BATON ROUGE — LSU first baseman/designated hitter Zeph Zinsman was named National Player of the Week Monday by Collegiate Baseball magazine. Zinsman also received SEC Player of the Week recognition Monday from the conference’s media relations office.
Zinsman enjoyed a remarkable week at the plate, batting .667 (10-for-15) in LSU’s four victories with two doubles, five homers, nine runs, 10 RBI and 27 total bases. In the Tigers’ three-game sweep of Duquesne, Zinsman hit .721 (8-for-11) with two doubles, four homers, eight runs, nine RBI and 22 total bases.
Zinsman tied the LSU single-game record for homers last Friday when he launched three in the Game 1 victory over Duquesne. Zinsman’s three-HR game was the ninth in LSU history and the first since May 27, 2000, when all-America catcher Brad Cresse hit three homers versus Louisiana-Monroe in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
On the year, Zinsman is hitting a team-high .519 (14-for-27) with five doubles, five homers, 11 runs, 13 RBI and a 1.259 slugging percentage.
LSU (9-2), ranked No. 2 this week by Baseball America and No. 3 by Collegiate Baseball, plays host to Nicholls State at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Alex Box Stadium. The Tigers enter the contest riding a seven-game win streak.
Nicholls State is 7-9 after dropping two of three games last weekend to Delta State.
The LSU-Nicholls State game can be heard on the LSU Sports Network (98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net. The game will not be televised.
Senior left-hander Tim Nugent (1-0, 2.60 ERA) is the Tigers’ scheduled starter on Tuesday.
Nugent earned his first win as a starter since March 10, 1998, when he defeated McNeese State on Feb. 20. Nugent pitched a career-high eight innings, limiting the Cowboys to two earned runs on six hits with three walks and a career-best eight strikeouts. Nicholls State is expected to counter with junior right-hander Seth Schornick (0-1, 6.20 ERA).
Schornick has worked 20.1 innings, recording 13 walks and 23 strikeouts. He has allowed just 17 hits and a .221 opponents’ batting average; however, he has surrendered three doubles, four homers, eight wild pitches and seven hit batsmen.
LSU leads the all-times series with Nicholls State, 35-21, as the teams first met in 1968. The Tigers own an eight-game win streak over the Colonels. Nicholls State last defeated LSU in 1994, a 3-2 victory in Thibodaux.