Tigers set for three game series in Houston
Third-ranked LSU will travel to Houston this weekend to take on the Cougars in its first road series of the year.
The series will begin Friday at 7 p.m. at Cougar Field and continue into the weekend with games Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers (7-1) are riding a four-game winning streak including a 7-6 victory Wednesday over Centenary. Senior center fielder David Raymer hit a two-run double in the top of the ninth to put the Tigers ahead.
LSU will send the same starting pitchers to the mound they did in their first two series against Birmingham Southern and Mercer at Alex Box Stadium. LSU swept all three games in both series.
“We’ll go with Bo Pettit on Friday, Lane Mestepey on Saturday, and Jake Tompkins on Sunday,” said LSU head coach Smoke Laval.
Pettit is 1-0 with a 2.63 earned run average while Mestepey hasn’t recorded a win or a loss in his two starts. He has a 5.06 ERA in 10.2 innings of work.
Tompkins is coming off of his strongest outing of the season Sunday, striking out six and giving up one run in 6 2/3 innings of work. He is now 2-0 with a 4.05 ERA.
Laval plans to continue use of a wide array of relief pitchers in the early season.
“We still have to see who can pitch and who can’t,” Laval said. “We have to get everybody up there for maybe 12, 15 innings.”
The Tigers hope to keeps the bats hot after a 17-run outburst against Mercer on Sunday, including a pinch-hit grand slam by freshman pitcher Clay Harris in his first at bat as a Tiger.
Senior right fielder Sean Barker continues to excel, registering a .406 batting average with 15 RBIs.
Redshirt freshman Rocky Scelfo will remain at shortstop, replacing injured starter Aaron Hill, who will return in a few weeks after recovering from a shoulder injury.
Houston (4-3) is coming of a 10-4 victory against No. 17 Baylor Wednesday in a game which it exploded for sixteen hits.
Offensively, the Cougars are led by junior catcher Chris Snyder, who boasts a .478 average with five RBIs. They are batting .266 as a team with a total of two home runs.
Houston will send sophomore righthander Brad Sullivan to the mound. Sullivan has not given up an earned run in 11.1 innings of action and has struck out 13 batters.
This will be the third year in a row LSU will be playing the Cougars in a three-game series, but this weekend will mark the first time the Tigers will travel to Houston since 1994. The Tigers swept the Cougars in a three game series last year at the Box.
Dave Theard