Da Boot Sports
7/29/2022
LSU Sports Communications
By: William Franques


   BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson on Friday announced the signings of five Division I transfers that will join the Tigers for the 2023 season.
 
The additions to the LSU roster include right-handed pitcher Christian Little of Vanderbilt; third baseman Tommy White of North Carolina State; shortstop Carter Young of Vanderbilt; right-handed pitcher Thatcher Hurd of UCLA; and right-handed pitcher/utility player Paul Skenes of Air Force.
 
“We are excited to welcome these five players to LSU Baseball,” Johnson said. “All five are great talents and solid people that will blend well with our returning players and incoming recruiting class in ability, chemistry and program fit.
 
“We are looking forward to the fall and preparing for the 2023 season, this is a great day for the Tigers.”
 
Little, a native of St. Louis, Mo., has pitched the past two seasons at Vanderbilt, where he made 32 appearances (14 starts) and posted a 4.65 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 81.1 innings.
 
Little was rated in high school as the nation’s No. 5 right-handed pitcher by Perfect Game.
 
White, a product of St. Pete Beach, Fla., enjoyed an incredible freshman season at North Carolina State, as he was named the 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year.
 
White hit .362 with 85 hits, 12 doubles, 27 home runs, 74 RBIs and a .757 slugging percentage, setting the NCAA freshman record for homers in a season. He had 26 multi-hit games and 19 multi-RBI outings, and he finished the year on 26-game reached base streak.
 
Young, a native of Selah, Wash., was instrumental as Vanderbilt’s starting shortstop in 2021 in leading the Commodores to the College World Series Finals. He blasted a team-high 16 homers and drove in 52 runs.
 
Young, who was rated the No. 17 high school prospect in the nation in 2019 by Baseball America, was selected earlier this month in the 17th round of the MLB Draft by the Baltimore Orioles.
 
Hurd, a product of Manhattan Beach, Calif., made nine appearances - including six starts - this season as a true freshman at UCLA. He posted a 2-0 record with a 1.06 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 34 innings while limiting opponents to a .138 batting average.   
 
Hurd was the nation’s ninth-ranked pitcher and the No. 1 pitcher in the state of California as a senior at Mira Costa High School.
 
Skenes, who is ranked No. 25 in the D1Baseball.com listing of the top college prospects for the 2023 MLB Draft, enjoyed an exceptional 2022 season at Air Force both on the mound and at the plate, earning first-team All-America recognition.
 
Skenes recorded a 2.96 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 85.2 innings (15 starts), limiting opponents to a .224 batting average. He also hit .314 with 10 doubles, 13 homers and 38 RBI. In 2021, Skenes posted a 2.70 ERA while batting .410 with 11 homers and 43 RBI.
 
The Tigers are scheduled to report to campus by mid-August, and fall semester classes begin at LSU on Monday, August 22.
 

Da Boot Sports
7/18/2022
LSU Sports Communications
By: William Franques


   BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU redshirt sophomore pitcher Eric Reyzelman was selected Monday in the fifth round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Yankees. Reyzelman, a right-hander from San Ramon, Calif., was the No. 160 overall pick in the MLB Draft.
 
Reyzelman, who transferred to LSU prior to the 2022 season from the University of San Francisco, was second on the Tigers’ pitching staff in appearances with 29, and he posted a 1-3 record and a 4.04 ERA in 42.1 innings with 18 walks, 66 strikeouts, three saves and a .200 opponent batting average.
 
He enjoyed a dominant relief outing on May 19 at Vanderbilt, firing 3.2 shutout innings with no hits and six strikeouts while firing a season-high 56 pitches.
 
Reyzelman struck out six of the eight batters he faced to earn his first career LSU win on March 15 versus Tulane, as he entered the game in the fourth inning and allowed no hits and one walk with six strikeouts in 2.1 shutout innings.
 
Reyzelman was named to the Cape Cod League All-Star Team last summer, recording a 2.66 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 23.2 innings, and limiting opponents to a .212 cumulative batting average.
 
He made 21 appearances with 13 starts in two seasons (2020-21) at San Francisco, posting a 5-4 record with a 5.72 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 50.1 innings. Reyzelman underwent Tommy John surgery in March of 2020 and returned to the mound just 10 months later at USF.
 
Reyzelman joins LSU teammates Jacob Berry and Cade Doughty as 2022 MLB Draft selections. Berry was chosen in the first round (No. 6 pick overall) Sunday by the Miami Marlins, and Doughty was selected in Sunday’s second round (No. 78 pick overall) by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Da Boot Sports
7/18/2022
LSU Sports Communications
By: William Franques


   BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU redshirt sophomore infielder Cade Doughty was selected Sunday night in the second round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays. Doughty, a second baseman from Denham Springs, La., was the No. 78 overall pick in the MLB Draft.
 
Doughty joined LSU teammate Jacob Berry as a Day 1 selection in the draft, which continues at 1 p.m. CT Monday with Rounds 3-10 and concludes at 1 p.m. CT Tuesday with Rounds 11-20. Berry was the first-round choice Sunday night (No. 6 pick overall) of the Miami Marlins.
 
Doughty batted .298 this season with 15 homers, 57 RBI, 56 runs and a team-high 19 doubles. He was voted to the 2022 NCAA Hattiesburg Regional All-Tournament Team after hitting .444 (8-for-18) with three homers, six RBI and seven runs.
 
He blasted two homers and drove in three runs in May 19 win at Vanderbilt, marking his second career two-homer game; his first two-homer game came on March 13, 2021, versus UT San Antonio.
 
Doughty provided a walk-off homer to defeat Georgia on May 1 and a walk-off single in a win over Missouri on April 22, and he was named National Player of the Week and SEC Player of the Week after leading the Tigers to a season-opening three-game sweep of Maine. He hit .571 (8-for-14) with three doubles, two homers and 12 RBI in the Maine series.
 
Doughty was selected as a high school freshman in the 39th Round of the 2019 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers before enrolling at LSU, where he started 133 games over three seasons (2020-22), batting .301 with 31 doubles, two triples, 30 homers, 124 RBI and 104 runs.
 
He is the son of former LSU catcher Richard Doughty, who played for the Tigers’ 1989 College World Series team.

Da Boot Sports
7/17/2022
LSU Sports Communications
By: William Franques


   BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU sophomore infielder Jacob Berry was selected Sunday night in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Miami Marlins. Berry, who became the 20th first-round selection in LSU history, was the No. 6 pick overall in the draft, which is being conducted in Los Angeles.
 
Berry is LSU’s highest overall selection since 2015, when infielder Alex Bregman was chosen No. 2 overall by the Houston Astros. Berry is LSU’s first 1st-round selection since 2017, when right-handed pitcher Alex Lange was the No. 30 overall selection by the Chicago Cubs.
 
Berry, a product of Queen Creek, Ariz., is the seventh LSU player to be selected within the first 10 picks of the draft. He was a 2022 Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, a second-team All-America performer and second-team All-SEC selection as he batted a team-high .370 with nine doubles, 15 homers, 48 RBI and 47 runs.
 
Berry hit a conference-best .400 (38-for-95) in LSU’s SEC regular-season games with three doubles, five homers, 20 RBI and 18 runs.
 
He led LSU to a series win over Georgia (April 29-May 1), batting .462 (6-for-13) in three games with one double, one homer and three RBI. With LSU trailing Georgia, 3-2, entering the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 3, Berry started the Tigers’ comeback with a single and scored when Cade Doughty followed with a two-run walk-off homer.
 
Berry led LSU to a three-game sweep of Missouri (April 21-23), batting .600 (6-for-10) with three homers, four RBI and five runs. He was 3-for-4 with two homers, two RBI and three runs in Game 1 victory, and he was 2-for-3 at the plate in Game 3 with a homer, two RBI and two runs scored.
 
He was named a Collegiate Baseball newspaper National Player of the Week on March 14 after he paced LSU to four wins in four games during the week of March 9-13. Berry batted .500 (9-for-18) in four games with one double, three homers, seven RBI and seven runs.
 
Berry played his freshman season at Arizona, where he earned 2021 National Freshman of the Year recognition while batting .352 with 54 runs scored, 19 doubles, five triples, 17 home runs and 70 RBI.

Da Boot Sports
7/8/2022
LSU Sports Communications
By: William Franques


   BATON ROUGE, La. – Josh Jordan, a National Assistant Coach of the Year who helped lead the Duke baseball program to unprecedented success, has been hired as assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at LSU, coach Jay Johnson announced Friday.
 
Jordan’s hiring is effective upon the completion of LSU’s background check process and approval by the university’s Board of Supervisors.
 
“I am excited to add Josh Jordan as our new Recruiting Coordinator and Assistant Coach," Johnson said. "When we started this search, it was my goal to find one of the best recruiters in all of college baseball. We have accomplished that and much more in bringing Josh to LSU. His work ethic, character, player relationship building, evaluation skills, and ability to connect make him second to none.
 
"Josh is also an elite developer of catchers and a great on-the-field coach. Our current and future players are immediately better by having Josh as a part of our program.”
 
Jordan has worked at Duke since June 2012, when he joined the coaching staff as recruiting coordinator. Duke head coach Chris Pollard promoted Jordan to associate head coach/recruiting coordinator in July 2015.
 
In addition to managing Duke’s recruiting activities, Jordan worked with the Blue Devils catchers and outfielders, and taught both hitting and base running.
 
The Duke program soared to new heights during Jordan’s tenure, as the Blue Devils for the first time in school history made NCAA Super Regional appearances (2018 and 2019) and won the ACC Tournament Championship (2021).
 
Duke ended a 55-year NCAA Tournament drought in 2016 when the Blue Devils received their first NCAA Regional bid since 1961.
 
Jordan’s significant impact upon the program was recognized in 2018, when he was named ABCA/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year. The 2018 Blue Devils won a school-record 45 games – including a program-best 18 ACC games – and advanced to a Super Regional for the first time in Duke history.
 
During Jordan’s time at Duke, 33 Blue Devils were selected in the MLB Draft, including a school-record-tying seven in 2018. Of those 33 players, 12 were selected in the first 10 rounds of the draft, accounting for over a third of Duke's total top-10-round picks in program history.
 
Jordan worked from 2007-12 as an assistant coach under Pollard at Appalachian State, and the Mountaineers won 30 or more games in each of Jordan’s six seasons with the program.
 
Jordan was instrumental in Appalachian State’s stellar 2012 campaign, which saw the Mountaineers set a school record for victories with a 41-18 overall record. ASU captured the Southern Conference championship and earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the championship round of the Charlotte Regional.
 
While at Appalachian State, Jordan supervised the development of 17 players ultimately selected in the MLB Draft. Prior to Jordan and Pollard’s arrival, ASU had not produced a Major League draft choice since the 1996 campaign.
 
Before joining the ASU staff, Jordan spent the 2006 season at Young Harris (Ga.) College, helping the Mountain Lions to a runners-up finish in the 2006 National Junior College Athletic Association Region XVII Tournament. Jordan coached Charlie Blackmon, currently a Colorado Rockies outfielder, during his stint at Young Harris.
 
Jordan spent two seasons at Fort Hays (Kan.) State, where he began as a graduate assistant in 2004 before becoming the Tigers’ top assistant and recruiting coordinator the following year.
 
Jordan played second base at Catawba (N.C.) College from 1999-2002, leading the Indians to the 2002 South Atlantic Conference Tournament championship. He began his coaching career as a volunteer coach at his alma mater in 2003.
 
Jordan earned a B.A. in social studies education from Catawba in 2003, and he received an M.S. in exercise science from Fort Hays State in 2005. A native of Gastonia, N.C., he was a four-year letterwinner and an all-conference performer at Hunter Huss High School from 1995-98.
 
Jordan and his wife, Erika, have a son, Jaxon, and a daughter, Lillian.