LSU Baseball Eyes Another National Championship Run as Jay Johnson Reloads Again

BATON ROUGE, La. – With the 2026 season opener just three weeks away, the reigning NCAA National Champion LSU Baseball team is fully engaged in preseason practices and intra-squad scrimmages.

LSU, ranked No. 1 by Perfect Game and No. 2 by D1 Baseball in 2026 preseason polls, opens the season at 2 p.m. CT on Friday, February 13, when the Tigers play host to Milwaukee in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

Coach Jay Johnson, who guided the Tigers to the 2023 and 2025 College World Series titles, enters his fifth season at LSU with more championship aspirations.

He addressed the assembled media Friday in the Champions Club of Alex Box Stadium, as LSU conducted its annual preseason press conference.

“This group of players is off to a really good start,” Johnson said. “They’ve excelled in a number of areas, including in the classroom and in the way they come to the field ready to work every day. We’re ready to turn the page after a tremendous 2025 season, and we’re off to a great start in our training and scrimmages.”

The 2026 Tigers are a talented squad that has 19 returning players and 20 newcomers on its roster. LSU features seven returning position players with starting experience at LSU, including senior outfielder Chris Stanfield, senior infielder Tanner Reaves, junior shortstop Steven Milam, junior outfielder Jake Brown, sophomore outfielder Derek Curiel, sophomore catcher Cade Arrambide and sophomore infielder John Pearson.

LSU Tigers Baseball: Curiel. — Courtesy of LSU Tigers Baseball.

The pitching staff contains 10 hurlers who have recorded innings at LSU, including senior right-hander Zac Cowan, senior right-hander Connor Benge, senior right-hander Grant Fontenot, junior right-hander Gavin Guidry, junior right-hander Jaden Noot, junior left-hander DJ Primeaux, sophomore right-hander Casan Evans, sophomore left-hander Cooper Williams, sophomore right-hander Mavrick Rizy and sophomore right-hander William Schmidt.

Curiel, Schmidt, Evans, Williams and Arrambide appear on the Perfect Game Top 100 College Sophomores list, and Perfect Game lists Milam, Caraway and Brown among its Top 100 College Juniors.

The Perfect Game Top 100 College Seniors list includes Cowan and Fontenot.

The 20-player class of newcomers is composed of eight NCAA Division I transfers, one NCAA Division II transfer, two JUCO transfers and nine high school signees.

The Baseball America Top 100 College Transfers list includes LSU junior infielder Trent Caraway, sophomore left-handed pitcher Danny Lachenmayer, senior first baseman Zach Yorke – who is also listed among the Perfect Game Top 100 College Seniors – junior left-handed pitcher Santiago Garcia, junior right-handed pitcher Cooper Moore and senior infielder Seth Dardar.

Senior infielder Brayden Simpson is listed among the D1 Baseball Top 50 Transfer Hitters, along with Caraway, Dardar and Yorke. The D1 Baseball Top 50 Transfer Pitchers list includes Moore, Lachenmayer and Garcia.

Six LSU baseball players are listed among the Top 100 Collegiate Freshmen for the 2026 season by Perfect Game, including infielder Jack Ruckert, outfielder/first baseman Mason Braun, catcher Omar Serna Jr., right-handed pitcher Marcos Paz , right-handed pitcher Reagan Ricken and outfielder William Patrick.

Johnson believes the 2026 Tigers are capable of maintaining the extraordinary standards of the LSU program.

“We will always appreciate what we did last year, but we’re now all in on this season,” Johnson explained. “We’ve set a good blueprint on what it’s going to take to be successful. Playing in the Southeastern Conference requires you to be at your absolute best; it requires you to do the things you need to do to be prepared on game day.

“We have to hold ourselves to an incredibly high standard in terms of that preparation and in terms of accountability. We have a group eager to do that, because we have a number of guys that have experienced the highest level of success. We will always place the needs of the team above the individual, and I feel like we have a group that understands the importance of that hallmark of our program.”

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