LSU Baseball Head Coach Jay Johnson spoke with the media on Thursday morning ahead of Friday’s opening game against Omaha.

The Tigers are now scheduled to play four days in a row starting Friday, after the Wednesday night game against Nicholls had to be rescheduled for February 24th at Alex Box Stadium. Johnson spoke about the obstacles a four game stretch could propose to the team.

“Logistically there are some things we need to work through, we still need to watch the weather…but I’m just excited to play,” Johnson said.

Four games into the season, most of Johnson’s roster has already seen the field. Johnson says those opportunities for players help get some early season jitters taken care of.

“Its been great to get so many players in the game and get the newness of the season off of everybody. There are a few guys we still need to pitch but everybody’s kind of got their first taste of the season,” Johnson said.

When asked if the variety of players in the field is going to change, Johnson talked about the possibilities still on the horizon for his team.

“Communication is important. We are still kicking around things that we haven’t done yet that still might open up our best team,”.

“Our guys that have come in the game have been ready to play,” Johnson said.

“Someone made a play as soon as I put them in the game. I think that’s important. That allows your depth to come to life when they have the mental capacity to understand what you want them to do and then go do it,” Johnson said.

One of the biggest stories to come out of opening week for the Tigers was the success of their bullpen. The extremely accurate staff totaled three walks through the entire weekend. Johnson says the success of the pitching staff doesn’t surprise him, and it all comes down to pre-season work.

“They’ve done a good job. Not a surprise…I would have given the upper hand to the pitchers the first two weekends of spring scrimmages, and you want it to be that way,” Johnson said.

“I think we’ve played a lot. We always have scrimmaged a lot under its current format. They were excited to face different hitters. Hopefully we get more results like that,” Johnson said.

Offensively, Johnson spoke about his starting three batters in the lineup (Stanfield, Curiel and Jones) and the ability they have to produce.

“I always feel like applying pressure right from the start of the game is important. I’ve always liked a guy that can hit an extra base hit in the leadoff spot and Chris [Stanfield] can do that,” Johnson said.

“The quality of at-bats we have seen from Derek [Curiel] since the fall, that’s going to be a fight for the pitcher right off the bat,” Johnson said.

“Jared [Jones] has an ability to hit and to hit with power. I think it makes the first inning difficult and that’s a good thing,” Johnson said.

As the season progresses LSU will continue to find its identity as a team through different players, strategies and styles of play.

Entering their second weekend of the season, the Tigers will face Omaha at Alex Box Stadium at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon.