Tigers Face Oral Roberts This Weekend at "The Box"

Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (2-6) at No. 8 LSU Fighting Tigers (8-1) 

DATES/TIMES
Friday, March 5 @ 1 p.m. CT
Saturday, March 6 @ 3 p.m. CT
Sunday, March 7 @ 2 p.m. CT

STADIUM
Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field

RANKINGS
• LSU – No. 8 Collegiate Baseball; No. 8 USA Today; No. 11 D1 Baseball; No. 12 Baseball America
• ORU – unranked

RADIO
• LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates
• Live audio at www.LSUsports.net/live; Live stats at www.LSUstats.com 

ONLINE
SEC Network +, accessible at Watch ESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app

SERIES RECORD VS. ORAL ROBERTS
LSU is 3-0 all-time against ORU, and the most recent matchup occurred in Baton Rouge in 1989, when the Tigers posted a 10-7 win over the Golden Eagles.

PITCHING MATCHUPS (projected)
Game 1
LSU – Jr. RH Jaden Hill (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 10.0 IP, 0 BB, 9 SO)
ORU – Jr. RH James Notary (0-1, 4.76 ERA, 11.1 IP, 3 BB, 5 SO)
Game 2
LSU – Jr. RH Landon Marceaux (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 11.0 IP, 0 BB, 14 SO)
ORU – So. RH Isaac Coffey (1-0, 1.54 ERA, 11.2 IP, 1 BB, 16 SO)
Game 3
LSU – Jr. RH AJ Labas (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 8.1 IP, 3 BB, 14 SO)
ORU – Sr. RH Tanner Rogen (0-1, 3.37 ERA, 10.2 IP, 3 BB, 6 SO)

QUOTING PAUL MAINIERI
“Traditionally, Oral Roberts has a very strong program from the state of Oklahoma, so we’re going to have to strap it up and be ready to play. Hopefully, we can get great starting pitching like we did last weekend. We’ve had some unique weekends so far this season due to Covid and the scheduling issues it’s created, but this is the one weekend out of our four pre-SEC weekends that we’ll get to play the same opponent, and I think that’s important for us to learn how to deal mentally with facing the same opponent in three straight days.”

ABOUT THE TIGERS
• LSU enters the ORU series riding a seven-game win streak, including victories on Wednesday over Nicholls (5-4) and Southern (16-1) … LSU leads the nation in home runs with 21; Houston is No. 2 on the NCAA HR list with 20 dingers.
• LSU is hitting .317 during its seven-game win streak with 16 doubles, one triple and 19 home runs … the Tigers’ pitching staff has a  2.71 ERA and a .218 opponent batting average during the win streak … LSU pitchers have recorded 77 strikeouts in 63 innings during the seven-game streak.
• Wednesday’s win over Nicholls was clinched by a Tre’ Morgan sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning, marking LSU’s second walk-off victory in three games … the Tigers defeated Youngstown State, 5-3, last Saturday on a two-run walk-off dinger by second baseman Cade Doughty.
• Junior right-hander Jaden Hill, LSU’s Game 1 starter this weekend versus Oral Roberts, recorded a dominant effort in last Friday’s win over Youngstown State, limiting the Penguins to one hit in six shutout innings … Hill allowed just one single while registering no walks and four strikeouts … Hill has not allowed a run this season in 10 innings of work, and opponents are hitting just .118 against him.
• Junior right-hander Landon Marceaux, LSU’s Game 2 starter this weekend versus Oral Roberts, fired a career-high 10 strikeouts in six shutout innings to defeat Nicholls last Saturday … Marceaux allowed two hits with no walks while throwing 71 pitches, 50 for strikes … only one Nicholls hitter advanced beyond second base against Marceaux, who retired 11 batters in a row from the third until the sixth inning … Marceaux has not allowed a run this season in 11 innings with no walks, 14 strikeouts and a .108 opponent batting average.
• Freshman rightfielder Dylan Crews is No. 5 in the SEC in batting average, hitting .457 with three doubles, five homers and six RBI … he is tied for the SEC lead in hits with 16, and he is No. 2 in the league in homers (5) and total bases (34).
• Both Crews and centerfielder Brody Drost are hitting .444 during the Tigers’ current seven-game win streak … Crews has 12 hits, 11 runs, three doubles, four homers and five RBI in the past seven games; Drost, who has started in four of the seven games, has eight hits, five runs, two doubles, two homers, and five RBI.

ABOUT THE EAGLES
• Oral Roberts, a member of the Summit League, is 2-6 on the year with wins over Little Rock and South Alabama, and losses to Little Rock, Missouri State (2), South Alabama (2) and Wichita State.
• The Golden Eagles are hitting .223 as a team with four home runs and four steals and nine attempts … ORU is led at the plate by infielder Ryan Cash, who is hitting .323 with a double and six RBI, and by infielder Caleb Denny, who is hitting .290 with one double, three homers and six RBI.
• ORU infielder Adam Oviedo was named Summit League Preseason Player of the Year by D1Baseball and Perfect Game.
• The ORU pitching staff has a 4.93 cumulative ERA, and it has allowed six homers in eight games.