GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
(Third of a 5-part series “First Pitch Fever” on LSU opening baseball season on Friday.)
LSU first baseman Jared Jones remembers it like it was yesterday.
The Tigers had just beat Florida, 18-4, for the national championship on June 26, 2023, at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
He started 34 games at first base that season as a freshman with 13 at designated hitter and hit .304 with 14 home runs and 45 RBIs. Not long after the Tigers dog piled with their first national championship since 2009, fifth-year senior designated hitter Cade Beloso – 2-for-5 that night with two RBIs – came up to Jones.
“When we were celebrating, he was like, ‘Remember this, because it doesn’t happen like this every year,'” Jones said Beloso told him.
“Not everybody gets it that easy their first year,” Jones said recently. “My freshman year, I was super blessed to win a national championship.”
Jones thought of that often in the 2024 season as the preseason No. 2 Tigers tumbled to a 3-12 start in the Southeastern Conference before finishing 13-17 in the league and barely reaching NCAA Regional play. With only a win needed at North Carolina, which had lost the day before to the Tigers 8-4, to host the Super Regional at Alex Box Stadium, the Tigers lost 4-3 in 10 innings and were eliminated.
“The way things ended last year definitely left a sour taste in my mouth,” Jones said. “And for the 12 guys or so that are back from that team, we’ve talked a lot about it. It’s definitely a motivating factor for us. And we’re going to use that as fuel.”
The preseason No. 2 Tigers can finally move on from that loss to North Carolina on the field Friday when they open the 2025 season against Purdue-Fort Wayne at 2 p.m. in Alex Box Stadium.
“We’ve got 56 games in the regular season with each other, and that’s all we’re guaranteed,” Jones said. “And some time in June, the season will come to an end, and I’ll never be able to put on the uniform again with some of these guys that I’ve put on a uniform with for three years.”
Jones, a junior from Marietta, Georgia, will be counted on to provide power as he led the Tigers with 28 home runs last season – the fourth highest total in a season in school history – and had 59 RBIs. He is the No. 1 first baseman in the nation, according to D1Baseball’s top 50 position-by-position listing. Jones also finished No. 2 in the SEC in walks with 59.
“Plate discipline and swing decisions were great for me moving through the season last year,” Jones said. “I think I got better for sure as far as just being a consistent player – taking my walks and working the count. This year is just going to be another level of that – how much more can I walk, how many more extra bases can I have, moving the offense with two strikes, cutting down on my swing and miss. It’s easier said than done, but those are some of the things I’ve highlighted.”
LSU has a better chance to make getting to Omaha look easy this season on paper than last year’s team that finished 43-23. The Tigers have more pitching depth and a more well-rounded, versatile and deep roster.
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“We’ve got three teams that could probably go out there and compete at a very high level,” Jones said. “That goes all the way to 18-year-old freshmen to 23-year-old seniors. We have a very diverse lineup – a very depthy team.”
LSU coach Jay Johnson is just glad he still has his 21-year-old first baseman. Jones entered the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft as a draft-eligible sophomore last summer, but was not selected and remained at LSU.
“I’m not going to pretend to be a professional baseball scout, but I think we were very fortunate to get him back,” Johnson said after Jones returned to the Tigers. “You don’t see that kind of light tower power very often.”
The only other Tigers in LSU’s illustrious baseball history with more home runs in a season were Brandon Larson with 40 in 1997 on a national championship team, Brad Cresse with 30 in 2000 on a national championship team and 29 in 1998 on a World Series team.
“His swing decisions were very good this year,” Johnson said after the draft. “I thought he hit against the best pitchers, and he played a great first base. So, lucky us, is how I look at that.”
Jones did struggle in the fall at the plate, but that was against pitchers he will never face this season – LSU’s pitchers.
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“I don’t know if I’ve had a very successful fall since I’ve been at LSU,” Jones said. “The pitchers have pretty much owned me for the three years that I’ve been here.”
Jones has adjusted this spring, though.
“Jared’s been doing great,” Johnson said Tuesday night on Tiger Rag Radio. “I think he’s hit five home runs over the last seven scrimmages. Taking great at-bats. Hitting the ball all over the field. He’s in as good a place as he’s been as a hitter at LSU. I’m really excited for LSU and for him and very thankful he chose to come back. Time will show that here through the 2025 season with Jared. Very confident in him.”
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