SHREVEPORT, La. — The LSU baseball team puts its 3-0 record on the line when the Fighting Tigers face Centenary at 7 p.m. Tuesday night at Fair Grounds Field in LSU’s first road game of 2003.
The game will be broadcast to the full LSU Sports Network (WDGL-98.1 FM) and on the Internet at www.lsusports.net.
In the first of 24 games to be played away from Alex Box Stadium in 2003, the Tigers look to carry over the success they have enjoyed away from home the previous three years. LSU is 56-32-1 games played away from home since the start of the 2000 season.
LSU (No. 6 Collegiate Baseball, No. 8 Baseball America) is coming off of a three-game sweep of in-state rival Northwestern St., winning by scores of 2-1, 10-5 and 5-3. The sweep represents the Tigers’ sixth 3-0 start in the last eight years, and with a victory over Centenary, the Tigers can begin 4-0 for the first time since their 2000 national championship season.
In four of the Tigers’ five national championship seasons, LSU has started at least 6-0, missing only with a 3-3 start in 1993.
The Tigers will start true freshman right-hander Justin Meier on the mound against the Gents. Meier, a native of Windmere, Fla., will be making his first career appearance in an LSU uniform, and he will become the fourth Tiger newcomer to take the mound this year, joining Billy Sadler, Brandon Nall and Nate Bumstead.
All 13 Tiger position players who made a plate appearance in the Northwestern State series collected a hit, and eight players had at least two hits. Leading the Tigers at the plate on the weekend was sophomore infielder Blake Gill, who had two hits in each of the three games to finish with a .462 batting average (6-for-13).
The Gents, playing their final season as a Division I independent, enter at 3-2 after a three-game weekend sweep of Prairie View. Centenary, which joins the Mid-Continent Conference in 2004, opened the season with mid-week losses to Texas-Arlington and Louisiana Tech.
Senior left-hander Patrick Rhodes (0-1, 16.20) will start for the second consecutive year against LSU. Rhodes gave up four runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings in last year’s contest.
The Tigers defeated the Gents for the 19th consecutive time in 2002, taking a 7-6 victory. David Raymer provided the big hit in that contest, coming through with a two-out, two-strike, two-run double in the ninth inning for the win.
LSU leads the all-time series, 24-7-1, and was 18-0 under former coach Skip Bertman from 1984 through 2000. Current Tiger coach Smoke Laval was 15-2 against the Gents during his seven seasons as coach at Louisiana-Monroe and is 16-2 overall versus Centenary.
The Tigers are back home on Friday to open a three-game weekend series against Kansas.