After a disappointing loss on the road to Lamar on Wednesday, the No. 5 LSU baseball team is eager to return to the friendly confines of Alex Box Stadium.
“Just getting back out here and getting in front of the fans in the Box again and playing here is exciting,” said sophomore pitcher Alex Lange. “Just being around good weather will be a good weekend.”
LSU (3-1) hosts Sacramento State (3-1) in a three-game series starting at 7 p.m. tonight and continuing Saturday and Sunday.
The Tigers expect the Hornets, who have a series win over Auburn, to be a challenge.
“This series against Sacramento State is going to be extremely challenging,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “I knew they were going to be a challenge long before they beat Auburn, two-out-of-three, and Northwestern State. They are a bunch of California kids, who know how to play the game. They are very aggressive.”
The Hornets pitching staff is exceptionally potent.
Last season, Sacramento State’s pitching rotation finished in the top-20 in the NCAA in ERA and top-3 in WHIP, which measures the amount of baserunners per inning a pitcher allows.
LSU is especially focused on the Hornets’ Friday starter junior left-handed pitcher Sam Long, a former freshman all-American, who Mainieri said is Southeastern Conference quality.
“Their pitcher [tonight] is a really good prospect and is a legitimately talented SEC-quality starting pitcher,” Mainieri said.
To counter the southpaw, the Tigers are starting a right-handed heavy lineup with junior center Jordan Romero and sophomore Bryce Jordan at first base.
To go with Long, the Hornets have a talented relief pitcher in Justin Dillon, who was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 39th round.
Junior third-baseman O’Neal Lochridge said practicing against LSU’s own talented bullpen has the Tigers more than prepared.
“We are going to be just fine,” he said. “We have been facing Lange and [sophomore pitcher Jared] Poche’ all fall, so this is just going to be like another scrimmage to us. We just got to relax and play our game and understand that we can hit against him.”
LSU’s starting pitching rotation for the weekend is Poche’ on Friday, Lange on Saturday, and senior John Valek on Sunday.
Although he has yet to make a start behind the plate with Poche’, Romero said he is ready to catch for Poche’ in game for the first time.
“I feel pretty comfortable catching him,” Romero said. “I caught his bullpen [this week], and I caught him a bunch in the fall.”
LSU has its own myriad of talented pitchers, Lange is 13-0 in his career and was named SEC Pitcher of the Week on Monday.
Poche’ said he is eager to see how they match up against an SEC quality starter.
“If you look forward to SEC weekends, that is the kind of guy that you are going to get,” Poche’ said. “These guys are lying under-the-radar are going to look good. They have good power arms and are going to compete and fill up the zone. That is the job of a pitcher. Hopefully, we can outmatch them.”
You can reach Jarrett Major on Twitter @Jarrett_tdr