BATON ROUGE — Top-ranked LSU (7-0) plays away from Alex Box Stadium for the first time this season at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when the Tigers face New Orleans at UNO’s Maestri Field.
The game will be carried by the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network. The Baton Rouge affiliate is WDGL 98.1 FM.
Live audio of the game may be accessed in the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net.
LSU moved into the No. 1 position Monday in the Baseball America magazine poll (below) for the first time this season. The Tigers, ranked No. 2 by Baseball America last week, supplanted North Carolina at the top of the poll.
The Tigers remained No. 1 Monday in the Collegiate Baseball poll and the initial 2009 USA Today/ESPN Coaches rankings.
LSU coach Paul Mainieri said true freshman left-hander Chris Matulis (1-0), a product of Boynton Beach, Fla., will start the game on the mound for the Tigers. Matulis earned his first career collegiate victory Wednesday versus Southern, allowing one run on five hits in five innings with one walk and five strikeouts.
“I thought Chris pitched very well last week,” Mainieri said, “and we’re looking forward to seeing how he reacts to pitching in a different environment. UNO has an excellent program; they defeated us twice last season before we finally beat them in a 15-inning game in our third meeting. (UNO coach) Tom Walter is one of the best coaches in the country, and he’s done a fantastic job with the program there”.
UNO, which has advanced to an NCAA Regional in each of the past two seasons, is 4-4 this season. Walter will send junior right-hander Jim McGonigle (0-1) to the mound to start Tuesday’s game.
LSU posted a 4-0 mark last week, defeating Southern 11-5 on Wednesday before posting a three-game sweep of UCF over the weekend. The Tigers outscored the Knights 40-6 in the series while hitting .405 (47-for-116) as a team with seven doubles, eight homers and 13 stolen bases.
LSU has won 23 straight regular-season games, dating back to last season. The Tigers have also swept six consecutive regular-season series, a streak that began on April 27, 2008.
Sophomore shortstop DJ LeMahieu led LSU to its four wins last week, batting .667 (10-for-15) with two doubles, two homers, seven RBI, 10 runs and two stolen bases. In the Tigers’ three-game sweep of UCF, LeMahieu hit .700 (7-for-10) with one double, two homers, six RBI, eight runs and one steal.
LeMahieu leads the Tigers in cumulative batting average, hitting .625 (15-for-24) on the year with two doubles, three triples, two homers, 10 RBI, 12 runs and two stolen bases.
Junior catcher/first baseman Sean Ochinko also had a very productive series, batting .833 (10-for-12) against UCF with one double, eight RBI and three runs. Ochinko collected a career-best four hits in Friday’s win, and he posted a career-high four RBI in Saturday’s victory.
Sophomore centerfielder Leon Landry hit three homers in four games last week, increasing his season total to five home runs in the Tigers’ seven games. Landry has already equaled his home run output of last season, when hit five dingers.
Junior rightfielder Jared Mitchell batted .500 (7-for-14) last week with two doubles, one triple, two homers, seven runs and seven stolen bases. Mitchell launched two dingers in Sunday’s win over UCF, marking his first career multi-HR game …
LSU leads the overall series with UNO, 49-33, though the Privateers have won three of the last four meetings, including two of three last season.
The Tigers have won three of the last four meetings at Maestri Field. The last three LSU-UNO games at Maestri Field have been decided by two runs or less, with two of the contests going into extra innings.
#1 LSU Fighting Tigers (7-0) at New Orleans Privateers (4-4)
DATE/TIME
Tuesday, March 3 ? 6:30 p.m. CT
STADIUM
Maestri Field in New Orleans, La.
RANKINGS
LSU – No. 1 by Collegiate Baseball, USA Today/ESPN and Baseball America
UNO – unranked
RADIO
LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates
The Baton Rouge affiliate is WDGL 98.1 FM
Pregame show starts at 6:15 p.m.
INTERNET
www.LSUsports.net ? live video, audio and stats in the Geaux Zone.
TV
None
SERIES RECORD
LSU leads, 49-33
PITCHING MATCHUP
LSU ? Fr. LHP Chris Matulis (1-0, 1.80 ERA, 5 IP, 1 BB, 5 SO)
UNO ? Jr. RHP Jim McGonigle (0-1, 16.20 ERA, 3.1 IP, 4 BB, 0 SO)
Baseball America Poll
March 2, 2009
Record Pvs
1. LSU 7-0 2
2. Texas 9-0 4
3. North Carolina 7-1 3
4. Texas A&M 7-2 1
5. UC Irvine 5-2 5
6. Baylor 6-2 6
7. Cal State Fullerton 5-2 7
8. Arizona State 8-1 8
9. Rice 5-2 10
10. Georgia 8-0 12
11. San Diego 6-3 11
12. Pepperdine 5-2 17
13. Texas Christian 5-1 23
14. Mississippi 3-3 13
15. Miami 6-1 NR
16. Oklahoma 7-3 16
17. Kent State 5-0 18
18. Georgia Tech 6-1 20
19. Clemson 4-1 19
20. Coastal Carolina 6-1 NR
21. Arkansas 5-1 21
22. Florida State 6-1 22
23. Oklahoma State 6-1 25
24. Oregon State 4-2 NR
25. Cal Poly 6-1 NR
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s NCAA Div. I Poll
March 2, 2009
Rank School (Record) Points Previous
1. LSU (7-0) 496 1
2. Georgia (8-0) 494 3
3. North Carolina (7-1) 493 2
4. Texas (9-0) 490 8
5. Arizona St. (8-1) 484 4
6. Florida St. (6-1) 481 5
7. Rice (5-2) 478 10
8. Texas A&M (7-2) 477 6
9. Georgia Tech. (6-1) 475 9
10. Miami, Fla. (6-1) 473 14
11. Texas Christian (5-1) 469 16
12. Cal. St. Fullerton (5-2) 466 17
13. Oklahoma St. (6-1) 465 11
14. Baylor (6-2) 462 13
15. U.C. Irvine (5-2) 459 15
16. Coastal Carolina (6-1) 455 18
17. Cal Poly SLO (6-1) 452 ?
18. South Carolina (4-0) 449 ?
19. Clemson (4-1) 448 25
20. Florida (5-3) 445 12
21. Mississippi (3-3) 437 22
22. Pepperdine (5-2) 435 23
23. Lamar (9-1) 432 ?
24. East Carolina (5-1) 431 ?
25. Ohio St. (7-0) 430 30
26. Mississippi St. (8-1) 428 ?
27. Oklahoma (7-3) 427 20
28. Michigan (7-2) 426 28
29. Kentucky (4-2) 425 29
30. San Diego (6-3) 420 27
USA TODAY/ESPN Top 25 coaches’ baseball poll
March 2, 2009
The first regular-season USA TODAY/ESPN Top 25 baseball coaches’ poll, with records through March 1, total points based on 25 points for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in the preseason poll (Jan. 23) and first-place votes received:
Rank School (first-place votes) Record Points Last week
1 LSU (21) 7-0 762 1
2 North Carolina (7) 7-1 729 2
3 Georgia (2) 8-0 688 4
4 Texas (1) 9-0 626 9t
5 Arizona State 8-1 615 7
6 Texas A&M 7-2 602 5
7 Rice 5-2 566 3
8 Miami (Fla.) 6-1 11 14
9 Florida State 6-1 485 9t
10 Cal State Fullerton 5-2 477 8
11 Georgia Tech 6-1 428 12
12 UC Irvine 5-2 419 18
13 Oklahoma State 6-1 401 13
14 Baylor 6-2 303 17
15 Coastal Carolina 6-1 243 24
16 San Diego 6-3 223 15
17 Stanford 2-5 209 6
18 TCU 5-1 199 NR
19 Pepperdine 5-2 178 21
20 Florida 5-3 168 23
21 Clemson 4-1 141 25
22t Oklahoma 7-3 111 NR
22t Mississippi 3-3 111 11
24 East Carolina 5-1 81 NR
25t Cal Poly 6-1 61 NR
25t South Carolina 4-0 61 NR
Dropped out: No. 16 Louisville (4-3), No. 19 Fresno State (3-4), No. 20 Missouri (2-7), No. 22 UCLA (2-6).
Others receiving votes: Fresno State 59; Arkansas 49; Kent State 49; Southern Mississippi 47; California 46; Michigan 44; North Carolina-Wilmington 36; Louisville 35; Wichita State 34; UCLA 33; Arizona 31; Ohio State 26; Virginia 23; Oregon State 22; Missouri 21; Gonzaga 15; Kentucky 10; UC-Riverside 10; Mississippi State 9; Southern California 9; Wake Forest 9; UC-Santa Barbara 7; Lamar 6; Oral Roberts 5; Western Kentucky 5; Boston College 4; Elon 4; Nebraska 4; Oregon 4; San Diego State 4; Florida Atlantic 3; Kansas State 3; Minnesota 3; Auburn 2; Virginia Tech 2; Alabama 1; Tulane 1; Vanderbilt 1; Western Carolina 1.
The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the American Baseball Coaches Association.
The 2009 board: Terry Alexander, Jacksonville; John Anderson, Minnesota; Ed Blankmeyer, St. John’s; Buddy Bolding, Longwood; Roger Cador, Southern; Rob Cooper, Wright State; Sherman Corbett, Texas-San Antonio; Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt; David Eldredge, Southern Utah; Mike Gaski, North Carolina-Greensboro, Nino Giarratano, San Francisco; Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina; Keith Guttin, Missouri State; Danny Hall, Georgia Tech; Loren Hibbs, Charlotte; Charlie Hickey, Central Connecticut State; Steve Jaksa, Central Michigan; Rick Jones, Tulane; Steve Kittrell, South Alabama; Ken Knutson, Washington; Kevin Leighton, Manhattan; Gary McClure, Austin Peay; Mervyl Melendez, Bethune-Cookman; Gary Powers, Nevada; Mark Scalf, North Carolina-Wilmington; Jim Schlossnagle, TCU; Matt Senk, Stony Brook; Steve Smith, Baylor; Joe Sottolano, Army; Joe Walsh, Harvard; Mike Weathers, Long Beach State.