The LSU baseball team’s scheduled game against Tulane was pushed back 24 hours to tonight at 6 p.m., with rain showers forecast throughout the New Orleans area Tuesday night.But LSU took advantage of sunny skies in the Baton Rouge area Tuesday afternoon and got in a two-hour practice to put in final preparations for the Green Wave.”We decided to try to beat the rain, but it never did rain,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “We were anxious to play Tulane, but we got a little practice in to help us get ready to go for [tonight].”Tuesday’s game was the fourth game to be affected by rain this season.LSU faced rain delays in two of its three games against Kentucky two weekends ago. The team also had a 58-minute rain delay during its 10-9 loss against Louisiana-Lafayette on March 11.LSU freshman Chris Matulis will still start tonight against the Green Wave. The Lake Worth, Fla., native is unbeaten on the season with a 4-0 record and a 2.51 ERA in five appearances.Mainieri said his innings will be limited Wednesday because he plans to use Matulis for this weekend’s series against Georgia.”We’re not going to be able to let him pitch as long as we’d have wanted to,” Mainieri said. “Now we’re going to have to shut him down at some point.”Mainieri said the delay might also have other implications on the series against Georgia.LSU is scheduled to leave for Athens early Thursday morning, and LSU’s third-year coach said the team might be fatigued from its flight after having a late night in New Orleans tomorrow.”We have to leave early Thursday morning,” Mainieri said. “So it might be a little bit more tiring, but that’s not a big deal. I don’t think one way or the other today’s delay affects anything dramatically.”The Tigers have won six of their past seven games, including taking two of three games against then-No. 11 Ole Miss last weekend.—–Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]