BATON ROUGE — Coming off a three-game sweep this weekend against Missouri, the LSU baseball team maintained its No. 1 national ranking.
LSU (43-8, 19-7 SEC) will take on New Orleans (14-36) on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT in New Orleans before traveling to face South Carolina (30-22, 12-15 SEC) for its final regular-season SEC series starting Thursday at 6 p.m. CT.
Overall Record: 43-8
SEC: 19-7
Last Week’s Results (3-0)
May 8 (Fri.) – MISSOURI (W, 8-3)
May 9 (Sat.) – MISSOURI (W, 8-2)
May 10 (Sun.) – MISSOURI (W, 6-5 – 10 innings)
This Week’s Schedule
May 12 (Tue.) – at New Orleans, 6:30 p.m. CT (Cox Sports Television)
May 14 (Thu.) – at South Carolina, 6 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
May 15 (Fri.) – at South Carolina, 7 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
May 16 (Sat.) – at South Carolina, 7 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
Notes on the Tigers
LSU is ranked No. 1 this week in the five polls released Monday morning, marking the sixth week in a row and the ninth week overall the Tigers are No. 1 in at least one poll … LSU was 3-0 in its games last week with an SEC series sweep over No. 21 Missouri … LSU has won 20 of its last 23 games and 13 of its last 15 … senior third baseman Conner Hale led LSU to the series sweep over Missouri, batting .538 (7-for-13) with five RBI, five runs and a .538 on-base percentage … Hale led off the bottom of the 10th inning on Sunday with a single and later scored the game-winning run in the inning on a walk-off single by leftfielder Jake Fraley … Hale leads LSU on the season with 49 RBI, and he is batting .346 with 14 doubles, two triples, four homers and 39 runs …freshman right-hander Alex Lange allowed just one run on two hits in seven innings on Saturday, as LSU posted an 8-2 win over Missouri … Lange recorded two walks and eight strikeouts in the outing, as he improved to 9-0 on the year and lowered his cumulative ERA to 2.13 with 82 strikeouts in 76 innings … Lange was named last week to the 30-man watch list for the 2015 Golden Spikes Award … Lange is one of three LSU players who are Golden Spikes Award candidates – the others are senior catcher Kade Scivicque and junior shortstop Alex Bregman … Scivicque hit .500 (6-for-12) in the Missouri series with three RBI … Bregman recorded two stolen bases against Missouri, increasing his season total to 28, the seventh-highest total in LSU history … as a team, the Tigers recorded 10 stolen bases in the Missouri series, increasing their season total to 96, which represents the most steals by an LSU club since the 2009 team posted 114 in 73 games … freshman right-hander Austin Bain turned in a brilliant relief outing on Sunday against Missouri, entering the game with one out in the first inning and LSU trailing 3-0 … Bain struck out the first six Missouri batters he faced and worked 5.1 innings, allowing just one run on two hits with no walks and seven strikeouts … LSU’s 6-5, 10-inning victory over Missouri on Sunday was the Tigers’ ninth extra-inning game of the year, and LSU is 5-4 in those contests … eight of the extra-inning games have come in SEC play, and the Tigers are 4-4 in those encounters … LSU’s opponent has scored first in eight of the Tigers’ last nine SEC games; however, LSU is 6-2 in those eight games in which it faced an early deficit.
Baseball America Top 25
Team, W-L, Previous Rank
1. LSU, 43-8, 1
2. UCLA, 36-12, 2
3. Louisville, 40-12, 4
4. Illinois, 43-6, 7
5. Texas Christian, 39-9, 5
6. Florida, 38-14, 10
7. Vanderbilt, 36-16, 6
8. Texas A&M, 42-9, 3
9. Florida State, 37-16, 8
10. Missouri State, 38-10, 13
11. Dallas Baptist, 39-9, 14
12. UC Santa Barbara, 35-13, 11
13. Oklahoma State, 31-16, 12
14. Iowa, 37-12, 16
15. Southern California, 34-16, 15
16. Arizona State, 30-17, 9
17. Miami, 38-13, 17
18. College of Charleston, 39-10, 19
19. Houston, 32-16, 25
20. Arkansas, 30-19, 20
21. Rice, 33-16, NR
22. California, 31-16, 23
23. Oregon State, 32-14, NR
24. Radford, 36-14, NR
25. Florida Atlantic, 36-14, 18
Dropped Out: Missouri (21), North Carolina (22), Auburn (24)
USA Today Coaches’ Poll
Rank, Team (First-Place Votes), Record, Points, Previous
1, LSU (31), 43-8, 775, 1
2, Louisville, 40-12, 717, 3
3, Texas Christian University, 39-9, 704, 4
4, UCLA, 36-12, 689, 5
5, Illinois, 43-6-1, 639, 6
6, Texas A&M, 42-9, 630, 2
7, Florida, 38-14, 588, 9
8, Florida State, 37-16, 490, 10
8, Miami, 38-13, 490, 12
10, Vanderbilt, 36-16, 482, 8
11, UC Santa Barbara, 35-13-1, 452, 7
12, Dallas Baptist, 39-9, 425, 15
13, Oklahoma State, 31-16, 347, 11
14, Rice, 33-16, 315, 19
15, Missouri State, 38-10, 314, 17
16, USC, 34-16, 306, 14
17, Iowa, 37-12, 287, 20
18, Arizona State, 30-17, 263, 13
19, College of Charleston, 38-10, 251, 18
20, Florida Atlantic, 31-16, 211, 16
21, Houston, 35-17, 170, 21
22, Nevada, 40-12, 147, 22
23, Oregon State, 32-14, 102, NR
24, Arkansas, 30-19, 54, 23
25, Coastal Carolina, 33-16, 37, NR
Schools Dropped Out
No. 24 Virginia, No. 25 California.
Others Receiving Votes
Maryland 34; Radford 33; California 30; Virginia 20; North Florida 14; North Carolina 14; UC-Irvine 9; Cal State Fullerton 7; North Carolina-Wilmington 5; Oral Roberts 5; Ohio State 5; Texas Tech 4; Southeastern Louisiana 3; Georgia Tech 3; Notre Dame 2; South Alabama 1; Missouri 1.
Collegiate Baseball Top 30
Rank, Team (Record), Points, Previous
1. LSU (43-8), 495, 1
2. Illinois (43-6-1), 493, 3
3. Louisville (40-12), 491, 4
4. UCLA (36-12), 488, 5
5. Texas Christian (39-9), 486, 6
6. Texas A&M (42-9), 485, 2
7. Miami, Fla. (38-13), 483, 8
8. Florida St. (37-16), 481, 7
9. Florida (38-14), 480, 14
10. Vanderbilt (36-16), 477, 11
11. California (31-16), 474, 9
12. Arizona St. (30-17), 473, 10
13. Iowa (37-12), 470, 15
14. Oklahoma St. (31-16), 467, 12
15. Missouri St. (38-10), 464, 16
16. Dallas Baptist (39-9), 463, 17
17. Southern California (34-16), 455, 18
18. Oregon St. (32-14-1), 454, 19
19. Rice (33-16), 452, 21
20. College of Charleston (38-10), 450, 20
21. Cal. St. Fullerton (28-21), 448, 22
22. U.C. Irvine (31-17), 445, 23
23. U.C. Santa Barbara (35-13-1), 444, 13
24. Notre Dame (33-18), 441, NR
25. Nevada (40-12), 439, 26
26. Houston (35-17), 438, 28
27. Arkansas (30-19), 435, 27
28. St. John’s (32-14), 433, 30
29. South Alabama (34-18), 430, 29
30. Radford (36-14), 425, NR
Perfect Game Top 25
Rank, Team, Record, Previous
1, LSU, 43-8, 1
2, Louisville, 40-12, 3
3, Illinois, 43-6-1, 4
4, Texas Christian, 39-9, 5
5, UCLA, 36-12, 6
6, Florida, 38-14, 7
7, Texas A&M, 42-9, 2
8, Miami, 38-13, 10
9, Dallas Baptist, 39-9, 11
10, Florida State, 37-16, 8
11, Oregon State, 32-14-1, 16
12, Missouri State, 38-10, 18
13, Iowa, 37-12, 19
14, Vanderbilt, 36-16, 12
15, Oklahoma State, 31-16, 15
16, Arizona State, 30-17, 13
17, Southern California, 34-16, 17
18, College of Charleston, 38-10, 21
19, UC Santa Barbara, 35-13-1, 9
20, Florida Atlantic, 36-14, 14
21, Nevada, 40-12, 23
22, Houston, 35-17, 24
23, Maryland, 35-17, 25
24, Arkansas, 30-19, 22
25, Rice, 33-16, NR
Dropped Out: North Carolina (20).
D1Baseball.com Top 25
Rank, Team, Record, Previous
1, LSU, 43-8, 1
2, Louisville, 40-12, 2
3, UCLA, 36-12, 3
4, TCU, 39-9, 5
5, Illinois, 43-6-1, 6
6, Florida, 38-14, 10
7, Texas A&M, 42-9, 4
8, Florida State, 37-16, 8
9, Miami, 38-13, 13
10, Vanderbilt, 36-16, 9
11, Missouri State, 38-10, 16
12, Dallas Baptist, 39-9, 17
13, Oklahoma State, 31-16, 12
14, Iowa, 37-12, 18
15, UC Santa Barbara, 35-13-1, 7
16, Southern California, 34-16, 14
17, Arizona State, 30-17, 11
18, College of Charleston, 39-10, 19
19, Oregon State, 32-14-1, 22
20, Rice, 33-16, NR
21, Arkansas, 30-19, 20
22, Houston, 32-16, NR
23, Radford, 36-14, 25
24, Florida Atlantic, 36-14, 15
25, California, 31-16, NR
Dropped Out
Missouri, Auburn, North Carolina
Others Considered
UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, Coastal Carolina, Maryland, Michigan State, Nevada, Oral Roberts