BATON ROUGE — Following the LSU baseball team’s season-opening sweep of Kansas this past weekend, check out the major national polls as they are released today.
LSU (3-0) returns to Alex Box Stadium for a Wednesday night contest against Nicholls (2-1), which took two of three games from Stony Brook in Thibodaux this past weekend and faces Southern University at home on Tuesday night.
First pitch between the Tigers and Colonels is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on the SEC Network’s digital platform, SEC Network+, as well as Eagle 100.7 FM in Baton Rouge.
LSU Baseball Report – Feb. 16
Overall Record: 3-0
Last Week’s Results
Feb. 13 (Fri.) – KANSAS (W, 4-1)
Feb. 14 (Sat.) – KANSAS (W, 8-5)
Feb. 15 (Sun.) – KANSAS (W, 7-4)
This Week’s Schedule
Feb. 18 (Wed.) – NICHOLLS STATE, 6:30 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)
Feb. 20 (Fri.) – BOSTON COLLEGE, 7 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)
Feb. 21 (Sat.) – BOSTON COLLEGE, 3 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)
Feb. 22 (Sun.) – BOSTON COLLEGE, 1 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)
Notes on the Tigers
LSU swept a three-game series against Kansas last weekend, starting a season 3-0 for the seventh consecutive year … LSU remained No. 2 this week in the Baseball America rankings and No. 4 in the Collegiate Baseball poll … the Tigers’ 4-1 win over the Jayhawks on Friday night marked LSU’s 14th consecutive victory in a season-opening game … senior first baseman/second baseman Conner Hale batted .385 (5-for-13) over the weekend to lead the second-ranked Tigers to a three-game sweep over Kansas … Hale collected one double and five RBI and he scored one run to spark LSU’s offensive effort … in Sunday’s 7-4 win over Kansas to clinch a three-game series sweep, Hale was 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI to pace the Tigers’ 12-hit output … sophomore left-hander Jared Poche’ delivered an impressive performance in Friday’s season-opening win over Kansas, limiting the Jayhawks to just two hits in six shutout innings with one walk and five strikeouts … Poche’ allowed just two singles, and he fired 84 pitches in the outing to earn the win and clinch LSU’s 14th-straight season-opening victory … freshman right-hander Alex Lange was brilliant in his collegiate baseball debut on Saturday versus Kansas, limiting the Jayhawks to just two hits in five shutout innings with one walk and seven strikeouts … Lange did not allow a Jayhawk runner to advance beyond second base, and he fired 71 pitches in the outing to earn the win and clinch a series victory for the Tigers … Lange earned SEC Freshman of the Week recognition Monday from the league office … LSU catcher Kade Scivicque hit .429 (3-for-7) in two games last weekend with one homer and three RBI … Scivicque’s three-run dinger in the second inning of Friday night’s game gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead and LSU went on to post a 4-1 victory … first baseman/DH Chris Chinea hit .364 (4-for-11) over the weekend with two RBI and three runs, and rightfielder Mark Laird batted .333 (3-for-9) with one RBI, four runs and three stolen bases … the Tigers batted .305 (29-for-95) in the series, averaging just under 10 hits per game … redshirt freshman right-hander Jesse Stallings enjoyed a successful debut as the Tigers’ closer, posting saves on Friday and Sunday … Stallings worked a total of two innings in the series, allowing no runs on one hit with no walks and four strikeouts … sophomore reliever Collin Strall, a transfer from Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College was also impressive in his LSU debut, making two appearances and recording four strikeouts in two innings of work with no hits, runs or walks … as a staff, LSU allowed just 17 hits in three games and limited Kansas to a .170 cumulative batting average.
Baseball America Top 25
Feb. 16, 2015
Team, W-L, Last Week, Previous Rank
1. Vanderbilt, 2-1, 2-1, 1
2. LSU, 3-0, 3-0, 2
3. Houston, 3-0, 3-0, 3
4. Virginia, 3-0, 3-0, 4
5. Texas Tech, 4-0, 4-0, 5
6. Florida, 3-0, 3-0, 6
7. TCU, 3-0, 3-0, 7
8. Miami, 4-0, 4-0, 9
9. Oklahoma State, 1-2, 1-2, 8
10. Texas, 2-2, 2-2, 10
11. UCLA, 3-0, 3-0, 11
12. Louisville, 2-1, 2-1, 12
13. South Carolina, 2-1, 2-1, 13
14. Mississippi State, 4-0, 4-0, 14
15. Rice 2-2, 2-2, 15
16. Maryland, 3-0, 3-0, 16
17. North Carolina, 3-0, 3-0, 17
18. Arizona State, 2-1, 2-1, 18
19. Kennesaw State, 2-1, 2-1, 19
20. Oregon, 2-1, 2-1, 20
21. Florida State, 3-0, 3-0, 21
22. Central Florida, 3-0, 3-0, 22
23. Florida International, 2-1, 2-1, NR
24. UC Santa Barbara, 3-0, 3-0, NR
25. Liberty, 2-1, 2-1, 25
Dropped Out: Cal State Fullerton (23), Clemson (24).
Collegiate Baseball Magazine Top 30
Feb. 16, 2015
Rank, Team (2015 Record), Points, Pvs
1. TCU (3-0), 494, 2
2. Vanderbilt (2-1), 492, 1
3. Virginia (3-0), 489, 3
4. LSU (3-0), 487, 4
5. Florida (3-0), 485, 6
6. Houston (3-0), 483, 8
7. Texas Tech. (4-0), 481, 9
8. UCLA (3-0), 479, 10
9. Arizona St. (2-1), 477, 19
10. Oklahoma St. (1-2), 474, 5
11. Florida St. (3-0), 470, 11
12. Texas (2-2), 468, 7
13. Rice (2-2), 467, 22
14. Miami, Fla. (4-0), 465, 14
15. Louisville (2-1), 463, 12
16. U.C. Santa Barbara (3-0), 460, 16
17. Oregon (2-1), 458, 15
18. Mississippi St. (4-0), 457, 20
19. North Carolina (3-0), 454, 24
20. South Carolina (2-1), 452, 21
21. Baylor (3-0), 450, NR
22. Indiana (2-1), 446, NR
23. Stanford (1-2), 445, 18
24. Liberty (2-1), 443, 23
25. Cal St. Fullerton (1-2), 440, 17
26. Illinois (4-0), 438, NR
27. Maryland (3-0), 436, NR
28. Georgia Tech. (2-1), 432, 26
29. Kennesaw St. (2-1), 430, 27
30. Alabama (3-0), 427, NR
Dropped Out: Cal. Poly (0-3), College of Charleston (1-2), Clemson (1-2), St. John’s (1-2) and Kent St. (1-2).
Perfect Game Top 25
Feb. 16, 2015
Rank, Team, Record, Prev.
1, Vanderbilt, 2-1, 1
2, Virginia, 3-0, 2
3, Texas Christian, 3-0, 3
4, Florida, 3-0, 4
5, UCLA, 3-0, 5
6, LSU, 3-0, 7
7, Houston, 3-0, 8
8, Texas, 2-2, 6
9, Louisville, 2-1, 9
10, Miami, 4-0, 10
11, Florida State, 3-0, 11
12, Texas Tech, 4-0, 12
13, South Carolina, 2-1, 14
14, Oregon, 2-1, 15
15, Arkansas, 3-0, 16
16, North Carolina, 3-0, 17
17, UC Santa Barbara, 3-0, 18
18, Arizona State, 2-1, 20
19, Oklahoma State, 1-2, 13
20, Rice, 2-2, 21
21, Mississippi State, 4-0, 23
22, Texas A&M, 3-0, 25
23, Kennesaw State, 2-1, 24
24, Cal State Fullerton, 1-2, 19
25, Stanford, 1-2, 22
NCBWA Division I Poll
Feb. 16, 2015
Rank, School, Record, Pvs.
1, Virginia, 3-0, 2
2, TCU, 3-0, 3
3, Vanderbilt, 2-1, 1
4, LSU, 3-0, 4
5, Florida, 3-0, 5
6, Houston, 3-0, 7
7, UCLA, 3-0, 9
8, Texas Tech, 4-0, 12
9, Texas, 2-2, 6
10, Louisville, 2-1, 10
11, Miami, 4-0, 13
12, South Carolina, 2-1, 11
13, North Carolina, 3-0, 14
14, Rice, 2-2, 15
15, Florida State, 3-0, 16
16, Oklahoma State, 1-2, 8
17, Arizona State, 2-1, 21
18, Oregon, 2-1, 17
19, Maryland, 3-0, 20
20, Mississippi State, 4-0, 22
21, Ole Miss, 2-1, 19
22, Texas A&M, 3-0, 25
23, Alabama, 3-0, 28
24, Cal State Fullerton, 1-2, 18
25, Kennesaw State, 2-1, 26
26, UCF, 3-0, 34
27, Baylor, 3-0, NR
28, Arkansas, 3-0, NR
29, Indiana, 2-1, NR
30, Liberty, 2-1, 30
Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Arizona (3-0), Cal Poly (0-3), Central Michigan (3-1), Clemson (1-2), College of Charleston (1-2), Creighton (3-0), Dallas Baptist (3-0), Elon (3-0), Florida Atlantic (3-0), FIU (2-1), Fresno State (3-0), Georgia Tech (2-1), Illinois (4-0), Kentucky (2-0), Loyola Marymount (3-0), Morehead State (3-1), Notre Dame (3-1), Oregon State (2-1), Sam Houston State (2-1), San Diego State (3-0), South Florida (2-1), Stanford (1-2), Tennessee (1-2), Tulane (2-1), UAB (3-0), UC Irvine (3-0), UC Santa Barbara (3-0), UNLV (2-1), Washington (3-0), West Virginia (2-1).
Dropped out: Cal Poly (23), Clemson (27), Tennessee (29).