The Tigers hope to start their Southeastern Conference slate against Alabama in a familiar way: winning.
The No. 7 LSU baseball team (13-3) plays the Crimson Tide (11-5) tonight at 7 p.m. at Alex Box Stadium before continuing the series on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and on Sunday at 1 p.m.
“They are having a good year pitching,” sophomore pitcher Alex Lange said. “So, it is going to be a battle. It is going to be a one to three run game, as most SEC weekends are.”
The Tigers enter conference play 10 games over .500, after beating New Orleans 9-4 on Wednesday night, but have yet to be tested like they will be by SEC rivals.
The Crimson Tide will provide the first big test for the young Tigers, who replaced eight of nine starters from last season.
“The talent of the SEC teams is better than the teams we play out of conference, generally speaking,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “That is what makes the SEC so good, but the players have an amazing way of adapting to the competition we face. We are excited about it, and what better way to start than with the Alabama Crimson Tide.”
The Tigers face Alabama at an opportune time. The Crimson Tide have dropped four of its last six after winning nine of their first 10 games.
In contrast, the Tigers are on a hot streak, having won nine of their last 10 games.
Along with its current winning streak, LSU comes into the bout against Alabama with history on its side in recent seasons.
The Tigers have won 11 of their last 13 games against Alabama, including a sweep over in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 2015.
“Last year, we played a series over there and played like 38 innings,” Mainieri said “We blew three saves in one night. That doesn’t happen very often, and we won the game.”
LSU’s success in the SEC extends well beyond its dominance of Alabama. The Tigers lead the league with 11 SEC titles, including five of the last eight.
As Mainieri and company look to prolong their SEC reign, continued development will be crucial to while facing top-notch teams.
LSU enters conference play 12th in ERA and seventh in batting average in the SEC.
The Tigers are looking to find stability in the infield, where LSU has featured five different lineups. Freshman third baseman Chris Reid, who is playing for injured freshman O’Neal Lochridge, said the rotation is gelling.
“We need to make sure everybody is on the same page,” Reid said. “ We do a pretty good job. We are always talking throughout the infield and making sure we know where we got to go and what we have to do. That would probably be the biggest thing we are trying to adjust.”
For the Tigers’ pitching staff , the Crimson Tide lineup is an enticing matchup.
Alabama’s batters have notched a league-high 136 strikeouts. In contrast, LSU has tallied 68 strikeouts, the fewest in the SEC, so far.
The Tigers pitchers, however, will not take the Tide lightly.
“I don’t care about how many strikeouts we get,” said senior pitcher John Valek III. “If they put the ball in play a little earlier in the count, it allows me to go deeper in the game and keep my pitch count down. So, I don’t care how many times a team strikes out, it doesn’t bother me.”
More than strikeouts, the Tigers are hoping for wins against the Crimson Tide.Reid, a Baton Rouge native, said just to start for LSU in the SEC is a victory.
“It is dream come true,” Reid said. “I was born during the golden ages when they won in ’96 and all the other national championships. I never was able to watch in Omaha, but my dad and I would always go to the games … It is just a dream come true, I have always hoped and pictured myself being here in this position. Now, that it is here I hope we can capitalize on it.”