BATON ROUGE — The LSU baseball team will play host to Louisiana-Monroe at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Alex Box Stadium. The Tigers, 2-1, enter the contest ranked No. 3 by Baseball America and ESPN/Baseball Weekly and No. 4 by Collegiate Baseball.
The LSU-ULM game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Network (98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net. Live video of the game will be available to members of the LSUsports.net eTigers Den. The game will also be televised in Baton Rouge only by the Pelican Sports Network (Cable Channel 18).
LSU opened the 2001 season last weekend by taking two of three games from Kansas State in Alex Box Stadium. The Wildcats upset the Tigers in the opener, 9-8, but LSU rebounded for 4-0 and 14-8 victories.
Louisiana-Monroe is 3-0 after a season-opening sweep last weekend of LSU-Shreveport. The Indians posted 17-9, 5-4 and 14-1 wins over LSU-S.
Senior left-hander Tim Nugent (0-0, 1.69 ERA) will be the Tigers’ starting pitcher Wednesday. Nugent was impressive in relief versus Kansas State last Saturday, as he limited the Wildcats to one run on six hits in 5.1 innings with one walk and six strikeouts.
ULM will counter with junior left-hander Jason Lind, a transfer from Central Arizona Junior College. Lind pitched one inning in the LSU-Shreveport series, allowing no runs or hits with one strikeout.
Wednesday’s game matches LSU administrative assistant Smoke Laval against his former team.
Laval, who will succeed Skip Bertman this summer as LSU’s head coach, served as head coach at ULM for seven seasons (1994-2000). Laval led the Indians last season to a 41-22 record and the Southland Conference championship.
Laval’s former assistant, Brad Holland, is now the Indians’ head coach.
LSU leads the all-time series with ULM, 27-7, and the Tigers are 19-4 against the Indians during Bertman’s 18-year tenure.
LSU’s 9-8 loss to Kansas State Saturday marked Bertman’s first defeat in a season opener at home. Bertman was 12-0 in season openers in Alex Box Stadium prior to the one-run loss. The loss was also LSU’s first in a home opener since 1982.
KSU’s win was LSU’s first defeat in 14 games, dating back to last season when the Tigers dropped the final regular-season game of 2000 to Alabama. LSU then posted a perfect 13-0 post-season mark en route to the 2000 NCAA title.
Junior left-hander Shane Youman was brilliant in just his second career start, defeating Kansas State, 4-0, in Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader. Youman limited K-State to no runs on six hits in eight innings with five strikeouts and two walks. First baseman Bryan Moore, a transfer from Indian River (Fla.) JC, was the hitting star of Saturday’s win, as he delivered a two-run homer and four RBI.
Ttrue freshman Aaron Hill enjoyed an outstanding series, batting .462 (6-for-13) with one double, two RBI and four runs. Hill, a native of Visalia, Calif., started each of the three games at a different position — second base, designated hitter and left field.
Another true freshman, left-hander Lane Mestepey, earned a victory in his first career start, a 14-8 win over Kansas State on Sunday. Mestepey, a native of Zachary, La., allowed four earned runs on six hits in six innings with two walks and four Ks.
Pre-season all-American second baseman Mike Fontenot was 4-for-9 (.444) in the K-State series with two doubles, two RBI and three runs. Fontenot played only as a pinch runner in Game 1 due to a right hand injury. He had the hamate bone removed from the hand in the fall and was on his way to a full recovery before falling on the hand during pre-season drills. Fontenot was not expected to play until this weekend’s series versus Houston; however, he started Games 2 and 3 against Kansas State.