BATON ROUGE — The baseball game between LSU and the University of New Orleans scheduled for Tuesday night at Privateer Park has been postponed due to expected severe thunderstorms in the New Orleans area.
The game will be played later this season at a date and time to be announced by school officials.
LSU, ranked No. 5 this week in the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball polls, returns to action at 6 p.m. CST Friday when the Tigers begin a three-game SEC series at No. 17 Georgia.
The Tigers swept three games last weekend in Alex Box Stadium, defeating Arizona State twice (6-5, 20-3) and Western Illinois (10-8). LSU’s 20-3 victory over Arizona State Sunday featured a 12-run fourth inning in which the Tigers launched four consecutive home runs. Third baseman Blake Gill blasted a grand slam followed by solo homers from center fielder Ryan Patterson, second baseman Clay Harris and right fielder Nick Stavinoha, marking the first time in LSU history the Tigers hit four homers in four plate appearances.
LSU last hit four homers in an inning on May 30, 1998, when the Tigers unloaded four dingers in a 12-10 College World Series victory over Southern California.
The 12-run inning against Arizona State marked the Tigers’ largest scoring output in a single frame since May 27, 2000, when LSU scored 14 runs in the third inning of an NCAA Regional game against Louisiana-Monroe in Alex Box Stadium. Gill’s grand slam on Sunday versus ASU was LSU’s first grand slam since March 12, 2004, when Will Harris unloaded one against Southeastern Louisiana.
Patterson enjoyed an incredible weekend in the Tigers’ victories over Arizona State and Western Illinois, batting .563 (7-for-12) in three games with four homers, eight runs and seven RBI. Patterson was 3-for-4 with two homers and two RBI in Saturday’s win over WIU; on Sunday against ASU, he belted two more homers and drove in four runs. Patterson lifted his cumulative average to .403 (27-for-67) with seven doubles, six homers and 16 RBI.
Clay Harris also was extremely productive at the plate last weekend, batting .667 (8-for-12) with two doubles, one triple, one homer and five RBI.
As a team, the Tigers batted .380 (41-for-108) in three games with eight doubles, three triples, nine homers and 36 runs, raising their cumulative average from .293 to .308.
Senior left-hander Lane Mestepey moved into a tie for second place on the all-time LSU wins list, as he earned his 33rd victory Friday over Arizona State. Mestepey is five wins shy of tying Scott Schultz (38 wins, 1992-95) as the Tigers’ career victories leader. Mestepey is 4-1 this season with a team-best 1.89 ERA in 33.1 innings.