BATON ROUGE - LSU baseball head coach Jay Johnson is pretty realistic about where his 2026 Tiger team stands following a disappointing season. 

The Tigers need to win the SEC baseball tournament which starts on Tuesday in Hoover, Alabama to earn an automatic bid and have a chance at playing in the NCAA postseason tournament.

LSU will host the Florida Gators in a three-game series starting on Thursday night at Alex Box Stadium, but even a sweep of that series will not be enough to earn the Tigers an at-large bid to a NCAA regional.

“This is the last home weekend for a lot of our guys, and we’re going to give everything we have to win. It’s a good opportunity for our players; we’re going to focus on this weekend’s series with an eye toward the SEC Tournament next week. We have to be mindful of keeping the team aware of staying in the moment, executing what is front of you - the pitch, the game, state of mind. It’s my job to set us up for what’s ahead, and that’s what I’m going to do," Johnson said of the upcoming finale at the Box.

More information on the series against Florida can be found below:

Florida Gators (34-18, 15-12 SEC) at LSU Tigers (29-24, 9-18 SEC)

DATES/TIMES (ONLINE)

• Thursday, May 14 @ 6:30 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)
• Friday, May 15 @ 6:30 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)
• Saturday, May 16 @ 2 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)

STADIUM

• Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field in Baton Rouge, La. (10,718)

RADIO

• LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates
• Live audio at www.LSUsports.net/live; Live stats at www.LSUstats.com

RANKINGS

UF – No. 9 (Baseball America); No. 19 (D1 Baseball); No. 20 (USA Today)

LSU SERIES RECORD VS. FLORIDA

• LSU has a 69-55-1 all-time record versus Florida, as the series began in 1971 … the teams’ last meeting came on March 22-24, 2024, when the Gators won two of three games in an SEC regular-season series in Baton Rouge … Florida holds a 12-10 lead in the 22 meetings between the teams since 2016.
• LSU holds a 6-3 all-time advantage over Florida in College World Series games … the Tigers won two of three games over the Gators in the 2023 CWS Championship Series June 24-26, in Omaha, Neb. … the Tigers won two CWS games over the Gators in both 1991 and in 1996 en route to national championships … LSU and Florida also met in the 2017 College World Series Championship Series, when UF posted two straight wins over the Tigers to claim the Gators’ national title.

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Game 1

LSU – TBA

UF – So. RH Aidan King (7-2, 2.19 ERA, 74.0 IP, 16 BB, 77 SO)

Game 2

LSU – Fr. RH Marcos Paz (1-2, 8.28 ERA, 25.0 IP, 23 BB, 35 SO)

UF -  Jr. RH Liam Peterson (1-5, 4.28 ERA, 67.1 IP, 34 BB, 88 SO)

Game 3

LSU – Sr. RH Zac Cowan (3-3, 4.97 ERA, 38.0 IP, 12 BB, 46 SO)

UF – Jr. RH Russell Sandefer (3-2, 4.30 ERA, 46.0 IP, 16, BB, 50 SO)