LSU Games on Wednesday and Thursday to be televised by Cox Sports Television; Weekend Games to be televised by Fox Sports Net
BATON ROUGE — Second-ranked LSU, the 2009 SEC regular-season champion, travels to Hoover, Ala., this week to begin defense of its 2008 SEC Tournament title.
The top-seeded Tigers (41-15, 20-10 SEC) will face eighth-seeded Vanderbilt (31-24, 12-17) at 5 p.m. CT Wednesday in Regions Park.
The LSU-Vanderbilt game will be carried by the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network. The Baton Rouge affiliate is WDGL 98.1 FM.
Live audio and stats of all of LSU’s SEC Tournament games may be accessed in the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net.
LSU’s games on Wednesday and Thursday will be televised live by Cox Sports Television (Cable Ch. 37 in Baton Rouge) and by Comcast Sports Southeast.
Fox Sports Net (Cable Ch. 38 in Baton Rouge) will televise all SEC Tournament games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with the exception of the “if necessary” games on Saturday. There will be no TV coverage of the Saturday “if necessary” games.
If LSU defeats Vanderbilt, the Tigers will advance to the winners’ bracket at 8:30 p.m. Thursday against either Alabama or South Carolina. If the Tigers lose to Vanderbilt, they will play an elimination game against either Alabama or South Carolina at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
The tournament continues through the weekend, with the championship game set for 3 p.m. Sunday. LSU defeated Ole Miss, 8-2, in the ’08 tournament title game.
The Tigers are seeking to become the first league team to win consecutive tournament titles since Alabama won back-to-back championships in 2002 and 2003.
“We’ve completed the regular season as SEC champions,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri, “and now it’s time to begin the next phase of our season. We’ve had a great year so far, but there is still much we want to accomplish. We’re going to the SEC Tournament with the goal of winning every game that we play. It’s a great event that our players really enjoy, and we’re looking forward to the competition. The SEC Tournament is tougher than any NCAA Regional in which we’ll play.”
LSU claimed the 14th Southeastern Conference title in school history last weekend, as the Tigers won two of three games at Mississippi State to end the regular season. The ’09 SEC regular-season crown is LSU’s first since 2003,
LSU tied Alabama for the most SEC championships in league history. The Tigers have won eight SEC titles since 1990 — the schools with the second-highest number of league titles in that span are Georgia and Florida with three apiece.
LSU’s series victory at Mississippi State was the Tigers’ ninth in 10 weekends this season and their 13th league series win in 14 weekends, dating back to last season. LSU has also won seven straight SEC road series, beginning in May 2008.
The Tigers’ final regular-season record of 41-15 is the best for an LSU club since the 2004 team also completed the regular season with a 41-15 mark.
LSU sophomore outfielder Leon Landry was phenomenal at the plate last week, batting .800 (8-for-10) in four games with one double, three homers, five runs and eight RBI. Landry tied LSU single-game records for hits and home runs in Saturday’s 15-4 win at Mississippi State, as he was 5-for-6 at the plate with three homers and seven RBI.
Landry became the first LSU player to hit three home runs in an SEC game since 1998, when Eddy Furniss launched three dingers at Auburn. He became the first Tiger to record five hits in a game since Blake Dean accomplished the feat in the 2008 NCAA Super Regional versus UC Irvine.
LSU right-handers Anthony Ranaudo and Louis Coleman are the first pair of Tigers pitchers to record over 100 strikeouts in the same season since 2000, when Brian Tallet (134 Ks) and Hunter Gomez (113 Ks) each exceeded the century mark. Ranaudo enters the postseason with an SEC-leading 118 strikeouts and Coleman is No. 4 in the league with 105 Ks.
Vanderbilt is led by freshman first baseman/catcher Aaron Westlake, who is hitting .382 with 11 doubles, seven homers and 48 RBI. Sophomore infielder Steven Liddle is batting .347 with 19 doubles, nine homers and 43 RBI, and sophomore catcher Curt Casali is hitting .347 with 14 doubles, eight homers and 52 RBI.
The Commodores are hitting .308 as a team with 44 homers and 85 stolen bases on the year.
Wednesday’s game will mark the first meeting of the year between LSU and Vanderbilt, as the teams did not play each other during the regular season. The Tigers and the Commodores last met in the second round of the 2008 SEC Tournament, when LSU posted an 8-2 victory.
LSU leads the all-time series with Vanderbilt, 48-30, though the Commodores have won five of the past seven meetings between the clubs.
Vanderbilt Commodores (31-24) vs. LSU Fighting Tigers (41-15)
DATE/TIME
Wednesday, May 20 ? 5 p.m. CT
STADIUM
Regions Park in Hoover, Ala.
RANKINGS
LSU – No. 2 by Collegiate Baseball; No. 2 by Baseball America; No. 3 by USA Today/ESPN
Vanderbilt — unranked
RADIO
LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates
The Baton Rouge affiliate is WDGL 98.1 FM
INTERNET
www.LSUsports.net ? live audio and stats for all of LSU’s SEC Tournament games
TV
LSU’s SEC Tournament games on Wednesday and Thursday will be televised live on Cox Sports Television (Cable Ch. 37 in Baton Rouge) and on Comcast Sports Southeast.
Fox Sports Net (Cable Ch. 38 in Baton Rouge) will televise all SEC Tournament games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with the exception of the “if necessary” games on Saturday. There will be no TV coverage of the Saturday “if necessary” games.
SEC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
LSU has a 54-34 all-time record in the SEC Tournament, and the Tigers have captured seven tournament titles (1986, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2000 and 2008). LSU is seeking to become the first team to win back-to-back tournament crowns since Alabama won in 2002 and 2003.
PITCHING MATCHUPS
Wednesday
LSU ? So. RHP Austin Ross (5-6, 5.07 ERA, 65.2 IP, 15 BB, 58 SO)
Vanderbilt ? TBA
Thursday
LSU ? So. RHP Anthony Ranaudo (7-3, 3.26 ERA, 85.2 IP, 34 BB, 118 SO)
South Carolina or Alabama ? TBA