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College  | Story | 1/6/2023

Geaux-ing Up; LSU Opens at #1

Vincent Cervino
Photo: LSU Baseball (LSU Athletics)
Heading into Year 2 in Baton Rouge, LSU Coach Jay Johnson has his Tigers in as good of a spot as they’ve been in years as they earned the preseason No. 1 ranking heading into the 2023 season. The Tigers have assembled what looks to be one of the more fearsome rosters in college baseball, returning SEC stars like Dylan Crews and Tre’ Morgan but also loading up on new transfer like 2022 Freshman of the Year Tommy White and 2022 John Olerud Award Winner Paul Skenes.

What does Jay Johnson think of the prestigious ranking? He tries not to put the wagon before the horse. “I don’t get too ahead of myself,” Johnson said in an interview with PG’s Vinnie Cervino, “we obviously play great competition.” He’s right too. The SEC had a nation-leading eight teams ranked in the Preseason Top 25 with seven of those eight ranked in the top 11.



LSU lost the highest drafted college player in the country last season in Jacob Berry (7th overall to the Marlins) but it looks like centerfielder Dylan Crews has a chance to surpass that mark. Crews has a chance to be only the third No. 1 overall pick out of LSU following Eric Hetzel in 1985 and Ben McDonald in 1989, along with being the highest drafted Tiger since Alex Bregman went second overall in 2015.

“It’s just the total package: elite talent and an elite person in terms of character, makeup, (and) competitiveness,” Johnson said, “Rarely do you see a guy that has that much ability and is in tune to get that ability out on a consistent basis.”

Crews is an example of the ripple effects felt across the baseball landscape because of the COVID-shortened 2020 draft. With only five rounds, plenty of high school kids fulfilled their commitment to school that otherwise would have signed, or as Johnson puts it, “Guys like him don’t show up on campus often.”

LSU certainly had the merits to be a top 10 team entering the season but there’s never a good reason not to get better when you have the opportunity, so it added the two biggest names in the transfer portal: Tommy White, formerly of NC State, and Paul Skenes, formerly of Air Force. “We’re replacing Jacob Berry and Cade Doughty (2nd round, Blue Jays),” Johnson said, “and there’s no better way to fill that than with a known commodity like Tommy White.”

White took the nation by storm last year, earning the moniker ‘Tommy Tanks’ en route to winning Perfect Game Freshman of the Year. White immediately became not only a sensation but one of the best hitters in the sport, slugging over .750 with 27 jacks. Johnson has been very impressed with White, but everyone knows about the power; what’s stood out to Johnson has been the glove work and pure hit tool.

“People are going to be very surprised at the defensive player that he is,” Johnson said, “the pure hitting ability gets overlooked because the power is special…he’ll help us fill that void in losing two of the best players in the country.”

The rest of the roster is surrounded by a supporting cast of returners led by Crews and first baseman Tre’ Morgan. “(With) Dylan Crews, Tre’ Morgan, Jordan Thompson, Ty Floyd, Josh Pearson, you have a really good core of returning players.”

Floyd is a name expected to compete in the starting rotation and that weekend staff could look very different from a year ago. Gone is Ma’Khail Hilliard, who made 16 starts, but a trio of transfers led by Skenes enter as highly touted prospects. “We’re excited to add Paul (Skenes), one of the best pitchers in the country,” Johnson said. “Thatcher (Hurd) has an incredibly high ceiling and Christian (Little) does as well.”

Floyd is one of two names on the mound, along with Cape Cod League star Grant Taylor, who Johnson seems most excited by in terms of their development this fall. “(There was a) real emergence on the mound with Floyd and Grant Taylor,” he said. The reason for the developmental gains of the pitching staff this fall? Johnson credits the addition of new pitching coach Wes Johnson, who LSU was able to lure back to the SEC from the Minnesota Twins.

Jay Johnson had to replace his two full time assistants this offseason as recruiting coordinator Dan Fitzgerald left to become the head coach at Kansas and pitching coach Jason Kelly left to become the head coach at Washington - both Power 5 head coaching jobs. If you’re sensing a theme you’d be right because as it is with the roster, LSU doesn’t rebuild, they reload.

Jay Johnson was able to lure one of the best recruiting coordinators in the country Josh Jordan away from Duke then made the big splash of grabbing Wes Johnson from the Twins. Jordan generally is regarded as a top recruiter, instrumental in the development of Duke’s program under Chris Pollard, and Wes Johnson was poached from Arkansas to the MLB ranks and is regarded by his peers as one of the brightest pitching minds in the country.

“I want to find the people that are the best at what they do,” Jay Johnson said. “Josh (Jordan) on the recruiting and catching side is outstanding; Wes is elite, might very well be the best pitching coach in all of baseball not just college baseball”

Even as the players change the goal stays the same: winning games and development. “We’re just trying to put all the pieces in place to help players live out their dream of being MLB players and go to Omaha and compete for national championships,” Johnson said. But just because the Tigers have earned the Preseason No. 1 ranking, the job isn’t finished. The SEC is still a vaunted gauntlet of stacked teams and Johnson knows he and his players are going to have to fight to finish the season at No. 1. “Nothing is going to be given to us,” he said. “We’re going to have to earn it.”
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College | Story | 2/10/2026

Conference Preview: America East
AJ Denny
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2026 College Preview Index | Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Collegiate All-Americans For all of Perfect Game's conference previews as part of the 2026 college baseball preview content, the 2025 records and all-conference teams are available for free. The conference top prospects and individual team breakdowns can be viewed with a subscription. 2025 Records Teams are listed in alphabetical order* Team W L W L Binghamton  13 11 28 26 Bryant  18 6 36 18 Maine  13 11 20 31 NJIT  14 10 27 26 UAlbany  10 14 22 32 UMass Lowell  8 16 18 35 UMBC  8 16 18 28 Preseason All-Conference Team Pos. Name School Stats/Notes C Levi McAllister UAlbany 2025 2nd Team America East All-Conference; hit .310 last season w/ 9 HRs and 25 XBH. Do-it-all guy for UAlbany, reliable behind dish w/ ability to hit for both AVG + power offensively 1B Sean O'Leary UMass...
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High School | Rankings | 2/10/2026

Texas Region Top Teams

Tyler Russo
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Softball | Softball Tournament | 2/9/2026

Perfect Game Softball Winter Warm Up 18U Division

Erica Beach
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Perfect Game Softball Winter Warm Up Burlington, IA Jan 30-Feb 1, 2026   BURLINGTON, IOWA- 23 teams across two age divisions converged onto Fun City Turf last weekend to compete to be the Winter Warm Up champions. In the 18U division, the Iowa Nationals 18U came out on top in a hard-fought game, defeating the Iowa Gold Prospects 2-1. On the weekend, several athletes stepped up big for their teams and below we highlight some of the top performers of the tournament.   18U Division   Julia Roth (2026, Dubuque, IA) of the Lady Expos Blue was one of the most effective hitters of the weekend. She finished her weekend batting .583, tallying seven hits, four of them being home runs. Her power was on display, and she came in clutch multiple times, driving in nine runs for her team. This right-handed hitter showed great composure in the box, working counts, and making defenses earn...
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High School | General | 2/9/2026

Deep South Region Top Teams

Tyler Russo
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Deep South All Region & Top Tools Rk Deep South  Record 1 Magnolia Heights (MS) 39-5 2 Barbe (LA) 35-7 3 Catholic (LA) 37-5 4 The Baylor School (TN) 22-8 5 Nolensville (TN) 20-14 6 Hoover (AL) 22-20 7 Sam Houston (LA) 36-8 8 Christian Brothers (TN) 26-13 9 Hartselle (AL) 35-8 10 Lipscomb Academy (TN) 28-9-1 11 Lewisburg (MS) 21-10 12 Farragut (TN) 32-11 13 Tuerlings Catholic (LA) 36-5 14 Tuscaloosa County (AL) 33-13 15 Petal (MS) 18-10 16 West Monroe (LA) 26-9-1 17 Brandon (MS) 24-14 18 Auburn (AL) 21-18 19 Oak Ridge (TN) 36-9 20 Bob Jones (AL) 37-12 21 Thompson (AL) 30-15 22 University Lab (LA) 29-12 23 Knoxville Catholic (TN) 23-16-1 24 Sumrall (MS) 25-9 25 Benton (LA) 35-6
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College | Story | 2/10/2026

Conference Preview: Horizon

Scott Rankin
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2026 College Preview Index | Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Collegiate All-Americans For all of Perfect Game's conference previews as part of the 2026 college baseball preview content, the 2025 records and all-conference teams are available for free. The conference top prospects and individual team breakdowns can be viewed with a subscription. 2025 Records Teams are listed in alphabetical order* Team W L W L Milwaukee 22 35 16 13 Northern Kentucky 31 25 18 12 Oakland 18 41 10 20 Wright State 40 21 25 5 Youngstown State 15 42 11 19 Preseason All-Conference Team Pos. Name School Stats/Notes C Jake Paulick Northern Kentucky Slashed .265/.404/.518 with 8 homers and 41 RBI in ‘25  1B Jp Peltier Wright State 1st team All-Horizon playing OF in ’25 and hit 20 homers with a 1.019 OPS 2B Hunter Warren Wright State 1st team All-Horizon in ’25...
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High School | General | 2/9/2026

Deep South All Region & Top Tools

David Rawnsley
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DEEP SOUTH REGION (AL, LA, MS, TN) The Deep South Region is absolutely loaded with position talent and would certainly have a chance to outscore any of the other Regions in a straight offensive battle.  And this trend doesn’t look like it’s going to change soon looking at the 2027 and 2028 classes for the Region. All the starting lineup, for instance, is made up of Perfect Game All-Americans if you excuse the recently re-classified Will Brick.  That leaves a pair of Louisiana All-Americans, Miller Sheets and Braylon Montgomery, out of the starting lineup.  Also missing is another re-classified player, Alabama shortstop Rocco Maniscalco, who has been talked about as a potential Day One draft in 2026. A strange twist in the Region is that it is abnormally well supplied with catchers, more so than any other region in the country really.  Nowhere does that...
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College | Story | 2/9/2026

Conference Preview: Ivy League

Jason Phillips
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2026 College Preview Index | Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Collegiate All-Americans For all of Perfect Game's conference previews as part of the 2026 college baseball preview content, the 2025 records and all-conference teams are available for free. The conference top prospects and individual team breakdowns can be viewed with a subscription. 2025 Records Teams are listed in alphabetical order* Team W L W L Brown 7 14 11 28 Columbia 16 5 30 19 Cornell 7 14 12 22 Dartmouth 8 13 11 25 Harvard 9 12 14 28 Penn 13 8 21 20 Princeton 8 13 12 31 Yale 16 5 31 14 Preseason All Conference Team Pos. Name School Stats/Notes C Owen Estabrook Columbia 9 HRs in 109 ABs, Buster Posey Award Midseason Watchlist 1B Giovanni Colasante Harvard .314-10-33, 7 2Bs/ 31.2 IP, 36 SO, 2025 1st Team Ivy League UTL/P INF Jack Kail Columbia .312-7-45, 14 2Bs, 2025 1st Team Ivy League INF Davis Baker...
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High School | General | 2/8/2026

California Region Top Teams

Tyler Russo
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California All Region & Top Tools Rk California 2025 Record 1 St. John Bosco 30-4 2 Orange Lutheran 23-7 3 De La Salle 29-4 4 Corona 28-3 5 Huntington Beach 24-5 6 Harvard-Westlake 19-10 7 Mater Dei 19-15 8 Aquinas 25-3 9 Norco 22-9 10 Cathedral Catholic 19-12 11 Sierra Canyon 16-13 12 St. Mary's 26-9 13 Santa Margaraita Catholic 20-14 14 La Mirada 21-7 15 Notre Dame 15-14 16 Gahr 17-13 17 JSerra Catholic 17-10 18 Eastlake 21-11-1 19 Patrick Henry 23-11-2 20 Ganesha 23-3 21 St. Ignatius College Prep 17-10-2 22 Mira Costa 28-3 23 Cypress 18-11 24 Redondo Union 16-13 25 Oaks Christian 20-9
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College | Story | 2/6/2026

Conference Preview: Ohio Valley

Kyler Peterson
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2026 College Preview Index | Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Collegiate All-Americans For all of Perfect Game's conference previews as part of the 2026 college baseball preview content, the 2025 records and all-conference teams are available for free. The conference top prospects and individual team breakdowns can be viewed with a subscription. 2025 Records Teams are listed in alphabetical order Team  W  L  W  L  Eastern Illinois  17  77  31  22  Lindenwood  14  12  30  30  Little Rock  8  16  27  34  Morehead State  4  23  14  39  SIUE  18  8  26  28  Southeast Missouri  16  11  30  25  Southern Indiana  15  12  27  29  Tennessee Tech  18  9  37 ...
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College | Story | 2/9/2026

Conference Preview: Summit

Jay Vossler
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2026 College Preview Index | Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Collegiate All-Americans For all of Perfect Game's conference previews as part of the 2026 college baseball preview content, the 2025 records and all-conference teams are available for free. The conference top prospects and individual team breakdowns can be viewed with a subscription. 2025 Records Teams are listed in alphabetical order* Team W L W L Northern Colorado 18 33 9 21 North Dakota State 21 34 13 15 Omaha 20 30 12 16 Oral Roberts 37 22 21 9 South Dakota State 16 36 12 18 St. Thomas 29 21 21 9 Preseason All-Conference Team Pos. Name School Stats/Notes C Wailele Kane-Yates Oral Roberts .341/.425/.576 12 HR, 50 RBI. Big time power bat with pro looks. 1B Jackson Trout Omaha .328/.404/.451 5 HR, 37 RBI. One of better athletes in the League. Versatile defender. 2B Tanner Recchio St. Thomas .324/.418/.415 30...
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