BATON ROUGE — After winning its five games this past week, the LSU baseball team advanced one spot to No. 13 in the Baseball America Top 25 and two spots to No. 11 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 30 released Monday.
Overall Record: 10-2
Last Week’s Results (5-0)
Feb. 28 (Tue.) – GRAMBLING STATE (W, 17-10)
Feb. 29 (Wed.) – at McNeese State (W, 19-10)
March 2 (Fri.) – DARTMOUTH (W, 8-4)
March 3 (Sat.) – DARTMOUTH (W, 16-3)
March 4 (Sun.) – DARTMOUTH (W, 5-4)
LSU Player of the Week
Mason Katz, 1B, Jr., Harahan, La.
Katz hit a remarkable .684 (13-for-19) in five games last week with five doubles, three homers, eight RBI, 12 runs, a 1.421 slugging percentage and a .760 on-base percentage, leading LSU to perfect 5-0 mark … beginning with a walk in his final plate appearance on Feb. 26 versus Appalachian State, Katz reached base safely in 17 consecutive plate appearances, falling just one shy of the NCAA record of 18 straight set by Shaun Larkin of Cal State Northridge in 2002 … the streak ended on Katz’ first plate appearance on Saturday versus Dartmouth … during the streak of reaching base safely 17 straight times, Katz was 10-for-10 with three doubles, two homers, nine runs, seven walks and one stolen base … on the year, Katz is hitting a sizzling .500 (20-for-40) with seven doubles, one triple, three homers, 14 RBI and 18 runs.
Mason Katz (Week of Feb. 27-March 4)
Notes on the Tigers
The Tigers were undefeated in five games last week, batting .388 as a team with 23 doubles, four triples and three homers while scoring 65 runs … LSU first baseman Mason Katz hit a remarkable .684 (13-for-19) in five games last week with five doubles, three homers, eight RBI, 12 runs, a 1.421 slugging percentage and a .760 on-base percentage … beginning with a walk in his final plate appearance on Feb. 26 versus Appalachian State, Katz reached base safely in 17 consecutive plate appearances, falling just one shy of the NCAA record of 18 straight set by Shaun Larkin of Cal State Northridge in 2002 … the streak ended on Katz’ first plate appearance on Saturday versus Dartmouth … during the streak of reaching base safely 17 straight times, Katz was 10-for-10 with three doubles, two homers, nine runs, seven walks and one stolen base … on the year, Katz is hitting a sizzling .500 (20-for-40) with seven doubles, one triple, three homers, 14 RBI and 18 runs … rightfielder Raph Rhymes also enjoyed a phenomenal week, batting .609 (14-for-23) with three doubles, 13 RBI and eight runs scored …. shortstop Austin Nola hit .474 (9-for-19) in five games with three doubles, five RBI and eight runs, while third baseman Tyler Hanover batted .450 (9-for-20) with five doubles, 11 RBI and four runs … Nola produced a career-best four hits in Sunday’s win over Dartmouth, and he scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning on Hanover’s walk-off double … catcher Ty Ross batted .500 (5-for-10) in LSU’s series sweep of Dartmouth with two doubles and six RBI .. Ross produced a career-high five RBI in Saturday’s 16-3 win over the Big Green … right-hander Kevin Gausman improved to 3-0 on the year with a win over Dartmouth Friday, working 6.1 innings and limiting the Big Green to three earned runs with no walks and six strikeouts … right-hander Ryan Eades defeated Dartmouth on Saturday, allowing just one run on five hits in six innings with no walks and five strikeouts … LSU produced three triples in a single inning on Tuesday versus Grambling State, tying the school record for triples in a single game … LSU, which produced the three triples in a four-batter stretch in the eighth inning, was one shy of the NCAA record for triples in an inning (4).
Baseball America Top 25
Rank, Team, W-L, Last Week, Prev.
1. Florida, 10-1, 3-0, 1
2. Stanford, 10-1, 3-1, 2
3. South Carolina, 9-1, 3-1, 3
4. Arkansas, 11-2, 4-1, 4
5. Rice, 11-1, 3-1, 5
6. Texas A&M, 11-1, 5-0, 6
7. Arizona, 8-2, 3-0, 7
8. North Carolina, 8-2, 3-1, 9
9. Georgia, 10-2, 3-2, 8
10. Georgia Tech, 10-2, 4-0, 10
11. Arizona State, 8-2, 3-1, 11
12. Florida State, 9-1, 3-0, 13
13. LSU, 10-2, 5-0, 14
14. Mississippi, 9-2, 4-1, 16
15. Miami, 8-3, 1-3, 12
16. UCLA, 8-3, 4-0, 17
17. Oregon, 10-1, 3-0, 18
18. Central Florida, 10-2, 5-0, 19
19. Cal State Fullerton, 8-3, 5-0, 20
20. Clemson, 5-4, 1-2, 15
21. Texas State, 8-3, 4-0, NR
22. Oklahoma, 7-3, 3-1, 23
23. Mississippi State, 10-2, 4-1, NR
24. Louisville, 8-3, 2-2, 24
25. Maryland, 9-1, 4-0, NR
Dropped out: Texas (21), Texas Christian (22), Baylor (25).
Collegiate Baseball NCAA Div. I Poll
Rank School (Record) Points Previous
1. Florida (10-1) 497 1
2. South Carolina (9-1) 494 2
3. Stanford (10-1) 492 3
4. Rice (11-1) 491 4
5. Texas A&M (11-1) 490 5
6. North Carolina (8-2) 486 6
7. Arkansas (11-2) 482 7
8. Florida St. (9-1) 478 10
9. Oregon (10-1) 474 15
10. Georgia Tech. (10-2) 471 12
11. LSU (10-2) 469 13
12. Cal. St. Fullerton (8-3) 468 17
13. Arizona St. (8-2) 466 11
14. Miami, Fla. (8-3) 464 8
15. Georgia (10-2) 461 9
16. Louisville (8-3) 459 14
17. Oklahoma (7-3) 457 16
18. Arizona (8-2) 455 18
19. Stetson (9-2) 453 19
20. Clemson (5-4) 448 20
21. Maryland (9-1) 445 27
22. Mississippi (9-2) 441 23
23. Kentucky (11-0) 438 –
24. Gonzaga (10-0) 436 –
25. California (8-2) 435 25
26. Texas Tech. (9-3) 434 24
27. UCLA (8-3) 433 28
28. Oregon St. (8-4) 431 26
29. Purdue (8-1) 428 –
30. Central Florida (10-2) 426 –