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USA Today
21-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Potential LSU baseball transfer target enters portal as Tigers look to fill key need
Potential LSU baseball transfer target enters portal as Tigers look to fill key need LSU baseball still has a postseason run to get through, but the college baseball transfer portal season has begun. LSU has made good use of the portal under head coach Jay Johnson. LSU won a title in 2023 thanks to portal additions like Paul Skenes and Tommy White. This season, transfer Anthony Eyanson is a pivotal piece of LSU's rotation. On Tuesday, D1Baseball reported that Northwestern State third baseman Rocco Gump will enter the portal. That's a name LSU fans will want to keep an eye on as portal recruiting heats up. Gump spent two seasons with Northwestern State after beginning his career at a JUCO. In 2024, Gump was named to the Southland Conference All-Defensive Team at third base. In 2025, Gump put it together at the plate, too, hitting .303 with a .938 OPS. Gump totaled 22 extra-base hits and drove in 54 runs. Gump posted a solid BB/K ratio of 26/35 and stole 19 bases. With Jared Jones, Daniel Dickinson, and Michael Braswell on their way out, LSU is set to lose three veterans on the infield and needs to add experience. The Tigers have struggled at third base defensively in 2025 and rank near the bottom of the SEC in stolen bases. Gump addresses both of those needs. At 6-foot-3, Gump has the physical tools to play SEC baseball. The LSU coaching staff should be familiar with Gump after the third basemen notched two hits and plated three runs in a win over LSU in April. Gump finished his Northwestern State career with 14 homers and 98 RBI. LSU will be looking for bona fide power hitters, too. Gump doesn't quite fill that need, but he can drive the ball to the gap, put it in play, and make things happen on the basepaths. LSU's specific roster needs will become clear when the season wraps up, but Gump should be on the wishlist. Gump isn't a Louisiana native, but LSU isn't shy about taking transfers from smaller schools across the state.
American Press
14-05-2025
- Sport
- American Press
Same foe, new season
At least the Cowboys won't need to do much scouting in preparation for their first-round postseason opener Thursday. McNeese State begins play in the Hammond Bracket of the Southland Conference tournament against a very familiar foe, Northwestern State. The two teams just finished a three-game series that the Demons won 2-1 last weekend in Natchitoches. McNeese's late rally fell a run short in the finale, as the Cowboys lost 7-6 and fell all to the fifth seed despite finishing tied for third with Lamar (No. 3) and the Demons (No. 4). 'What has happened in the past doesn't matter,' said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. 'This is a new season and we get a second chance.' The Cowboys and Demons will open the bracket at 1 p.m. with the game streaming on ESPN+. In the first game, top-seeded Southeastern plays No. 8 New Orleans in the night game. Texas-Rio Grande Valley will host the Edinburg Bracket and open against No. 7 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Lamar will open against Houston Christian. 'This tournament is wide open,' said McNeese center fielder and All-Conference selection Conner Westenburg. 'We beat everybody in this tournament, but everybody beat us. It is a coin flip.' McNeese enters the tourney 32-15 and 19-11 in league play. Northwestern State is 33-19, 19-11. The Cowboys are looking forward to the opener after last weekend. 'They got us last week,' said Edwards.'That doesn't matter now.' This is what the Cowboys have been building for this spring. They are 8-4 this season against the three teams joining them in Hammond, including taking two of three from the league co-champion Lions. 'We have been waiting for this all season,' said left fielder Larry Edwards. 'Everybody is 0-0. We know what we have to do and we are ready to go.' The Cowboys hope they found a surprise for the Demons in Bryce Jones. Recovering from a hand injury that sidelined most of his season, Jones homered twice and drove in four runs in Saturday's third game. 'He was swinging, but it was hurting him for a few weeks,' said Hill. 'Then he was swinging, and we could tell it wasn't hurting him, so we wanted to see if we got anything. We got something for sure.' The Cowboys hope to get something from Alexis Gravel, who was the ace for most of the season. He has missed his last couple of starts and could be back from some innings this weekend. 'We aren't going to do anything that would hurt his future,' said Hill. 'We will be smart. He has a chance to play for money one day. But we will see what he can do.' The Cowboys have had success in Hammond in the past. They won the title there three years ago and lost the title game last year after making a huge postseason run. 'I think the field plays a lot like ours, so we are comfortable,' said Hill.
American Press
12-05-2025
- Sport
- American Press
Cowboys fall to 5th seed
Cowboys fall to 5th seed Published 2:22 pm Monday, May 12, 2025 The Cowboys may be limping into the postseason, but at least they don't have to make a long trip to Edinburg, Texas. McNeese State lost two of three games at Northwestern State over the weekend but will now get new life in a town where they have already had success this year. The Cowboys fell to the fifth seed in the Southland Conference after losing their final three regular-season series. After a record 12-game win streak, injuries and a tired bullpen caught up to McNeese. Email newsletter signup Now the Cowboys (32-15) will get a fresh start when they take on fourth-seeded Northwestern State again Thursday at 1 p.m. in the Hammond Bracket. 'It is the second season,' said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. 'We get another chance to play some more baseball together. That's what we want, a chance to win a championship. We put ourselves in that spot.' The Cowboys have that in a wide-open tournament. McNeese finished in a three-way tie for third at 19-11 in the SLC but lost the tiebreaker to Lamar (third seed) and Northwestern State. Lamar heads to Edinburg to take on No. 6 Houston Christian in the bracket hosted by No. 2 Texas-Rio Grande Valley. In the late game Thursday night in Edinburg, UTRGV will take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (No. 7). Back in Hammond, No. 1 Southeastern will host eighth-seeded New Orleans in the late game. The Lions and UTRGV tied for the title, but SELA won that tiebreaker, showing just how close this race was all season. 'I think just about any team can win this depending on how they play the next two weeks,' said Hill. 'Every weekend has been a dog fight this year. We have a lot of good teams in this conference. That makes it exciting for everybody.' McNeese should feel good heading into this bracket despite the tough weekend against the Demons. The Cowboys are 8-4 against the other clubs in Hammond. 'I don't think that matters now,' said Hill. 'We just have to play better baseball.' McNeese took two of three from Southeastern and swept New Orleans. Against the Demons, the Cowboys lost 7-6 in the series finale when their late rally came up short. Junior outfielder Bryce Jones, making just his third start of the season and second in a row, had three hits and drove in four runs for McNeese Saturday. Jones homered in his last two at-bats, and the Cowboys hope they can carry that momentum into the postseason. 'Bryce, we could see him getting healthy, so we put him in to see what we had,' said Hill. 'We saw we might have something.' The Cowboys hope to get a couple of arms back as well. 'We went to UTRGV and we lost two tough ballgames,' said Hill. 'We had a lead late in both of them. I think our team got discouraged. 'That part's over. We didn't get to where we wanted. I think you'll see a little bit different group come Thursday.' It will be a second chance for the 32-15 Cowboys. Featured Local Savings
USA Today
23-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
LSU gets run-ruled by the Demons, loses first midweek game of season
LSU gets run-ruled by the Demons, loses first midweek game of season Who knew that Demons liked rain? In Tuesday's nonconference game against Northwestern State, LSU baseball held a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning, and then the rain came and washed the lead away. The Demons outscored LSU 13-1 after the rain delay as they run-ruled the Tigers at Alex Box Stadium. Head coach Jay Johnson got a little creative with the lineup tonight as Jared Jones started at third base and Jake Brown started at first. Derek Curiel led off the game with a solo shot to put the Tigers up 1-0 early. In the bottom of the second inning, Josh Pearson followed that up with a solo shot of his own to make it 2-0 Tigers. In the top of the third inning, we entered a weather delay for lightning in the area. After a rain delay that lasted an hour and a half, play resumed, and the Demons got hot. Northwestern State would go on to score six runs in the top of the third to take a 6-3 lead. Two runs were charged to Jaden Noot, two runs were charged to Cooper Williams, and two runs were charged to Connor Benge. As I mentioned earlier, Coach Johnson decided to start Jones at third base to see how his defense would play at the hot corner. The experiment did not go well as the Demons scored two runs off of two errors by him, as they extended their lead to 7-3. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Jake Brown cut into the Northwestern State lead to make it 7-3. In the top of the sixth inning, the Demons extended their lead, scoring three more runs to make it 10-3 Northwestern State. As we headed to the bottom of the sixth inning, the Demons had outscored LSU 10-1 since the weather delay. In the top of the seventh, Northwestern State scored three more runs, and all of a sudden, we were on the brink of LSU getting run-ruled in their own house by Northwestern State as the score was extended to 13-3. LSU was unable to score any runs in the bottom of the seventh and the game ended with the Tigers losing 13-3. With the loss, LSU drops to 34-8 overall and 12-6 in conference play. This weekend, LSU will welcome Tennessee into town in what should be one of the best matchups in the country. Game one is slated to start Friday at 6:30 PM CT.
USA Today
20-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Jay Johnson explains choice to shake-up LSU's starting rotation
Jay Johnson explains choice to shake-up LSU's starting rotation LSU baseball shook up the starting rotation vs. Alabama. Games one and two remained the same, with Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson taking the mound. But Jay Johnson opted to roll with Conner Ware over Chase Shores on Saturday. Shores entered the game in relief, but it was the first change to the starting rotation all year. LSU dropped game three, but still left with a series. After the game, Johnson discussed the change. Johnson said Shores wasn't just available out of the pen on Saturday, but was available in games one and two. "He was down there ready to go," Johnson said, "And it was like trying to find the right spot to maximize him for the weekend. And I thought he did some good things tonight. Obviously, the homer, he'd like to have that back. But had some strikeouts and I thought he competed well in the game today." Johnson said he wasn't ready to announce the plans for LSU's next series yet. "I haven't really looked at next weekend yet from opponent match-up, all those types of things, closely at all," Johnson said. Johnson said he's comfortable starting Shores, but wanted to give LSU flexibility out of the pen in the Alabama series. LSU returns to action on Tuesday, hosting Northwestern State at 6:30 PM CT in Alex Box Stadium. LSU's next SEC series is a home meeting with Tennessee. Game one will be on Friday.
