LSU baseball is finally taking its show on the road.After a 20-game homestand to start the season, the No. 7 Tigers (17-3, 2-1) will travel to Tennessee (11-10, 0-3) for a three-game Southeastern Conference series.LSU junior catcher Micah Gibbs said the atmosphere at Tennessee is a good one, and it is likely to be a good measuring stick for some younger members of the team.”It’s going to be a good test because this is the first road trip for a lot of guys, and we’re going to see how they handle the road,” Gibbs said. “Road games aren’t always easy — even for the sophomores. They haven’t been to Tennessee yet … The walls are a lot closer than they are here, and the fans seem to be right on top of you.”The Volunteers have had LSU’s number in recent years.The Tigers haven’t won a series against the SEC East foes since taking two of three games from them in the 2006 campaign.”How do we explain that Tennessee has had the upper hand on us for three years?” asked LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “I just can’t do that. I don’t know the answer to it. Hopefully we can reverse the trend.”This weekend could be as good an opportunity as any for LSU to change its fortunes against the Volunteers. Tennessee lost all three games of its SEC-opening series games against South Carolina last weekend.The Volunteers were outscored, 18-9, and never held a lead against the Gamecocks in that series.”They’ve got players, but for some reason, they just struggle,” Mainieri said. “They’re only hitting about .265 or something like that as a team, which is very unusual and shocking to me. They’re very dangerous, and we know we’re going to have to play great baseball in order to beat those guys.”The Tigers have played good baseball lately. LSU has won four of its last five games after losing two of three against Kansas two weekends ago. The Tigers will try to continue their winning ways with the return of their ace to the weekend rotation.Junior Anthony Ranaudo has been sidelined with an injury to his throwing elbow since the first weekend of the season but is expected to get the start Sunday, provided nothing hinders his recovery.”As long as everything goes well in his bullpen outing, there is no doubt you’ll see him on Sunday,” Mainieri said. “I promise you it will be limited. It’ll probably be two innings or 40 pitches, whichever comes first. We plan on having [sophomore picher Joey] Bourgeois to follow him up. It’ll be like a start for Bourgeois, starting in the third inning.”Junior pitcher Mitch Mormann said the team has played mostly well without Ranaudo, but he said the New Jersey native’s return could only be beneficial for the entire pitching staff.”We’re thinking once he gets back in there and does his thing, we’re going to be more solid,” Mormann said. “We’re trying to figure out how good we can play, so it’ll be exciting to see once he gets back.”LSU’s Friday night starter will be junior Austin Ross. Ross (2-1) has 33 strikeouts through 27 2/3 innings and has amassed a 4.88 ERA.Saturday’s starter will be sophomore lefty Chris Matulis.Matulis (3-0) started last Sunday against Arkansas. He pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed one run on five hits.____Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]