaching job after former LSU pitching coach [autotag]Wes Johnson[/autotag] took over Georgia baseball in 2023.

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Georgia assistant Josh Simpson returning to LSU baseball staff

Josh Simpson is returning to LSU after one season under Wes Johnson at Georgia.

[autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] is adding a familiar face to the baseball staff as [autotag]Josh Simpson[/autotag] is returning to LSU to serve as an assistant coach in 2025, the team announced on Monday.

Simpson spent the 2024 season as an assistant coach at Georgia under [autotag]Wes Johnson[/autotag], who took that job after spending 2023 as the Tigers’ pitching coach. Simpson served as LSU’s director of operations in 2023 after spending 2016-22 as a scout for the Texas Rangers.

He was also previously the head coach at New Mexico Junior College from 2008-15. Before that, he was a hitting coach at Central Arizona College, a volunteer assistant at New Mexico and a head coach at Lamar Community College in Colorado.

After a disappointing conclusion to the 2024 season, Johnson has added quite a transfer portal haul, and he also seems to be reworking the staff.

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Bulldogs bounce back, beat NC State to force game 3

Georgia baseball responded to Game 1’s loss with a winning effort to force a Monday elimination matchup with the Wolfpack.

After a lopsided 18-1 loss in Game 1 on Saturday, the Georgia Bulldogs responded well in an elimination game on Sunday, winning 11-2 to force a third game to decide the series against the NC State Wolfpack.

The Bulldogs took an early lead off of a Slate Alford two-run homer in the first inning, and designated hitter Tre Phelps extended the lead with a three-run homer in the third inning. The Bulldogs led 9-0 at the conclusion of the sixth inning before splitting one run innings in the seventh and eighth with the Wolfpack to get to the 11-2 final score.

Leighton Finley had a fantastic game pitching, only giving up one earned run through almost seven innings for the Bulldogs. The Wolfpack’s Dominic Fritton would fare worse, giving up seven runs in three innings.

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The teams will meet in a third and final game to determine which of them will make it to Omaha. The game time and TV network have yet to be announced.

Analytics compare Georgia baseball’s Charlie Condon to Barry Bonds

Charlie Condon in the same breath as Barry Bonds? Wes Johnson says so…

Charlie Condon is in the midst of one of the greatest seasons not only in Georgia baseball history, but also the history of college baseball as a whole.

Condon added to his NCAA record of home runs in a single season during Friday’s Athens Regional matchup against Army, crushing his 36th moonshot of the season. He also holds the UGA career records for both a single season and career (61).

As the Bulldogs continue to battle Army on Friday, SEC Network released a video piece surrounding Condon’s rise to stardom. UGA head coach Wes Johnson makes an appearance, and he goes on to tell an intriguing story about his conversation with a person regarding Condon’s analytics.

“We use analytical models,” Johnson said. “And the guy who started these models called me one day and said, ‘Hey, are we getting this data right?Like the only other guy we’ve had a model for was Barry Bonds. Like that’s the only other guy we’ve seen that’s comparable to him’.”

Barry Bonds is arguably the greatest hitter the sport of baseball has every witnessed. He holds the single-season home run record (73) and is first on the all-time MLB home runs list with 762. He also leads in position-WAR with 162.8, and his career slugging percentage of .606 ranks first among post-integration players.

Condon’s comparison to Bonds’ analytics only adds to his superstar mantra. Remind you, Condon came to Georgia as a preferred walk-on with no scholarship offers to his name. Whether the Bulldogs go on to beat Army and ultimately make Omaha or not, Condon is a sure-fire top MLB draft pick in 2024.

LSU baseball solidifies NCAA tournament spot with win over Georgia

LSU should be feeling a lot better about its postseason chances following a win over Georgia.

After a strong finish to the regular season, LSU baseball inched its way back into the NCAA tournament discussion. A sweep of Ole Miss last weekend was enough for most analysts to project the Tigers making the cut.

But on the bubble, nothing is promised. With conference champs earning automatic bids, there’s always some chaos. LSU took the first steps towards avoiding that chaos with a win over Georgia on Tuesday morning.

Entering the week, LSU knew a strong showing in the SEC Tournament was critical to solidifying its NCAA tournament spot. The win over Georgia was a small sliver of a long season, but the Bulldogs are contending for a national seed. That’s the type of win the committee takes notice of.

D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rogers took to social media to share his thoughts, saying he feels even better about LSU after Tuesday’s showing.

LSU will be back at it early again on Wednesday, facing Kentucky in round two at 9:30 a.m. CT. It will be LSU’s first meeting with Kentucky since facing the Wildcats in a super regional last year.

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LSU baseball to face former pitching coach Wes Johnson in SEC Tournament

LSU will face a familiar foe at the SEC tournament on Tuesday.

When LSU opens the SEC baseball tournament against Georgia on Tuesday, a familiar face will be in the opposing dugout. The Bulldogs are led by former LSU pitching coach [autotag]Wes Johnson[/autotag], a key member of LSU’s national title staff in 2023.

Johnson was with LSU for just a year, but in that time, he built one of the best pitching staffs in the country, landing [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] and [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] from the transfer portal and developing [autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag] into a second-round pick.

Following the title run, Johnson was offered the head coaching position at Georgia, where he’s delivered an instant turnaround.

The Bulldogs were 11-19 in conference play in 2023, but in year one under Johnson, UGA went 17-13 in the SEC and 39-14 overall.

Johnson’s background is in pitching, but it’s the lineup that’s carried the Dawgs in 2024. Georgia leads the SEC in runs per game with 9.4 while Charlie Condon has put up video game numbers with 35 home runs and 219 total bases.

As for Johnson, much of LSU’s pitching staff is new, so his stint with the Tigers may not provide much-added advantage.

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LSU hiring Terry Rooney as baseball recruiting director

A former assistant at LSU from 2007-08, Terry Rooney returns to Baton Rouge after his most recent stint at Purdue.

LSU has hired [autotag]Terry Rooney[/autotag] as its Director of Recruiting and Program Development, according to multiple reports. The news was first reported by D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers.

Rooney, who spent the last two seasons as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Purdue, is a familiar face in Baton Rouge. He previously served as LSU’s pitching coach from 2007-08.

He left to become the head coach at UCF, where he spent eight seasons and amassed a 261-210 record with two NCAA regional appearances. Since leaving the Knights, he was associate head coach — and briefly interim head coach — at Alabama in 2017.

Rooney was the pitching coach at Houston from 2018-21 before joining the Boilermakers.

It’s the second assistant coach LSU has hired this offseason. Coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] also brought in [autotag]Nate Yeskie[/autotag] as pitching coach from Texas A&M. Yeskie will replace [autotag]Wes Johnson[/autotag], who left to take the head coaching job at Georgia.

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Paul Skenes has made a decision about hitting and pitching in the MLB

Paul Skenes appeared on the KayRod Cast during Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN and addressed his plans at the pro level.

[autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] appeared on the KayRod Cast during Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. During the broadcast, Skenes was asked the question that most people are wondering: Will he pitch and hit in the MLB?

Skenes came to LSU last year after spending two years at Air Force where he starred as a pitcher and a catcher. In Skenes’ words, he was actually a hitter more than he was a pitcher. When he came to LSU, [autotag]Wes Johnson[/autotag] helped him hone his craft to become the best pitcher in the country and possibly the No. 1 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. Here is what Skenes had to say regarding the question,

“Absolutely,” he said of his plans to hit and pitch. “Obviously, I didn’t hit this past year, but I’ve hit. I was actually a primary hitter coming into college and then I just started pitching my senior year of high school and it kind of blossomed into what it is now. But I’m 6-foot-7 and I’ve caught my whole life. I don’t know how that totally works. But yeah, I’ve hit my whole life and obviously started pitching the last few years. I’ve done both for the past few years and want to continue to do both as long as I can.”

Alongside teammate [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag], Skenes is seen as the likely first or second pick in the 2023 MLB draft.

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LSU director of baseball operations to join Wes Johnson at Georgia

After serving as LSU’s director of baseball operations for a little over a year, Josh Simpson is on to his next venture.

After serving as LSU’s director of baseball operations for a little over a year, [autotag]Josh Simpson[/autotag] is on to his next venture. He will be joining former LSU pitching coach [autotag]Wes Johnson[/autotag] in Georgia as the recruiting coordinator.

Simpson came to LSU after working as a scout for the Texas Rangers in the MLB. There’s no better way to exit a program than to go out on top and that’s what the Tigers did in Simpson’s only season on the Bayou.

We will be keeping an eye on who LSU will hire as their new director of baseball operations. The Tigers recently hired Nate Yeskie to fill Wes Johnson’s position as the new pitching coach. There is no timeline on how long it will take to hire a new director of baseball operations.

I’m sure there will be no shortage of applicants trying to join a team that just won the 2023 national championship.

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LSU baseball hiring Texas A&M’s Nate Yeskie as pitching coach

Nate Yeskie spent the last two seasons in the same role at Texas A&M after working with Jay Johnson from 2020-21 at Arizona.

Following a national championship victory, LSU coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] has made a pitching coach hire to replace [autotag]Wes Johnson[/autotag].

The Tigers are hiring [autotag]Nate Yeskie[/autotag], who spent the last two seasons with Texas A&M in the same role. It’s a reunion between Yeskie and Jay Johnson as the pair worked together at Arizona in 2020 and 2021, when Yeskie was also the pitching coach there.

Yeskie is a two-time National Pitching Coach of the Year and won a College World Series championship in 2018 while working at Oregon State.

“I couldn’t be more excited to add Nate Yeskie as our new pitching coach,” Johnson said in a release. “Nate has an unmatched track record in college baseball for pitching coaches relative to developing pitching talent for professional baseball, College World Series trips, and winning in general. His coaching acumen is very complete and current, and future pitchers at LSU will develop to their highest potential because of the opportunity to work with Coach Yeskie.

“Nate is the perfect coach to lead a great group of returning pitchers in the 2024 season. This is another great step for LSU Baseball coming on the heels of a seventh National Championship. Adding Coach Yeskie is a great first step toward working for No. 8!”

Yeskie replaces Wes Johnson, who spent 2023 with the Tigers after previously working as the pitching coach in the MLB for the Minnesota Twins. Johnson left to become the head coach at Georgia following the season.

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