LSU head coach Jay Johnson is sticking with his story.

His Tigers needn’t even show up — finally — tonight for the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament.

Regardless of what happens, he’s convinced his team has already earned a top-eight national seed for next week’s NCAA Tournament.

“I don’t have a doubt in my mind,” he said before heading to Hoover, Alabama, a Birmingham suburb that SEC baseball takes over at the end of each May.

He’s probably right.

The Tigers should at least land somewhere between the No. 1 ranking where all the polls (curiously) have them, and the No. 8 spot that the ratings percentage index has them slotted.

Where you fall in that mix doesn’t really matter.

So, what are the Tigers playing for?

After all, as much fun as Hoover is, by next week, no one will even remember who won the fool thing.

It’s a game, not an exhibition, so Johnson is all about winning it — Saturday, too, for that matter, all the way through Sunday’s championship game.

Whether it matters or not.

Well, I have a suggestion. This would be a convenient time to get on a roll for the tournament that seriously matters next week and beyond.

It’s not beneath baseball teams to suddenly turn on the switch at a moment’s notice.

LSU has a few examples in its own storied history en route to seven College World Series championships.

But given your druthers, you’d bring in a little pre-made momentum for the long and winding route to Omaha, that’s assuming there’s not a road involved for the Tigers.

Last weekend at South Carolina wasn’t the Tigers’ sharpest.

You don’t normally quibble with taking two of three on the road, but the series-opening loss to a bad team was one of the Tigers’ ugliest of the season, finally ending on a walk-off wild pitch. You don’t need one of those in the mix for regionals next week.

It was most likely an aberration. On paper, LSU looks good for the long haul.

But, if it so please the peanut gallery, I’d suggest that two keys stand out, a pair of variables that maybe could use some fine-tuning.

Drum roll, please …

The Tigers need to show they can consistently hit good pitching, and they need to throw strikes on the mound.

Check those two boxes, and you can start making reservations for Omaha.

Hear me out.

LSU is third in the SEC with a .306 batting average. Unlike last year, the Tigers haven’t been overly reliant on the long ball for runs.

The bottom of the lineup has come to life in recent weeks. You couldn’t prove it from the one loss at South Carolina — two runners thrown out at third on one inning — but they run the bases fairly well. Still don’t steal them very well, but you can’t have everything.

They have even learned how to bunt and aren’t afraid to use it as a weapon.

But that .306 overall average might be misleading if not padded.

It’s tough to look at season stats and decipher how much was good hitting and how much bad pitching.

But dividing it into overall and SEC games only is as good a place as any to start.

In conference games only, that average falls to .274.

You’d expect some drop-off — 32 points in LSU’s case — but only Alabama (40) and woeful Missouri (35) had a bigger disparity.

In SEC games, LSU drops to No. 6 in the league.

Arkansas is No. 1 in both, without much difference — .316 to .308.

Maybe it’s time for LSU to flip that switch.

On the mound, the Tigers’ ERA is consistent, second overall (3.78) in the league (4.14), behind only Texas in both.

It’s been excellent — when they throw strikes.

In Kaden Anderson and Anthony Eyanson, there’s not a better 1-2 starting punch in the nation. They’re 2-3 in the nation in strikeouts.

The Tigers lead the SEC in strikeouts, but also in wild pitches, and only five teams have walked more.

Most of the problems have been in the bullpen.

At some point, Johnson has said of just about all of the bullpen guys that they will pitch in the majors. He’s prone to tossing around hyperbole, but for most of the year he’s never been sure the arm he brings in won’t lose the strike zone.

Of late, even early phenoms Casen Evans and Zac Cowan have struggled.

Experimenting with Evans as the third starter didn’t go particularly well, and Cowan gave up three runs in two innings of the meltdown at South Carolina.

It wouldn’t hurt the Tigers to have at least two or three games to work on that.
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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com