The season begins February 14
LSU concluded its six-week long portion of fall practices and now Jay Johnson and his Tigers will get a chance to rest up before beginning the 2025 campaign February 14 against Purdue Fort Wayne.
“It was a really good fall for us with a lot of new players, completely new team” Johnson said. “It was very productive, and I feel like we got a lot accomplished relative to developing an identity for the team. We learned a lot about the players on the roster, and we feel like we’re in a really good spot as the season approaches.”
Players will take end of semester exams in December and they will return to campus on January 13 to begin preparing for the season.
LSU will, once again, have a loaded roster on paper. Johnson was able to land nine of the top-100 transfers, including three of the top eight; the Tigers also had 11 players among Baseball America’s Top 500 draft prospects heading into this past July’s Draft.
LSU’s transfer class is headlined by junior infielder Daniel Dickinson (No. 2 among all transfers), junior righty pitcher Anthony Eyanson (No. 4), and sophomore right-handed pitcher Deven Sheerin (No. 8). LSU also brings in junior right-handed pitcher Jacob Mayers (No. 17), junior right-handed pitcher Chandler Dorsey (No. 22), junior right-hander pitcher Zac Cowan (No. 23), senior utility player Luis Hernandez (No. 32), senior outfielder/left-hander pitcher Dalton Beck (No. 34) and junior outfielder Chris Stanfield (No. 79).
LSU’s incoming freshman class is loaded, too. Johnson was able to get three of Perfect Game’s top-13 high school prospects to forgo the draft and make it to campus: righty pitcher William Schmidt from down the road at Catholic (No. 5 overall), Derek Curiel (No. 10) is an outfielder from California that should push for immediate playing time, and catcher Cade Arrambide (No. 13) out of Texas possess a big bat and could be your cleanup hitter for the next few years.
“We’re putting the players in position for them to develop and improve, and they’re understanding what this team is going to need to do to be successful,” Johnson said. “Being intentional about what we’re doing has resulted in a productive fall, and it will give us a good starting point when we come back in January.
“I like the feel we have for where we’re at, who we have, what we are and what we need to do in order to have success this season.”
Even by Jay Johnson’s maniacal recruiting standards, LSU’s been on an absolute heater on the recruiting trail.
LSU’s added five recruits over the past couple of days, two to its 2025 class, and the other three in its 2026 class. The biggest additions so far have been California shortstop CJ Weinstein, currently ranked #23 in the class of 2026, Georgia outfielder Wessley Roberson, the #38 player in 2026, and Jaden Fauske, a left-handed bat out of Illinois who is the #19 player in the 2025 class.
LSU’s also added a pair of pitching commitments. The Tigers added JUCO lefty Ethan Plog, and Cooper Sides, a big 6’5” righty from California who is a 2026 prospect.