The LSU baseball team will look to rebound from a 6-5 Sunday loss with its home-opener against the University of Louisiana-Monroe at 6:30 tonight in Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (2-1) lost their first game of the season but won two-of-three against the University of Central Florida.
Aside from the loss, coach Smoke Laval said it was a productive weekend.
“The trip was a little bit too long, but we wanted to do that,” Laval said. “It’s just like the SEC Tournament or rainy days when you have to stay over somewhere on a weekend trip. Sunday, it just seemed like it took us awhile to get focused, but it was a little bit too late.”
The Tigers were led by junior Clay Harris, who went 4-for-10 over the weekend with one home run and five RBIs.
Junior college transfer Nick Stavinoha said that Sunday’s loss was a result of many different mistakes.
“I don’t think there’s one reason we lost the game or one reason we won the game,” Stavinoha said, who went 4-for-12 over the weekend with one home run and two RBIs. “Some things happen and some things don’t. That’s the way it goes.”
ULM, coming off a 20-1 win over Grambling State last Tuesday, will look to break LSU’s six-game winning streak against the Indians.
ULM is led by first baseman Ben Jones, who had two home runs and six RBIs in the Indians’ first game.
LSU’s Michael Bonura will face off with ULM’s Matt Green on the mound.
Laval said he was impressed with the play of Green.
“He’s going to be a high draft pick next year,” Laval said. “He’s very talented.”
Bonura, a freshman from Destrehan, will be making his first start for the Tigers.
Pitching coach Brady Wiederhold said LSU will look to utilize a number of pitchers in tonight’s game.
“Hopefully, we’re going to use several different guys,” Wiederhold said. “We’ll play it by ear. It depends on the situation and what happens throughout the game, but hopefully we can use several different pitchers.”
Laval added that the pitchers they use will depend on the weather for tonight’s game.
“It depends on how cold it gets,” Laval said. “That’s why I wanted to throw [Nate] Bumstead [in Florida] in the warm weather and not save him for Tuesday.”
Stavinoha said LSU will look to get more offensive production against ULM.
“It’s early and we’re trying to get a bunch of things going, but I don’t think there’s just one thing [to improve on],” Stavinoha said. “We’ve got to get better swings off at the plate, but that comes.”
Laval, who coached at ULM from 1994-2000, will look to improve the Tigers’ all-time record against the Indians.
LSU leads the all-time series 33-8.
“I’m anxious to see how our guys will react and to see if they can give their best,” Laval said. “They’ve still got to overcome their own personal pressures, which is living up to the hype and their personal expectations. We’re going to have to overcome some obstacles.”