Opportunities like this don’t come along very often.

Now it’s up to LSU and baseball coach Jay Johnson to take advantage of it.

The Tigers got the homefield advantage for the NCAA tournament regional which begins today. You know the drill. As the No. 6 national seed, if they win this regional, then they’re back home for next week’s super regional — the last stop before Omaha and the College World Series — all of it there inside the steamy confines of Alex Box Stadium.

Now it’s time to think outside the box.

Most experts seem to agree that the Tigers were also gift-wrapped the softest regional among the 16.

It begins with today’s game with No. 4 seed Arkansas-Little Rock, the only team in the tournament with a losing record.

No. 2 seed Dallas Baptist is always better than its name recognition, but LSU beat the Patriots earlier this season, 7-3, in the Texas Rangers’ ballpark. Rhode Island isn’t exactly a household baseball name either.

LSU is set up well for the entire tournament. The Tigers’ biggest strength is probably the nation’s best 1-2 starting-pitching punch with Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson.

But, as for thinking outside the box here …

Neither should see the mound today against UA-Little Rock.

Who knows what Johnson is thinking? I’m still trying to figure out the rationale for pitching both aces in the Tigers’ first Southeastern Conference tournament game last week.

But holding both back today is a no-brainer.

It’s not that uncommon for a team, particularly No. 1 seeds, to not to use their ace to open. Oh, there’s usually a certain protocol involved so as not to bruise the sensibilities of a plucky No. 4 seed.

A coach has to come up with a (somewhat transparent) excuse for why the opening opponent isn’t worthy of seeing his ace (or, in this case, aces).

Maybe, he’ll say his ace needs more rest. Or that he didn’t like the matchup it would provide. Or maybe the metrics were wrong — nobody really knows what those mysterious metric thingamajigs are anyway, so who’s going to argue?

Johnson can’t use the lefty-righty excuse. He has one of both in his aces.

Doesn’t matter. Any old song-and-dance will usually suffice. No matter what it is, it will probably end up on UA-Little Rock’s bulletin board.

Johnson has decided to remain silent on the subject, not announcing any starting pitcher, which is his right. Just call him TBA.

Pretty sneaky, huh?

It saves Johnson the trouble of keeping a straight face for an excuse masquerading as an announcement.

Go ahead, let the pitcher reveal be Friday about 1:30 p.m. when somebody starts warming up for the 2 p.m. game.

Just make sure the names Anderson or Eyanson aren’t on that lineup card.

Do you really want to waste the nation’s strike out leader, Anderson with 145, or Eyanson,  fourth-best with 125, against a 24-32 UALR team.

Much better to save them for the remainder of the regional, where as few as two more wins can win the whole thing.

Any arm he chooses should be able to handle a Trojan lineup that hit .271 against the NCAA’s  246th toughest schedule.

Which one?

That’s up to Johnson. It’s why he’s getting the big bucks.

Chase Shores, who’d been much better in recent outings after early season struggles, and Jaden Noot would be logical choices.

It all depends on how far down the pitching food chain he dares to venture. Maybe he could throw a dart at the stat sheet.

As a sidenote, it would also be to LSU’s advantage to stay away from the more reliable parts of the bullpen, just in case a stopper is needed.

Ok some wiseacre is probably waiting to point out that that one of the Trojans’ 24 wins this season was against Ole Miss, the team that eliminated LSU from the SEC tournament.

There’s always the chance of a fluke in baseball.

But even if the double hold-back backfires, you’d still have both aces for the more challenging trip through the losers’ bracket.

So leave them be for today’s game. It’s worth the gamble, if you can even call it a gamble.

*

Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics for the Lake Charles American Press