In a move that raised eyebrows among LSU baseball fans, head coach Jay Johnson turned to Casan Evans out of the bullpen during Friday night's 11-1 loss to Florida—a decision that seemed to contradict his comments just a day earlier.

Following the Game 2 defeat, which sealed the series loss to the Gators, Johnson clarified that using Evans was always part of the plan. "It was always the plan to have him throw tonight, around 40 pitches, two innings," Johnson explained. "I thought his stuff looked good. [I] thought he threw some really good change-ups, which is a signature for him."

The confusion stemmed from Johnson's Thursday remarks, where he stated that neither Evans nor fellow weekend starter William Schmidt would see the mound against Florida. On Friday, Johnson clarified that while neither would start, Evans was still available for relief duty.

Evans delivered 1.2 innings of relief, surrendering three runs on a home run and two hits while striking out two batters. Johnson confirmed that Schmidt won't appear in Saturday's regular-season finale, but both pitchers will be ready for the SEC tournament.

Johnson didn't hide the difficulty of the decision. "I make these decisions all the time. Do I love not having William Schmidt and Casan Evans against Florida? No. I hate it. It makes me sick to my stomach," he admitted.

With LSU's path to the NCAA Tournament likely requiring an SEC championship, Johnson is strategically preserving his top arms for Hoover rather than emptying the tank in the final regular-season series. It's a calculated gamble—one that prioritizes the bigger prize over a single weekend showdown.