BATON ROUGE — The LSU baseball team plays its final non-conference weekend series of 2003 before wading into Southeastern Conference play beginning on Friday when the Fighting Tigers host the Winthrop Eagles of the Big South Conference.
The series gets underway at 6:30 p.m. Friday and continues with games at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. Saturday’s game was originally scheduled for 2 p.m., butwas moved back 90 minutes to allow fans to attend the LSU-Alabama men’s basketball game at 1 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
All three games will be broadcast on the full LSU Sports Network (WDGL-98.1 FM in Baton Rouge), and live audio and live statistics will be available at www.lsusports.net.
LSU (8-6) enters the series on a two-game winning streak following Wednesday’s 4-2 victory over Southeastern Louisiana, giving the Tigers consecutive victories for the first time since LSU began the season 4-0.
The Tigers (No. 16 Baseball America, No. 18 Collegiate Baseball) will change their rotation slightly for this weekend, as junior right-hander Brian Wilson (2-2, 4.70) moves up to start the opener on Friday, with senior right-hander Bo Pettit (1-0, 1.12) set to start on Saturday.
LSU coach Smoke Laval was undecided on a starter for Sunday’s game, but it could be either senior right-hander Jake Tompkins (0-2, 5.48) or freshman right-hander Justin Meier (3-0, 0.60).
At the plate, LSU’s leading hitter is junior third baseman Ivan Naccarata, who enters the series with a batting average of .340. Naccarata has hit safely in the Tigers’ last 11 contests, including two hits in three consecutive games.
Winthrop (9-3) comes off of its first game in 2003 against a ranked opponent, as the Eagles of Rock Hill, S.C., dropped a 5-4 decision at in-state rival Clemson on Tuesday. Winthrop had won five consecutive games prior to the Clemson contest, including a four-game sweep of LaSalle last weekend.
Winthrop coach Joe Hudak has announced his starting pitchers for two of the series’ three games, and as has been the norm this year against LSU, both of those pitchers are left-handed. Scheduled to start on Friday is freshman left-hander Chase Edwards (1-1, 2.21) and senior Jeremy Plexico (2-2, 2.91), a transfer from South Carolina, will go on Sunday. Hudak did not name a starter for Saturday’s game at press time.
The Eagles feature a strong lineup at the plate, carrying a team batting average of .337 into the series, including three hitters batting .435 or better. Leading the way for is freshman right fielder Daniel Carte (.452), followed closely by junior designated hitter Grant Neidenfeuhr (.450) and junior second baseman Matt Matkovich (.435).
The series marks the first meeting in baseball between LSU and Winthrop. The Tigers have played only two schools from the state of South Carolina, winning twice against The Citadel in the 1990 College World Series, and playing South Carolina nearly every year since the Gamecocks joined the SEC in 1992.
The series is LSU’s first against a new opponent since the opening weekend of the 2002 series, when the Tigers swept Birmingham-Southern in Baton Rouge. BSC will join the Big South as a full member in 2004.
Winthrop, likewise, is making its first visit to the state of Louisiana. The Eagles’ only prior experience against a Bayou State school came in the 1999 Auburn regional, when the Eagles split two games with Tulane.
LSU returns to action on Tuesday with a contest against archrival Tulane at Zephyr Field in Metairie, the first of three meetings between the Tigers and Green Wave in 2003. The Tigers open their 30-game SEC slate next weekend by hosting Florida in a three-game series.