BATON ROUGE — First place in the SEC baseball standings is at stake this weekend as second-ranked LSU entertains No. 18 Ole Miss in Alex Box Stadium. Game 1 is set for 7 p.m. Friday, Game 2 starts at 3 p.m. Saturday and Game 3 begins at 1 p.m. Sunday.
All three games can be heard on the LSU Sports Radio Network (98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net. Saturday’s game will be televised live by Fox Sports Net South (Cable Ch. 26 in Baton Rouge), and Sunday’s game will be televised live by the Guaranty Sports Network (Cable Ch. 10 in Baton Rouge).
LSU and Ole Miss are tied for first place in the SEC race with 10-5 league records. The Tigers are 25-10-1 overall after a 7-6 loss to Tulane Wednesday night at Zephyr Field in Metairie. Ole Miss is 26-10-1 overall after defeating Southern Mississippi, 11-9, Wednesday night in Hattiesburg.
LSU head coach Skip Bertman said senior right-hander Jason Scobie (1-1, 6.51 ERA) will start Friday’s game for LSU. Freshman right-hander Brian Wilson (1-2, 5.79 ERA) will start on Saturday for the Tigers, and freshman left-hander Lane Mestepey (6-0, 3.03 ERA) will take the mound Sunday.
Ole Miss will counter with junior right-hander Pete Montrenes (7-2, 2.79 ERA) on Friday, junior left-hander Mike Gray (2-1, 5.07 ERA) on Saturday, and senior right-hander Dan McShea (2-3, 3.60 ERA) on Sunday.
LSU enters the series ranked No. 2 in the SEC in team batting average (.320), No. 8 in team ERA (4.62) and No. 10 in fielding percentage (.961). Ole Miss is No. 6 in the league in team batting average (.296), No. 5 in team ERA (3.91) and No. 7 in fielding percentage (.962).
The Rebels are led by first-year head coach Mike Bianco, a former LSU catcher (1988-89) and assistant coach (1993-97). Bianco, who spent the previous three years as the head coach at McNeese State, led MSU to two wins over LSU last year.
LSU leads the all-time series with Ole Miss, 143-123, as the teams first met in 1906. The Tigers have won 14 of their last 17 meetings with the Rebels, and Bertman has a 45-13 mark against Ole Miss during his 18-year head coaching career.