The Weather has started to turn and as Winter turns to Spring the College Baseball season kicks off on Friday. The LSU Baseball team kicks off its hunt for the program's 8th National Championship with a three game series against Purdue Fort Wayne in Baton Rouge. While the Tigers will be ramping up to their best form, the expectations have already been ramped up to an "Omaha or Bust" standard.
After losing in the Chapel Hill Regional, the LSU Baseball Program used the transfer portal and High School recruiting to take the talent level to an insane level. The Tigers legitmatley may have five pitchers capable of being Friday Starters in the SEC and some of the batters who will come off of the bench would bat in the top half of the order on other SEC Teams.
Entering the 2025 season, every National Poll has the Tigers as a Top 5 team in the Country making anything short of a return to Omaha a massive failure.
The biggest hurdle for LSU will be replacing some of its key veteran pieces from the 2023 National Championship team. It's impossible to replace a player like Tommy White but, Jay Johnson did compare it to Moneyball in how the Tigers will look to replace that production.
The Tigers offense is now fully on the shoulders of Jared "Bear" Jones who returned to LSU rather than going to the MLB looking to return to Omaha. He'll be joined in the infield by Daniel Dickinson, Steven Milam, and Michael Braswell. In the outfield, the Tigers will have a true freshman phenom in Derek Curiel while Jake Brown and Chris Stanfield will likely round out the outfield.
On the mound for the Tigers this weekend will be Kade Anderson, Anthony Eyanson, and Chase Shores a formidable rotation. If the Tigers offense produces, the bullpen may not be used too much but, Gavin Guidry will look to earn his stripes as one of the best relief pitchers in the Country.
It's an exciting year for the LSU Baseball team and this early portion of the season will be crucial as all of the pieces try to gel together as one.