The next two games for the No. 8 LSU baseball team will present a somewhat odd traveling schedule after four straight wins at home.The Tigers (30-6, 11-4 SEC) will play back-to-back games against Northwestern State in different cities this week.LSU will travel to Shreveport on Tuesday to play at 6 p.m., then turn around for a game Wednesday at Alex Box at 6:30 p.m.The Tigers sit at No. 8 for the second-straight week in the Baseball America Top 25 poll.The unorthodox schedule is a result of inclement weather.The Tuesday game against the Demons (25-15, 12-5 Southland Conference) was originally scheduled for March 10, but inclement weather in the Shreveport area caused the contest to be postponed.The Tigers will play at Fair Grounds Field, home of the Shreveport-Bossier Captains — a professional baseball team not affiliated with Major League Baseball.”[Northwestern Louisiana] coach [J.P.] Davis told me the outfield was very soft due to the inordinate amount of rain in Shreveport, and there are more thundershowers forecast for tomorrow night,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said in a news release March 9. “The officials with Northwestern State and the Shreveport Captains thought it would be in everyone’s best interest to postpone the game, so we will plan to travel to Shreveport on April 20.”The Tigers are fresh off a series sweep against Alabama and are riding a four-game winning streak.A high point of that streak has been LSU finding the answer to its third base woes.The Tigers have had five players start at that position with varying degrees of success and had not found a definitive starter until recently.LSU sophomore third baseman Grant Dozar seemingly solidified himself as the starter at the position because of his play during the weekend.Dozar played well on defense, committing no errors during the series. On offense, he notched three RBIs on four hits.One of his hits was a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 14th inning of game three.”I was just very happy for Grant,” Mainieri said in his post-game press conference Sunday. “There’s not a better kid on our entire team than him. He’s a totally unselfish, team-oriented guy. He deserves everything good that happens to him.”The Morgan City native has batted .352 on the season, with 15 RBIs and one home run.Northwestern State is riding a streak of its own entering the game.It has won its last six games and seven of its last 10.
The Demons have batted .420 as a team during the streak and outscored opponents by 47 runs.The pitching staff has played well in the streak and has a 1.98 ERA.Junior pitcher Luke Irvine will try to continue Northwestern State dominance on the mound.Irvine (4-2) has amassed a 2.05 ERA with 74 strikeouts and only 18 walks.
Junior Daniel Bradshaw will be on the mound for LSU.Bradshaw (4-0) has a 5.32 ERA in 23 2/3 innings of work.The righty has 14 appearances with only one start on the season and has struck out 14 batters while walking eight.”We needed to save up some arms,” Mainieri said. “We’ve got 18 innings to pitch in the middle of the week, so hopefully Bradshaw can give us a good outing and get himself righted for the stretch run.”—-Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected].