BATON ROUGE — No. 9 LSU (29-13, 10-8 SEC) travels to Nashville this weekend for a three-game Southeastern Conference series against Vanderbilt (28-12, 9-9) at Hawkins Field.
Game 1 of the series is set for 6 p.m. CDT Friday, Game 2 begins at 2 p.m. CDT Saturday and Game 3 starts at 1 p.m. CDT Sunday.
The games can be heard statewide on the LSU Sports Network (WDGL 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge). The radio broadcast and live stats are also available on the LSU Athletics web site, www.LSUsports.net.
Sunday’s game will be televised regionally by the Jumbo Sports Network.
This weekend’s series concludes a seven-game road swing for the Tigers, with all seven contests coming against Top 25 clubs. LSU dropped an 11-8 decision to Tulane on April 19 before winning three straight games at Arkansas last weekend.
LSU, which has won five straight SEC games, is in second place in the Western Division, one game behind Alabama (11-7). Vanderbilt is in fourth place in the SEC East, trailing league-leading Florida (13-5) by four games.
LSU swept Arkansas in Fayetteville last weekend, while the Commodores won two of three home games over Tennessee. Vanderbilt also defeated Middle Tennessee, 9-3, Tuesday in Murfreesboro.
LSU coach Smoke Laval said senior left-hander Lane Mestepey (5-5, 3.93 ERA) will start Friday’s series opener for LSU. Mestepey moved into second place on the all-time LSU wins list March 18 with a complete-game effort at Georgia; however, he has not earned a victory in his last five starts.
Mestepey, who has a 34-17 career mark, is four wins shy of the LSU all-time wins record (38) held by Scott Schultz (1992-95).
Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin is expected to counter Friday with junior right-hander Jensen Lewis (6-2, 2.20 ERA). The Commodores have a team ERA of 3.14, and their ERA in SEC games (3.34) is the best in the league.
Vanderbilt is hitting .294 as a team with 31 home runs. LSU enters the series batting .298 with an SEC-best 60 homers.
The Commodores are led by first baseman Mike Baxter, who is batting .377 (57-for-151) with 13 doubles, three triples, six homers and 34 RBI.
LSU outfielder Ryan Patterson enters the series batting a team-high .400 (66-for-165) with 16 doubles, two triples and 16 homers. Patterson leads the SEC in hits, doubles, home runs, total bases (134), slugging percentage (.812) and runs scored (55).
The Tigers’ scheduled starting pitchers on Saturday and Sunday, left-handers Clay Dirks and Greg Smith, each had excellent outings last weekend at Arkansas.
Dirks pitched a brilliant three-hit shutout on Saturday at Arkansas as the Tigers posted a 7-0 victory. Dirks, who allowed just three singles in the contest, walked one and recorded a career-high eight strikeouts — only one Arkansas player advanced to second base as Dirks fired 124 pitches in the outing.
The shutout was the second of Dirks’ career — he also blanked Tulane last season on four hits. Dirks’ performance was the best by an LSU pitcher since April 27, 2002, when Brian Wilson fired a three-hit shutout against Arkansas in Baton Rouge.
Dirks’ effort was followed on Sunday by another outstanding outing, as Smith fired the first shutout of his career in a 6-0 win over the Razorbacks. Smith, who has pitched 16.2 consecutive scoreless innings, scattered eight hits while recording two walks and three strikeouts in his second straight complete-game victory — Smith also went the distance in a 5-1 win over Ole Miss on April 17.
The consecutive shutouts by Dirks and Smith marked LSU’s first back-to-back shutouts since April 26 and 27, 2002, when Lane Mestepey and Brian Wilson each blanked Arkansas at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge.
The Tigers’ pitching staff combined last weekend to posted 23.1 straight scoreless innings against the Razorbacks — Arkansas scored seven runs in the first four innings of Friday’s game, but could not muster a run for the remainder of the series.
LSU leads the all-time series with Vanderbilt, 44-24, and the Tigers have won eight of the 14 meetings between the schools this decade. However, Vanderbilt has won two of the last three series between the clubs. The Commodores captured two of three games from LSU in 2002 and in 2003 before the Tigers posted a 2-1 series victory last season in Baton Rouge.
SERIES FACTS
# 9 LSU Fighting Tigers (29-13, 10-8) at # 25 Vanderbilt Commodores (28-12, 9-9)
DATES/TIMES
Friday, April 29 — 6 p.m. CDT; Saturday, April 30 — 2 p.m. CDT; Sunday, May 1– 1 p.m. CDT
STADIUM
Hawkins Field (1,575) in Nashville, Tenn.
RANKINGS
LSU (# 9 ESPN/Sports Weekly, # 14 Collegiate Baseball, # 16 Baseball America)
Vanderbilt (# 25 ESPN/Sports Weekly, # 25 Baseball America)
RADIO
statewide on LSU Sports Network (WDGL 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge)
INTERNET
radio broadcast and live stats of all three games at www.LSUsports.net
TV
None on Friday and Saturday; Jumbo Sports Network on Sunday (check local listings)
SERIES RECORD
LSU leads, 44-24
PITCHING MATCHUPS
Game 1
LSU — Sr. LHP Lane Mestepey (5-5, 3.93 ERA, 71.0 IP, 13 BB, 39 SO)
VU — Jr. RHP Jensen Lewis (6-2, 2.20 ERA, 65.1 IP, 13 BB, 66 SO)
Game 2
LSU — Jr. LHP Clay Dirks (8-1, 3.06 ERA, 64.2 IP, 20 BB, 45 SO)
VU — Jr. LHP Ryan Mullins (5-0, 2.42, 52.0 IP, 17 BB, 46 SO)
Game 3
LSU — Jr. LHP Greg Smith (6-2, 2.57 ERA, 70.0 IP, 19 BB, 58 SO)
VU — Fr. LHP David Price (2-2, 2.22 ERA, 48.2 IP, 22 BB, 70 SO)