After a seven-game road trip saw the LSU baseball team go 5-2, the Tigers return to the friendly confines of Alex Box Stadium to face Nicholls State for a 6:30 p.m. start.
No. 10 LSU (18-9-1, 7-1-1 Southeastern Conference) is off to its best SEC start since an 8-1 beginning to the 1995 season.
Nicholls State enters Baton Rouge with a 16-15 record after losing five of its past six games.
The Tigers own a nine-game winning streak against the Colonels dating back to the 1994 season when NSU rallied in the bottom of the 13th inning to win 4-3.
The Tigers will start left hander Jason Determann (1-0, 2.19 ERA) on the mound. It will be the second start of his young career, and the first of this season.
Determann has appeared in six games this season, striking out 11 batters through 12 1/3 innings pitched.
Mike Prejean (0-1, 9.18 ERA) will start on the mound for the Colonels. Prejean has given up 26 hits and struck out 17 in 16 2/3 innings.
The Tigers went through an offensive transformation during the past month as they improved their record from 6-5 in February to 12-4-1 in March.
LSU is batting .345 in SEC play, led by Clay Harris who leads the team with a .417 average.
The Tigers showed a bit of nostalgia this weekend by bashing seven home runs, reminiscent of the “Geauxrilla Ball” days of the 1990s when LSU was known for hitting at least 100 home runs in a single season.
Outfielder Jon Zeringue has homered in five of the Tigers past six games, and Harris blasted two home runs in Sunday’s 11-10 win against Alabama.
The Tigers have five players batting .320 or better after having only one at that mark at the beginning of March.
LSU plays eight of its next nine games in Alex Box Stadium, including a three-game series this weekend against No. 22 South Carolina, the defending SEC regular season champions.