After a six-day rest by virtue of a double-bye, third-seeded LSU plays No. 14 seed Texas A&M tonight in the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament in Hoover, Ala. The Aggies will be playing their third game in as many days. Despite their confidence in having assured themselves a top-eight seed in next week’s NCAA Tournament, the Tigers say they are bent on winning the championship and will not go through the motions. (Special to the American Press)

LSU had a double-bye for the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament.

Today, after a six-day wait, it’s up to the Tigers not to make it a quick bye-bye before leaving the Hoover, Alabama, site.

The Tigers (42-13), ranked No. 1 in the nation but seeded No. 3 in Hoover, will face No. 14 seed Texas A&M (30-25) tonight in the quarterfinals.

“We’re ready,” LSU head coach Jay Johnson said. “We’re ready to get back on the field.”

The winner advances to Saturday to play the winner of today’s first game between No. 2 Arkansas and No. 7 Ole Miss.

“I think we’re set up pretty good,” said Johnson, who was one of three SEC coaches who voted against the new single-elimination tournament format that created LSU’s long wait.

“I think having six days off right now is a great thing. This format … really benefits our team right now, and maybe it shows up this week. Maybe it doesn’t.”

With three games, at most, to play, the Tigers can treat it like a regular weekend conference series, without worrying about saving pitching for a long week.

“We’ve played ourselves into a really good spot,” Johnson said. “How you play is the important thing to me, not who we play. We need to set ourselves up to play well over the next couple of weeks.”

Johnson hasn’t announced his starting pitcher, but it will most likely be usual Friday starter Kade Anderson (7-1, 3.48 ERA).

Texas A&M head coach Michael Earley did say he will go with Myles Patton (3-4, 5.10).

The Aggies will be playing their third tournament game in as many days, having blanked No.11 seed Mississippi State 9-0 Wednesday, then holding off No. 6 Auburn 3-2 on Thursday.

It was a costly victory, however, as A&M will be without its best hitter, potential first-round draft pick Jace LaViolette, who broke his hand in the win over Auburn.

The Aggies won two of three against LSU in College Station, Texas, in the regular-season series.

But LSU’s motivation is somewhat murky as the Tigers assume they have already clinched at top-eight national seed in next week’s NCAA Tournament.

Johnson was asked this week if he’d try to get younger players game experience.

“We will play and do everything to win the game,” Johnson said. “I would never, ever want anybody to think that we were doing that. The tournament is competition. There’s a championship we want to play great for.

“I don’t think you can go through it as a blow-it-off exercise, or think of it that way. We will not do that.”

Unlike LSU, the Aggies won’t have to search for motivation.

They are the lone team left in Hoover that still has to at least get to Sunday’s final — probably win the whole thing — to reach the NCAA Tournament.

“We all know there’s a lot at stake (and) on the line for us,” Earley said. “But we’ve had our backs against the wall all year … whether it’s been injuries or a lot of self-inflicted (mistakes). So we’re used to this and we will continue pushing.”

LSU hasn’t played since Saturday’s 7-3 win over South Carolina.

“They’ll be champing to go,” Johnson said of his team. “I don’t think we’ve had five days off between games all year. (But) I will say, every time we’ve had a little bit of a breather, whether it’s been two days off … or one midweek canceled, we’ve come back like really sharp mentally and physically.”