The No. 3 LSU baseball team still has a bitter taste in its mouth from its most recent Southeastern Conference matchup, and a potential remedy makes its way to Baton Rouge this weekend in the form of the Florida Gators.
Last weekend, No. 15 South Carolina arrived in Alex Box Stadium and downed the Tigers (40-6, 16-5 SEC) in two out of three contests, bumping LSU down in the national rankings and hurting the squad’s standing in the SEC West. In the final two games of the series against the Gamecocks, LSU scored only two runs.
After recharging with a seven-run effort against McNeese State on Tuesday, the Tigers look to take back their SEC dominance against No. 21 Florida (25-20, 12-9 SEC) beginning tonight.
“[The Florida series] is pretty important to us, because no one wants to lose, and [South Carolina] was our first one,” said junior third baseman Christian Ibarra. “We’re going to go in on Thursday and to try and play the way we know we can.”
The Gators’ season started as a struggle, as the squad suffered a six-game losing streak against nonconference opponents in late February. Florida has since amped up its play, entering Alex Box off of a series win against Tennessee.
Senior first baseman Mason Katz realizes the importance of the upcoming series.
“It’s a huge series,” he said. “[Florida] started off rough, but the talent those guys have is great. Sometimes teams go through a rough patch, and they did that at the beginning of the year, but they’ve been hot recently. They’re going to come in here, and they won’t be scared of this crowd or of us. We’re going to have to meet them toe-to-toe on Thursday night, and it’s going to be a great series.”
LSU coach Paul Mainieri intends to use a different pitching strategy against Florida. Sophomore southpaw Cody Glenn, who was originally scheduled to start against McNeese State, was held back for tonight’s contest against the Gators.
The potential for inclement weather tonight prompted Mainieri to move sophomore starter Aaron Nola’s start to Friday. Mainieri did not want Nola to begin a start tonight only to see the contest rained out after a few innings. Junior right-hander Ryan Eades will take the mound for the series finale Saturday.
With only 10 games remaining in the regular season, every contest is critical in moving forward.
“We need to do a good job in these last 10 games, obviously the nine conference games are the most critical,” Mainieri said. “If we can do a good job in these last 10, then we’re going to have a regular season for the ages.”
“[The Florida series] pretty important to us, because no one wants to lose, and [South Carolina] was our first one. We’re going to go in on Thursday and to try and play the way we know we can.”
