BATON ROUGE — The LSU baseball team returns to SEC action this weekend as the Tigers play host to Kentucky in Alex Box Stadium. Game 1 of the series is set for 7 p.m. Friday, Game 2 will start at 4 p.m. Saturday and Game 3 will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday.
All three games can be heard on the LSU Sports Network (98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net. Sunday’s game will be televised live by the Guaranty Sports Network (Cable Ch. 10 in Baton Rouge).
LSU (19-7-1 overall, 6-3 SEC) enters Friday’s game ranked No. 7 in the nation by Baseball America magazine and by ESPN/Baseball Weekly. The Tigers are in second place in the SEC Western Division, one game behind Ole Miss (7-2).
Kentucky (12-15, 2-7) has lost six straight conference games, and the Wildcats are in sixth place in the SEC Eastern Division. Kentucky defeated Xavier, 13-4, Wednesday in a non-conferece contest, as the Wildcats pounded out a season-high 22 hits.
Sophomore right-hander Bo Pettit (3-0, 2.50 ERA) will start Friday’s game for LSU. Pettit defeated Mississippi State last Friday, as he worked 6.1 innings and limited the Bulldogs to no earned runs on six hits with four walks and three strikeouts.
Freshman left-hander Lane Mestepey (4-0, 3.71 ERA) will start on Saturday for the Tigers.
Mestepey delivered his best outing of the season last Saturday at Mississippi State, as he limited the Bulldogs to one earned run on six hits in 8.1 innings with no walks and six strikeouts.
LSU head coach Skip Bertman has not yet decided upon Sunday’s starting pitcher.
Kentucky will counter this weekend with sophomore right-hander Scott Wade (2-4, 2.39 ERA) on Friday, sophomore right-hander Rob Corrado (4-2, 5.45 ERA) on Saturday and sophomore right-hander Joseph Blanton (1-3, 5.17 ERA) on Sunday.
The Tigers enter Friday’s game with a .321 team batting average, which is second-best in the SEC. Second baseman Mike Fontenot leads LSU with a .420 (29-for-69) average, and he has 10 doubles, three homers and 18 RBI.
First baseman Bryan Moore is hitting .381 (37-for-97) with nine doubles, five homers and 27 RBI, and third baseman Wally Pontiff is batting .368 (39-for-106) with three doubles, one triple, three homers and 21 RBI.
LSU leads the all-time series with Kentucky, 27-12, and the Tigers have won eight of the last 10 meetings between the schools.