North Dakota State Bison (3-11) at No. 2 LSU Tigers (14-2)
DATES/TIMES
• Tuesday, March 12 @ 6 p.m. CT
• Wednesday, March 13 @ 1 p.m. CT
STADIUM
• Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field (10,326)
RANKINGS
• LSU – No. 2 Baseball America; No. 2 USA Today; No. 2 D1 Baseball
• NDSU – unranked
RADIO
• LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates
• Live audio at www.LSUsports.net/live; Live stats at www.LSUstats.com
TV/ONLINE
• The games will be streamed on SEC Network +
LSU SERIES RECORD VS. NORTH DAKOTA STATE
• Tuesday’s game marks the first meeting between LSU and North Dakota State on the diamond … LSU is 4-2 all-time against the current baseball programs in the Summit League … the Tigers are 4-2 vs. Oral Roberts, which is the only Summit League program LSU has faced … along with NDSU and ORU, the other programs in the Summit League are South Dakota State, Omaha, St. Thomas and Northern Colorado.
QUOTING COACH JAY JOHNSON
“We’re excited about the week ahead. It’s good for our team to play, continue to develop, and improve itself. We’re obviously very happy with how we pitched last weekend (vs. Xavier) – four runs in three games, sign me up for that. We’ll take that all day, every day. There are some pieces of the team that we need to improve, and that’s not uncommon in any year that I’ve ever coached. We’ll keep doing that, and we’ll continue to evolve as we move through the schedule.”
ABOUT THE TIGERS
• LSU won three of its four games last week, and the Tigers this week are ranked No. 2 in the nation by Baseball America, USA Today and D1 Baseball … the Tigers posted a 4-3 win at Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday night, then won two of three games over Xavier last weekend in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
• Junior right-hander Luke Holman fired 6.0 scoreless and hitless innings Friday in a win over Xavier … Holman limited the Musketeers to no hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts … he threw 97 pitches in the outing, recording 59 pitches for strikes, and he did not allow a Xavier player to advance beyond second base … Holman retired nine straight Xavier batters to complete his outing, including six by strikeouts … Holman is 4-0 this season with a 0.00 ERA in 24.0 innings … he has recorded four walks and 40 strikeouts, and he’s limiting opponents to a .103 batting average.
• Freshman left-hander Kade Anderson turned in a brilliant outing on Wednesday night in LSU’s win at Southeastern Louisiana in just his third collegiate start … he fired 5.0 innings, limiting the Lions to no earned runs on two hits with two walks and a career-best 13 strikeouts … the 13 Ks also represented the most recorded by an LSU pitcher this season … Anderson threw 77 pitches, including 53 for strikes, and he struck out the first seven Southeastern Louisiana batters that he faced … he retired a total of nine in a row before an SLU player reached base to begin the fourth inning … Anderson allowed just one SLU player to advance beyond second base … Anderson is 2-0 this season with a 0.64 ERA, and he has recorded 26 strikeouts in 14.0 innings.
• Sophomore left-hander Gage Jump improved to 2-0 on the year Saturday when he defeated Xavier … Jump recorded a career-best 10 strikeouts in five scoreless innings, limiting the Musketeers to three hits with one walk … Jump has a 0.00 ERA in 13.1 innings this season with two walks, 21 strikeouts and a .133 opponent batting average.
• Freshman second baseman Steven Milam led LSU at the plate last week, batting .353 (6-for-17) in four games with a double and three RBI … Milam also score five runs and recorded one stolen base … he is the Tigers’ leading hitter this season, batting .389 (21-for-54) with three doubles, 13 RBI, 16 runs, four steals and a .471 on-base percentage.
• The LSU pitching staff posted a 1.25 ERA in the Tigers’ four games last week, allowing just five earned runs in 36.0 innings with 10 walks and 57 strikeouts … opponents hit .184 against the LSU staff in the four-game stretch.
• LSU’s nine-game win streak this season from February 24-March 9 was the Tigers’ longest since early last season, when the 2023 club won 13 in a row from February 26-March 18.
ABOUT THE BISON
• North Dakota State began its road swing through Louisiana last weekend in Hammond, La., where the Bison dropped two of three games to Southeastern Louisiana.
• NDSU is hitting .243 as a team with 19 doubles, five triples, nine homers and nine steals in 17 attempts … the Bison pitching staff has a 9.03 cumulative ERA with 97 strikeouts in 113.2 innings.
• The Bison have played a very challenging road schedule, including a four-game series at Oregon State and a three-game series at UC Irvine … NDSU captured two of three games at Pacific Feb. 23-25.
• Infielder James Dunlap, a 2023 All-Summit League selection, has been the Bison’s top offensive threat this season with team highs of two homers and 12 RBI.