Friday kicks off an abnormally busy schedule for Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
At 1 p.m. on Friday and 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Butler and Central Connecticut State will face off against each other. LSU will play each team twice, with games spanning from Friday to Monday.
LSU baseball returned home earlier this week and will play their first game in Baton Rouge in nearly two weeks. Four games are scheduled on four consecutive days. LSU will play Butler Friday night, Central Connecticut State on Saturday and Sunday, and Butler again Monday night.
Friday’s matchup between LSU and Butler will be the first ever meeting in the history of the two programs. Saturday’s matchup between Central Connecticut State and LSU will be only the second time the programs have faced each other.
LSU head coach Jay Johnson has named junior right–handed pitcher Paul Skenes the starter for their matchup against Butler on Friday night. Skenes is 2-0 in the games he has pitched and has thrown 23 strikeouts in 12 innings.
“One of the positives about our road trip last week was that we used 14 pitchers over four games, and no one had to pitch twice; there are very few pitching staffs in the country that can accomplish that and win three of the four games. I thought that showcased our depth, and we’re really going to have to count on that during this stretch where we’ll play five games in six days,” Johnson said.”
“This is going to be challenging weekend – Central Connecticut was an NCAA regional team in 2021 that played an extra-inning game against LSU, and Butler has a veteran lineup and a very good pitcher that we’ll face on Friday night,” Johnson said.
Central Connecticut State, located in New Britain, Connecticut, is the favorite to win the 2023 Northeast Conference, according to a poll of the league’s coaches. CCSU will also be playing in their first game of the season this weekend when they play Butler on Friday.
Butler, located in Indianapolis, Indiana, has struggled to start the season to say the least. In their eight matchups, the Bulldogs only came out victorious in two of them. Their most recent game was a 13-2 loss against Indiana on Tuesday.
Butler has named left-handed pitcher Cory Bosecker the starter for their Friday night matchup against the No. 1 ranked Tigers. He has yet to be credited with a win this season and has thrown 14 strikeouts in 10 innings of pitching.
