BATON ROUGE - LSU baseball is ready to start their quest for another national title as they will open up their 2026 season Friday afternoon against the Milwaukee Panthers.

LSU head coach Jay Johnson has set his starting rotation and his line-up will be made public on Friday around noon, but most expect this Tiger team to once again be one of the best in college baseball.

Coach Johnson is turning the ball over to sophomore right-handed pitcher Casan Evans to start the season after Evans proved to be a key piece to LSU's College World Series title in 2025.

Milwaukee Panthers (0-0) at No. 1 LSU Tigers (0-0)

DATES/TIMES

• Friday, February 13 @ 2 p.m. CT
• Saturday, February 14 @ 1 p.m. CT
• Sunday, February 15 @ 1 p.m. CT

STADIUM

• Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field (10,718)

RANKINGS

• LSU – No. 1 USA Today, No. 1 Perfect Game; No. 2 Baseball America; No. 2 D1 Baseball
• MKE - unranked

RADIO

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

ONLINE

• All three games will be streamed live on SEC Network +

LSU SERIES RECORD VS. MILWAUKEE

• Friday's game marks the first-ever matchup between LSU and Milwaukee on the diamond ... Milwaukee is a member of the Horizon League ... the only current baseball-playing member of the Horizon League that LSU has faced is Youngstown State; the Tigers swept two games from YSU in 2021 at Alex Box Stadium ... the other current baseball members of the Horizon League are Oakland, Wright State and Northern Kentucky.

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Game 1

LSU – So. RH Casan Evans (5-1, 2.05 ERA, 52.2 IP, 19 BB, 71 SO in 2025)

MKE – Sr. LH Matthew Mueller (1-2, 5.23 ERA, 41.1 IP, 31 BB, 55 SO in 2025)

Game 2

LSU – Jr. RH Cooper Moore (7-3, 3.96 ERA, 88.2 IP, 19 BB, 85 SO in 2025 at Kansas)

MKE– Sr. RH Aric Ehmke (1-6, 8.70 ERA, 60.0 IP, 30 BB, 33 SO in 2025)

Game 3

LSU – So. RH William Schmidt (7-0, 4.73 ERA, 32.1 IP, 22 BB, 41 SO in 2025)

MKE – Jr. LH Riley Peterson (3-2, 1.84 ERA, 29.1 IP, 17 BB, 24 SO in 2025)

QUOTING COACH JAY JOHNSON

“We have eight games in the first 10 days of the season. That’s a heavy lift, so we have to be smart about doing what we need to do to win the first game, and then put this whole picture together. Our goal is to win every single game that we can, and figure out our best team as we go. Our guys are ready to complete, they want to play an opponent. I think we would have a mutiny if I told them they had to scrimmage themselves again this weekend.”

ABOUT THE TIGERS

• LSU has won eight national championships (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2009, 2023, 2025), the second-most in NCAA history. LSU has the highest all-time NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.714, 187-75).

• LSU has won 24 consecutive season-opening games; the Tigers’ last loss in a season opener occurred on February 10, 2001, when LSU dropped a 9-8 decision to Kansas State in the original Alex Box Stadium.

• Coach Jay Johnson, the 2023 and 2025 National Coach of the Year, enters his fifth season at the helm of the LSU program this weekend … Johnson, who has directed LSU to the 2023 and 2025 NCAA National Championship in his first four seasons with the Tigers, has worked 13 seasons as a collegiate head coach, including one season (2005) at Point Loma Nazarene, two seasons (2014-15) at Nevada, six seasons (2016-21) at Arizona and four seasons at LSU … he directed Arizona to College World Series appearances in 2016 and in 2021 … he enters Friday’s season opener with a 507-249 (.671) overall record, including a 190-77 (.712) mark at LSU.

• LSU is ranked No. 1 by Perfect Game and USA Today, and No. 2 by D1 Baseball and Baseball America in 2026 preseason polls. The 2026 Tigers are a talented squad that has 19 returning players and 20 newcomers on its roster.  The Tigers feature seven returning position players with starting experience at LSU, including senior outfielder Chris Stanfield, senior infielder Tanner Reaves, junior shortstop Steven Milam, junior outfielder Jake Brown, sophomore outfielder Derek Curiel, sophomore catcher Cade Arrambide and sophomore infielder John Pearson.

• The LSU pitching staff contains 10 hurlers who have recorded innings for the Tigers, including senior right-hander Zac Cowan, senior right-hander Connor Benge, senior right-hander Grant Fontenot, junior right-hander Gavin Guidry, junior right-hander Jaden Noot, junior left-hander DJ Primeaux, sophomore right-hander Casan Evans, sophomore left-hander Cooper Williams, sophomore right-hander Mavrick Rizy and sophomore right-hander William Schmidt.

• LSU's 20-player class of newcomers is composed of eight NCAA Division I transfers, one NCAA Division II transfer, two JUCO transfers and nine high school signees. The Baseball America Top 100 College Transfers list includes LSU junior infielder Trent Caraway, sophomore left-handed pitcher Danny Lachenmayer, senior first baseman Zach Yorke – who is also listed among the Perfect Game Top 100 College Seniors –  junior left-handed pitcher Santiago Garcia, junior right-handed pitcher Cooper Moore and senior infielder Seth Dardar. Senior infielder Brayden Simpson is listed among the D1 Baseball Top 50 Transfer Hitters, along with Caraway, Dardar and Yorke. The D1 Baseball Top 50 Transfer Pitchers list includes Moore, Lachenmayer and Garcia.

• Six Tigers are listed among the Top 100 Collegiate Freshmen for the 2026 season by Perfect Game, including infielder Jack Ruckert, outfielder/first baseman Mason Braun, catcher Omar Serna Jr., right-handed pitcher Marcos Paz, right-handed pitcher Reagan Ricken and outfielder William Patrick.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS

• Milwaukee posted a 24-35 overall mark last season, 16-13 in the Horizon League with a third-place finish in the conference regular-season standings … senior outfielder Charlie Marion is the Panthers’ top returning hitter, batting .279 in 2025 with 15 doubles, three triples, 12 homers and 61 RBI.
• The Panthers batted .264 as a team last season with 118 doubles, 15 triples and 56 home runs … Milwaukee stole 75 bases in 90 attempts … the Panthers’ pitching staff registered an 7.40 team ERA last season with 395 strikeouts and a .292 opponent batting average in 501.1 innings.