The No. 1 LSU baseball team hopes to take its momentum from a series win against No. 3 Texas A&M when it takes on Alcorn State tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (37-7, 14-6 Southeastern Conference) used plenty of late-game dramatics to defeat the then-No. 2 Aggies on back-to-back nights to secure the series and put the Tigers alone atop the SEC West standings.
“Two out of three ain’t bad. But when you win the first two, you get a little bit greedy,” said coach Paul Mainieri. “I can’t say you’re satisfied completely, but you’re proud of what your team did this weekend.”
LSU racked up 35 hits during the weekend series, keeping its SEC leading offense rolling further into the race for the regular-season title. The Tigers continue to lead the SEC with a .320 batting average and a .476 slugging percentage.
After the weekend, the Tigers took a commanding lead in the hits category (520) as well as the league lead in doubles with 98. Junior shortstop Alex Bregman helps set the pace for the attack-happy squad with a team-high 15 doubles to go along with a .335 batting average.
Of the nine routine starters in the LSU lineup, only one player contains a batting average under .300. Senior second baseman Jared Foster currently holds a .296 batting but makes up for it with eight home runs, which is tied with Bregman for most on the team.
Senior Kade Scivicque continues to lead the pack with a .380 batting average to go along with 13 doubles, five home runs, 32 RBIs, a .567 slugging percentage and a .415 on-base percentage.
The Tigers’ potent attack should play into the hands of Alcorn State’s (11-36) shaky pitching staff. The Braves currently hold the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s second-worst team ERA at 8.86 and are last in fielding percentage at .931. Alcorn State allows a .334 batting average to opponents.
The Braves surrendered 420 runs this season, while 337 of those runs being earned and allowing 101 doubles, giving a double-heavy Tigers lineup the potential to put up big numbers in the midweek matchup.
“We just have to come out and grind out at bats,” said junior first baseman Chris Chinea. “We have to get good pitches to hit, and it’s the same thing — hit the baseball no matter how hard it’s coming.”
With LSU winning 14 of its last 16 games and seven of its last eight, the streaking Tigers hope to continue their winning ways heading into an eventual meeting with Mississippi State beginning Thursday.
Senior third baseman Conner Hale said it’s important to take each game with the same intensity as the last.
“We just have to take it one game at a time,” Hale said. “We have to come out and play our best game.”
As a result of heavy storms throughout the Baton Rouge area Monday, the foul poles were knocked down leaving the Box without any when they take the field tonight. But Mainieri said the team will play with makeshift poles until it can get them fixed within the coming weeks.
“We’re actually going to play with modified foul poles,” Mainieri said. “They’re going to rig something up where maybe we get a little 20 foot extension. Something temporary. By the time we play Missouri in almost two weeks, then they’ll have the foul poles up again. ”
You can reach Jack Chascin on Twitter @Chascin_TDR.