With temperatures rising toward their sweltering summer norms, the competitive fires are also rising in individual LSU baseball players as they enter the thick of Southeastern Conference play.
The No. 15 Tigers (19-6) host No. 3 Arkansas (22-3) at Alex Box Stadium this weekend, with the first pitch of the three-game series slated for 7 p.m. tonight.
Practicing in shorts and shirts instead of baseball uniforms Thursday, the team didn’t have quite the same joking demeanor it had shown for much of the early part of the season – though freshman outfielder Jared Foster said he will be sporting a freshly cut mullet for the foreseeable future.
 
With the SEC Western Division leaders crashing their house this weekend, the Tigers are all business.
“It’d be huge for us to make some noise,” said junior outfielder Mason Katz. “Show the country we’re not messing around. We’re actually here to play well. … It’s time for us to get going.”
Katz was referencing LSU’s middling opener to the conference schedule.
The Tigers took the first two games of its conference opener against Mississippi State before dropping the finale, then flip-flopped last weekend against Auburn, stealing the final game of the series and avoiding the sweep.
With the exception of LSU’s six-run loss in the final game against Mississippi State, when freshman pitcher Aaron Nola allowed a five-run first inning in his SEC debut, every one of the Tigers’ conference games has been decided by one run.
LSU coach Paul Mainieri said he is expecting more of the same this weekend.
“Every year it seems like all of our games are really tight, hard-fought games,” Mainieri said.
Since he took the reigns of the program for the 2007 season, 10 of the 15 regular-season contests between the two teams have been decided by two runs or less.
Part of it, Mainieri said, had to do with the similarities between coaches, as both Mainieri and Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn have aggressive coaching styles.
“For the most part, I kind of know what he’s going to do,” Mainieri said. “It’s just a matter of stopping them. He probably figures the same thing about us. It just makes for very good baseball.”
The Tigers will likely send out their normal weekend rotation this weekend, though Sunday’s starter is listed as “to be announced” because Mainieri said he wants to have the option to use Nola if Friday’s game is tight late.
If Mainieri doesn’t use Nola on Friday, LSU will start with sophomore Kevin Gausman (4-0, 1.54 ERA) on Friday, sophomore Ryan Eades (4-1, 2.04) on Saturday and Nola (3-1, 3.24) on Sunday.
Gausman has been electric this season, but he hasn’t had pinpoint control of his pitches lately, issuing nine of his 11 walks this season in his last two starts.
The Colorado product worked with pitching coach Alan Dunn on his fundamentals this week to correct his control, but he also said he’s been dealing with a blister on his throwing hand since his start against Mississippi State.
“I think it’s going to be there the entire season. It’s just something I’m going to have to deal with,” Gausman said. “I dealt with it last year. I’m still getting used to it, but I don’t think it had any effect on how I pitched.”
 
 
—-
Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]