BATON ROUGE — The LSU baseball team plays host to Northwestern State at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Alex Box Stadium in the first game of a home-and-home series between the Tigers and the Demons.
The teams meet again at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Brown-Stroud Field in Natchitoches. The contest will mark LSU’s first appearance in Natchitoches since 1991. The games can be heard on the LSU Sports Network (98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net. Tuesday’s game will be televised live in Baton Rouge only by the Pelican Sports Network (Cable Ch. 18).
LSU (27-11-1 overall, 12-6 SEC) is ranked No. 2 this week by Baseball America, No. 3 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 4 by Baseball Weekly/ESPN. The Tigers hold a one-game lead in the SEC standings over Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Tennessee.
Northwestern State is 29-11 overall, and the Demons are in first place in the Southland Conference with a 12-6 mark. NSU has won six straight games, including a three-game series sweep at Lamar last weekend.
Senior left-hander Tim Nugent (3-1, 3.57 ERA) will start Tuesday’s game for LSU. In 40.1 innings this season, Nugent has recorded 40 strikeouts and 24 walks, and opponents are hitting just .238 against him.
Nugent defeated Louisiana-Lafayette in his last start on April 10, limiting the Cajuns to two earned runs on two hits in six innings with six walks and three strikeouts.
The Demons will counter with junior right-hander Jason Slanina (4-1, 3.97 ERA). In 34 innings this season, Slanina has allowed 41 hits while recording 25 strikeouts and 10 walks.
LSU junior shortstop Ryan Theriot has taken over the team lead in hitting, batting .383 (59-for-154) with 10 doubles, three triples, one homer, 25 RBI and a .484 on-base percentage. Theriot enters Tuesday’s game riding a team-best 12-game hitting streak.
LSU leads Northwestern State, 37-9, in the all-time series between the schools, which began in 1937. The Tigers have won three of the last four meetings with the Demons, including a 13-0 victory last season in Baton Rouge.