HATTIESBURG, Miss. — The Tigers have played better on the road through Southeastern Conference play this season, going 7-8 at home and 10-5 on the road.
"We have been very good on the road and very good in the first game of the weekend on the road at night," LSU coach Jay Johnson said. "We have a pretty good routine which we'll stick with the hitters. We'll have them hit at a certain point during the day. Then, we have a strength and conditioning routine mobility and recovery at the hotel with the strength coach. We'll watch our video, feed them twice and by the time you do all that — it feels like you're on the bus heading over for batting practice."
Looking back, LSU kicked off the season hosting what became two regional host teams in Texas A&M and Auburn, with the Aggies being one of the Top 8 potential super regional hosts.
And after being swept by Ole Miss, the No. 3 seed in the Coral Gables Regional, the Tigers rebounded with a three-game sweep at Vanderbilt to earn a top-four seed at the SEC Tournament. While the Tigers went 1-2 at the tournament, that was without two of their best members of the lineup, Cade Doughty and Jacob Berry, and now both return for the Hattiesburg Regional.
"Our lineup is dangerous," Tre' Morgan said. "Y'all know that, we know that and having those dudes back just makes it even more dangerous.
"It just so happens that we play better on the road. It's not a thing we put in our heads or anything like that."
This is the second year in a row the Tigers have traveled for postseason, but last year, LSU won three straight in the Eugene Regional to advance to the Super Regional. While a regional host spot would've been nice, the Hattiesburg Regional, just over two hours from Baton Rouge, has sold out its tickets.
"We were obviously pretty far away from home last year," Dylan Crews said. "So it was fun over there, but going out there and having that road dog mentality is what we're going to use weekend."