BATON ROUGE - With the baseball season under a month away, the LSU baseball team held its annual First Pitch Banquet on Thursday night to celebrate their past success and pave the way for the future by raising a record $500,000 for the LSU Baseball program.

Before the banquet, WBRZ Sports Director Michael Cauble interviewed LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson.

The Tigers open the 2026 season February 13 against Milwaukee.

More information on the banquet can be seen below in a release from LSU:

Coach Jay Johnson and the 2026 Fighting Tigers greeted an enthusiastic throng of supporters at the LSU Baseball First Pitch Banquet Thursday night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

The First Pitch Banquet, presented by David Thornton and administered by the Tiger Athletic Foundation, is an annual event that signifies the start of the college baseball season, and it provides boosters an opportunity to support the Tigers’ program.

The members of the Tigers’ 2026 team were introduced at the start of the evening, which also featured remarks by Johnson, who directed LSU to the 2023 and 2025 NCAA National Championships, the seventh and eighth in school history.

Johnson spoke to a packed house of over 1,000 fans in the Crowne Plaza, expressing his gratitude for their tremendous devotion to the LSU program and looking forward to enhancing the Tigers’ glorious tradition.

“Our team is completely all in on what’s happening right now,” Johnson said. “You will not see any type of complacency by any player or coach, so I need the same from our fans. Keep supporting our players at such a high level, and I promise you will see a team that’s going to be completely selfless and will honor the process of winning.

“There is an incredibly high standard here, and that standard means you will see a team that respects what it takes to play that brand of baseball that you are extremely proud of. We are going to hold each other accountable, tell each other the truth and be front-and-center with what makes a great team.”

The audience also heard from shortstop Steven Milam, outfielder Jake Brown, pitcher Zac Cowan and outfielder Chris Stanfield, who provided an inside look at the 2026 squad.