LSU Baseball Loses Starting Pitcher To Season-Ending Arm Injury in Brutal Blow

LSU Tigers starting right-handed pitcher Cooper Moore will miss the remainder of the 2026 season after suffering an arm injury early in Southeastern Conference play, head coach Jay Johnson revealed on Monday night.

Moore has been battling the injury since the third week of SEC play with the injury that hasn't healed to this point with Johnson and Co. now shutting down their weekend starter.

Johnson also revealed that Moore will recoup a medical redshirt year and plans to return to Baton Rouge in 2027 as a junior with MLB Draft leverage.

The Kansas transfer was off to an efficient start to the 2026 season where he was 3-3 with an ERA of 3.38 across six starts. He struck out 39 batters to only seven walks over 32 innings during his first season with the LSU Tigers.

According to LouisianaSports.net, "Johnson said Moore’s recovery from this point will take up to four months which would allow him to join the team in the fall to begin building toward the 2027 season."

Jay Johnson just confirmed on his radio show that RHP Cooper Moore is out for the season with his arm injury that will require surgery.

Moore will return next season as a junior, meaning he retains his draft leverage.@1045espn @LASportsDotNet
— Matt Moscona (@MattMoscona) April 20, 2026

Jay Johnson's Take: Time to Rejuvenate the Program

"This will never happen again. We need to be able to stay on the ball better and hit the ball back through the middle of the field in the other way and hit the ball lower with shorter swings," Johnson said on Friday.

"I made some mistakes in constructing the team and trying to replace two guys that were irreplaceable where we should have looked for replacing them through guys that were already in the program and then replaced the guys that were athletic and could play defense and be more complete players.

"We won't make that mistake again. The power moving forward will come from players that start their career here and develop into it, like Jake [Brown] has this year. But I can't do anything about that now. But what I can do is try to get them to understand, like, Texas A&M, a top-five team, won the game tonight because they hit the ball hard and low the other way."

More LSU News:

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Lane Kiffin Reveals Definitive Statement on Will Wade Returning to LSU Tigers

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