LSU First Pitch banquet signals the opening of 2025 baseball season

(Photo courtesy of @LSUbaseball on X)

BATON ROUGE, La. – Coach Jay Johnson and the 2025 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.

Thursday night’s event raised $400,000 for the LSU Baseball program.

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

Johnson spoke to a packed house of over 1,000 fans in the Crowne Plaza, thanking the crowd for its tremendous support.

“If I was to sum up in one word what it means for me to be here tonight, that word would be thankful,” Johnson said. “When you invest your life in a profession, one of the greatest things is having people get behind you, and there is nothing like the support we get from our fans in Alex Box Stadium.

“LSU is an amazing place with great tradition; it’s about excellence and being the best of the best. It is the pathway to professional baseball and the chance to compete and win a national championship. I know this 2025 team will uphold that elite tradition.”

The audience also heard from pitcher Gavin Guidry, first baseman Jared Jones, outfielder Josh Pearson and pitcher Chase Shores, who provided an inside look at the 2025 squad.

Jones, a native of Marietta, Ga., discussed his decision to forgo the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft last summer and return to LSU for his junior season.

“I came to LSU as an 18-year-old kid who had lived in the same house and had all of the same friends my entire life,” Jones said. “LSU and the entire Baton Rouge community embraced me, and they have given me the best two years of my life. I absolutely wanted to return to LSU and play for the opportunity to win another national championship.”

Special guests on Thursday night included former LSU All-Americans Dylan Crews and Tre’ Morgan, who spoke to the audience about their experiences with the Tigers and in professional baseball.

Crews, an outfielder, made his Major League debut with the Washington Nationals in August and Morgan, a member of the Tampa Bay Rays organization, is rated as the No. 5 pro prospect at first base by MLB.com.

LSU opens the season at 2 p.m. CT on Friday, February 14, when the Tigers play host to Purdue Fort Wayne in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

**LSU Press Release**