BATON ROUGE — Second-ranked LSU opens a five-game home stand at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday as the Tigers play host to No. 12 Tulane in Alex Box Stadium.
The game can be heard on the LSU Sports Radio Network, including flagship WDGL-FM 98.1 in Baton Rouge. The radio broadcast and live stats may be also be accessed at www.LSUsports.net.
LSU won two of three games at #11 Auburn last weekend to capture its third consecutive SEC series this year and its fifth in a row over the past two seasons. Two of the three series victories this year have come on the road against Top 15 teams (Auburn and South Carolina).
The Tigers have a 6-3 SEC record and trail first-place Ole Miss (7-2) by one game in the Western Division standings. LSU resumes conference play this weekend when the Tigers play host to Arkansas in a three-game series.
Tulane (7-2) is tied for first place in Conference USA with Southern Mississippi and South Florida.
LSU coach Smoke Laval will send sophomore left-hander Jason Determann (2-0, 3.10 ERA) to the mound Tuesday. Determann will be making his third start this season and the eighth of his career. He was the Tigers’ starter in last week’s 12-5 victory at UNO, as he allowed four runs on six hits in 4.2 innings with no walks and a career-best seven strikeouts.
Tulane coach Rick Jones plans to counter with sophomore left-hander Brian Bogusevic (4-2, 4.11 ERA).
LSU first baseman Clay Harris, who led LSU to the series victory at Auburn last weekend, was named Monday as the SEC Player of the Week by the league office.
Harris enjoyed a superb week, batting .467 (7-for-15) in four games with three homers, one double, eight RBI, six runs, a 1.133 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage. Harris hit .455 (5-for-11) in the Auburn series with two homers, one double, seven RBI, three runs, a 1.091 slugging percentage and a .462 on-base percentage.
Harris, who led LSU in home runs last season with 16, entered the week with just one this season; however, he homered in three straight games to raise his total to four.
His solo shot at UNO on Tuesday broke a 23-game drought without a homer. Harris hit a two-out, two-run blast in the top of the ninth inning Friday at Auburn to send the game to extra innings, and his eighth-inning solo homer Saturday at Auburn tied the contest at 3-3 as LSU went on to a 5-3 win.
Harris broke a scoreless tie on Sunday at Auburn with a seventh-inning RBI single, sparking the Tigers to a 3-2 victory.
LSU’s 5-3 win over Auburn on Saturday marked the first time in five games this season that the Tigers recorded a victory after trailing through seven innings. Auburn led 3-2 after seven innings Saturday, but Harris hit the game-tying homer in the eighth and Ivan Naccarata’s two-run, pinch-hit homer in the ninth lifted LSU to the win.
The Tigers are 10-3 in games away from Alex Box Stadium this season, 4-2 in SEC road games. The Auburn series completed a stretch in which LSU played eight of 11 games on the road; the Tigers will play eight of their next nine games in Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers enter the Tulane game Tuesday with an 8-0 mark this season against Louisiana schools. LSU has won 11 straight games versus its in-state foes over the last two seasons.
LSU has a 36-8 (.818) record against Louisiana schools during Laval’s three-year tenure as head coach.
LSU leads the all-time series with Tulane, 156-117-3, as the teams first met in 1893. The Tigers have won five of the last seven meetings between the clubs, including a 6-0 victory earlier this season (March 2) at Zephyr Field in Metairie, La.
Laval has a 6-5 career mark against Tulane, while Jones has a 12-15 career record versus LSU in 11 seasons as the Green Wave coach.
GAME FACTS
#12 Tulane (22-8) at #2 LSU (24-5)
DATE/TIME: Tuesday, April 6 – 6:30 p.m.
STADIUM: Alex Box Stadium – Baton Rouge, La. (7,760)
RANKINGS: LSU (#2 Collegiate Baseball, #3 Baseball America, #3 ESPN/Sports Weekly); Tulane (#12 Baseball America, #16 ESPN/Sports Weekly, #22 Collegiate Baseball)
TICKETS: Available at www.LSUsports.net or at Alex Box Stadium ticket window two hours prior to first pitch
RADIO: LSU Sports Network, including flagship WDGL-FM 98.1 in Baton Rouge
INTERNET: www.LSUsports.net
TV: None
PITCHING MATCHUP
LSU – So. LHP Jason Determann (2-0, 3.10 ERA, 20.1 IP, 2 BB, 17 SO)
TU – So. LHP Brian Bogusevic (4-2, 4.11 ERA, 35.0 IP, 7 BB, 29 SO)
LSU-TULANE BASEBALL GAME REMAINS ON SCHEDULE FOR TUESDAY NIGHT
BATON ROUGE — The LSU-Tulane baseball game will be played at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Alex Box Stadium, as originally scheduled.
The game would have been moved to Wednesday had the LSU women’s basketball team defeated Tennessee in Sunday’s national semifinal; however, the Lady Tigers dropped a 52-50 decision to the Lady Vols.
Tuesday’s LSU-Tulane contest is Trading Card Night at Alex Box Stadium, as the first 4,000 fans to enter the stadium will receive a free set of 2004 LSU baseball trading cards.
Tuesday is also Our Lady of the Lake Kids’ Night at Alex Box Stadium, as all children are invited on to the field to stand with the Tigers during the National Anthem.