Former LSU pitching coach, Dan Canevari, leads his 13-23 Southeastern Lions back to Alex Box for a rematch with the LSU baseball team tonight at 6:30 pm.
The Tigers beat the Lions on March 5, 4-2, with winning pitcher Justin Meier throwing five shutout innings.
Jason Determann relieved Meier in the 6th inning. He earned the save after stopping Southeastern’s ninth inning rally led by Anthony Garibaldi and Mark Weinmunson.
Since the loss of weekend starter Brian Wilson to injury, Meier has been moved to the Friday starting position and LSU head coach Smoke Laval decided to start Determann tonight.
Laval said he picked left-handed Determann because he does not want to use any of his weekend pitchers and wants to give Determann more experience.
“If I can get Jason five, six innings, it’ll kick start him for the rest of the season,” he said.
Laval said it is harder to get the team motivated for the non-conference, midweek games; however, he enjoys playing in-state schools.
“The kids play better when there’s better competition,” said Laval. “It’s just a good game. It’s their time to shine.”
He also said the Lions have a shot at their conference so he is not expecting them to play their weekend starters.
The Lions plan to start freshman left-hander Chad Pendarvis (3-0, 7.09).
At the plate, Garibaldi leads the Lions with a .435 batting average. He had four home runs and nine RBIs in five games last week. With the performance, Garibaldi was named Southland Conference Hitter of the Week.
“We had a good weekend last weekend, and over the last three weeks we’ve been playing a lot better,” said Canaveri. “That’s the good news for Southeastern Louisiana. The bad news is LSU is playing a lot better too.”
This game was added to LSU’s schedule after both teams experienced rainouts during the early part of the season.
“I want to play the best teams I can play because that makes us better,” Canaveri said. “While the winning and losing is important, I’d rather us play top-notch teams like LSU.”
Laval said he is also looking forward to the matchup.
“Dan and I go back to the Miami days,” he said. “It’s fun to give them the opportunity to play. I owe it to them. I owe that to Dan.”
LSU is currently No. 1 in the Southeastern Conference, a half-game ahead of No. 2 Auburn, after winning last Sunday’s matchup with Vanderbilt. The Commodores took the first two games of the series.