The last two Southeastern Conference series have been disastrous for LSU baseball.The No. 24 Tigers (33-13, 11-10) were swept back-to-back on the road by Ole Miss and Florida. But that’s nothing compared to what the Vanderbilt baseball program has recently endured.The Commodores (33-12, 10-9) face LSU in Alex Box Stadium this weekend. Two of their three scheduled games against Georgia were rained out.The rain in the Nashville, Tenn., area caused widespread flooding. As a result, Vanderbilt  has had limited practice and playing time.”The first thing that comes to mind … is all the people that are dealing with such difficult circumstances there,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “Unfortunately, we are well aware of natural disasters in this state, so we know what people are going through. Certainly our hearts and thoughts are with those people.”While they respect the plight of the people of Nashville, the Tigers still have a job to do. And they’re happy to be back in Alex Box Stadium to do it.”It’s good to be back in the Box,” said LSU senior first baseman Blake Dean. “We’re playing against a good team with good pitching.”The Tigers snapped their historic losing streak Tuesday against Southeastern Louisiana, and have the chance to improve in the SEC with some strong showings.”We just have to come out and play like we did the other night,” Dean said. “Hopefully our pitchers will hold in there for us, and hopefully our hitters can score a lot of runs. That’s all we can do.”LSU and Vanderbilt currently sit neck-and-neck in the standings. A series win would be pivotal for either team as the SEC regular season winds down and teams jockey for seeding position in the SEC tournament field.The Commodores currently hold a .002 winning percentage advantage over LSU.”Vanderbilt no question has a great team,” Mainieri said. “You look at the stats, and the stat sheet virtually scares you.”Stats don’t lie — the Commodores lead the SEC in ERA this season with a team average of 3.31. They are also No. 4 in the league in total strikeouts.”They’ve got the best pitching staff in the league by far,” Mainieri said. “Their hitting is nothing to snicker at, either.”The Commodores boast a .317 team batting average and are No. 1 in the conference with a .421 on-base percentage.The Tigers haven’t decided who they want on the mound in games two and three for the second week in a row.Junior Anthony Ranaudo will face Vanderbilt sophomore Sonny Gray on Friday.Mainieri said he expects all the games this weekend to be low-scoring affairs.”You can’t expect to have a huge offensive outburst against those kinds of teams,” he said. “We’re going to have to pitch well … If you fall behind by half a dozen runs against teams like that, they’re very difficult to rally against.”Vanderbilt will start sophomore Jack Armstrong on Saturday and junior Taylor Hill on Sunday.—-Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]