BATON ROUGE, La. — Game 1 of the LSU Baseball Purple-Gold World Series begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field. The three-game intrasquad series signals the conclusion of LSU’s six-week fall practice session.
Game 2 is set for 7 p.m. Friday and Game 3 starts at 5 p.m. Sunday. All games will be six innings, and they are open to the public with free admission.
“The Purple-Gold World Series is an event that our players embrace, and the games are always played with a great deal of energy and enthusiasm,” said ninth-year LSU coach Paul Mainieri, who directed the Tigers in 2014 to the SEC Tournament title and the No. 8 National Seed in the NCAA Tournament. “We try to simulate much of the gameday atmosphere they’ll experience in the spring.
“We encourage our fans to come out to ‘The Box’ this weekend and get an early look at what we think will be an outstanding team. We had some fantastic crowds at the games last year, and that inspired our players to perform at a high level.”
The event features former LSU players serving as guest coaches. Tyler Moore (infielder, 2012-14) will manage the Purple squad, and he will be assisted by Sean McMullen (outfielder, 2013-14) and Aaron Nola (pitcher, 2012-14), along with LSU strength coach Jeremy Phillips.
The Gold team will be managed by Chris McGhee (infielder 2006-09), and he will be assisted by Jared Mitchell (outfielder, 2007-09) and Michael Hollander (infielder, 2005-08), along with assistant strength coach Esteban Doria.
The Purple team will start freshman right-hander Alex Lange on the mound in Game 1 on Thursday, while the Gold will counter with freshman right-hander Jake Godfrey.
Game 2 on Friday will match Purple sophomore left-hander Jared Poche’ versus Gold freshman right-hander Doug Norman. Purple freshman right-hander Jesse Stallings will start Game 3 Sunday against Gold senior left-hander Kyle Bouman.
Pitch count limits will be in effect as the LSU pitchers continue their development in preparation for the 2015 season, which begins on Friday, February 13, when the Tigers play host to Kansas in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.