College baseball preview: LSU’s repeat hopes hinge on transfers, Wake Forest consensus No. 1

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — LSU won college baseball’s national championship last year with a roster that produced an SEC-record 13 Major League Baseball draft picks, including the top two. Almost all of them are gone.

If the Tigers run it back in 2024, it will be because returning players excelled in new spots, transfers met lofty expectations and their pitching staff was able to offset a projected dropoff in offense.

Tommy White, the biggest returning star, said the Tigers have more to prove than most teams coming off a national title.

“Everybody thinks we’re defending. It’s not even close,” he said. “We’re attacking. This is a brand new opportunity, brand new team, and we’re taking every day like it’s our last. I don’t really think about last year now.”

LSU, which beat Florida in a three-game College World Series finals for its first national title since 2009, is ranked as high as No. 2 in the preseason polls.

The consensus No. 1 team is Wake Forest, which is coming off its first CWS appearance since 1955 and a program-record 54 wins. The Demon Deacons bring back slugger Nick Kurtz and starting pitcher Josh Hartle, and they signed the top-ranked transfer class headed by hard-throwing pitcher Chase Burns (Tennessee).

Most of the national contenders, as usual, come from the Southeastern Conference. Arkansas, Florida, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Texas A&M join LSU among the top teams from that league.

Oregon State is the pick to win the Pac-12 in the conference’s final season. TCU is the favorite in the Big 12 and Iowa is the pick in the Big Ten. Clemson is expected to challenge Wake Forest in the ACC.

The season opens Friday. The Shriners Children’s College Showdown in Arlington, Texas, highlights the schedule. Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee and Nebraska each will play three games at Globe Life Field. Tennessee was in the CWS last year and Oregon made super regionals. Only Baylor and Nebraska didn’t make the NCAA Tournament.

LSU coach Jay Johnson said he spent only a day celebrating his team’s national championship because he had to go about the work of filling big holes created by the draft. Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews were the first two players taken, and Ty Floyd, Grant Taylor, Tre’ Morgan and Gavin Dugas also went in the first six rounds.

Thatcher Hurd, who gave LSU strong innings during the championship run, will take over as the Friday night starter. Transfers Gage Jump (UCLA) and Luke Holman (Alabama) are in line to fill out the weekend rotation. Jump sat out last season because of injury, and Holman was the Crimson’s Tide No. 1 pitcher.

The outfield will have a new look. Paxton Kling, a part-time starter a year ago, and freshman Jake Brown are set to play the corner spots and Arizona transfer Mac Bingham will play center after earning All-Pac-12 honors last year.

Jared Jones takes over for Morgan, the best defensive first baseman in the country, and Josh Pearson moves from the outfield to second base. South Carolina transfer Michael Braswell is the new shortstop and White returns at third. The Tigers are set at catcher with the returns of Alex Milazzo, Hayden Travinski and Brady Neal.

White drove in a nation-leading 105 runs and hit 24 homers and 24 doubles for the Tigers despite playing with a nagging shoulder injury. He sat out the fall recovering from surgery.

“Last year, opening day, it popped out, and it popped out probably 20 times throughout the year. It popped out in the dogpile,” he said. “It was enough of a struggle throughout the year and something I had to play through. I’m excited to finally play healthy.”

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