LSU baseball opens the College World Series Saturday against Arkansas, who head coach Jay Johnson called the “most talented team in the country.”
The two teams faced off in Baton Rouge during the regular season, with the Tigers taking the series. This time, the stakes are higher in the double elimination tournament.
“If we were going to get where we wanted to go, there was no question in my mind whether we would play them or not,” Johnson said. “I felt like this was inevitable, whether it was going to be game one or the finals.”
LSU and Arkansas are the two favorites to win the national championship. The winner will be clear favorite to take home the title but the Tigers aren’t getting too far ahead.
Johnson said his team will take the tournament one game at a time, meaning the team won’t name starters beyond Saturday. Getting past the Razorbacks once again is the first step before taking on either UCLA or Murray State.
“I’ll look at them [the Razorbacks] like we’ve never played them before,” Johnson said. “Guys change game to game, let alone whenever we played them four weeks ago.”