LSU is gearing up to host its 28th regional in Baton Rouge this weekend as it received the No. 6 national seed on Monday. LSU will host No. 2 Dallas Baptist University, No. 3 Rhode Island, and No. 4 Little Rock this weekend at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU will square off against the No. 4 seed Little Rock in the first game of the regional on Friday at 2 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised on SEC Network.
Tiger fans may want to know a little more about the teams they will be facing this weekend and how they got to Baton Rouge.
LITTLE ROCK: 24-32 (8-16)
Starting with LSU’s first matchup, Little Rock received an automatic bid after defeating Eastern Illinois by a score of 2-1 to claim an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship after an improbable five-game winning streak.
Little Rock is led by skipper Chris Curry, who is in his 11th year coaching the Trojans and was a former professional catcher.
Little Rock comes into the postseason with the worst RPI in the entire tournament at 243, but the numbers can be deceiving. The Trojans have battled injuries all season and are now mostly healthy for the Baton Rouge regional. The Trojans also have a quad one victory against No. #11 Ole Miss earlier this season, which makes them confident that they can play with any team they matchup against.
PITCHING
Little Rock’s pitching hasn’t been elite this season as they have a team ERA of 6.33 (No. 170 in NCAA) and have a team total of 436 strikeouts on the year (No. 152 in NCAA). The Trojans have gotten help from starting pitchers Jack Cline and Jackson Wells throughout the season to keep them in the conference tournament.
Cline is a senior right-handed pitcher that went 8-5 this season after totaling a 4.83 ERA. The Trojans ace threw 82 innings this season while giving up 80 hits, striking out 62 and walking 32.
Wells is another arm that has helped catapult the Trojans to the postseason after posting a 3-6 record, totaling an ERA of 5.24. Wells served as the Saturday starter for Little Rock as he pitched 79 innings on the year, giving up 84 hits, while striking out 90 and only walking 32.
The Little Rock one-two punch has the ability to pitch in long outings, while limiting walks for the most part.
OTHER KEY BULLPEN ARMS LSU MAY SEE
SR LHP Hunter Royal (2-2): 6.46 ERA in 39 IP, 25 APP (Team-High), 43 K’s, 34 BB
SR RHP Blake Van Cleve (2-3): 5.60 ERA in 53 IP, 22 APP, 54 H, 47 K’s, 27 BB
SO RHP Gage Haley (2-2): 7.12 ERA in 43 IP, 20 APP, 62 H, 39 K’s, 14 BB
LITTLE ROCK OFFENSE
On the other hand, Little Rock’s Achilles’ heel seems to be hitting. The Trojans have struggled all year to hit the ball as they will enter Friday’s game with a .271 team batting average, ranking 203rd in the nation. The Trojans rank 215th in the country with only 328 runs scored on the season. Little Rock won’t be a team that hits many home runs as it only has 46 on the season. It’s also a team that strikes out often, which is great news for either Kade Anderson or Anthony Eyanson.
OFFENSIVE KEY PLAYERS
JR INF Cooper Chaplain: .321 BA (Team-High), 67 H, 7 HR, 37 RBI, 23 BB
FR C Cade Martin: .309 BA, 46 H, 5 HR, 31 RBI
JR UTIL Ryan Geck: .301 BA, 68 H (Team-High), 48 RBI (Team-High), 17 BB
Overall, the Trojans don’t have large expectations coming into Baton Rouge, but they feel as if they can compete with any team.
DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY: 40-16 (21-6)
The Dallas Baptist Patriots enter the Baton Rouge regional with the highest RPI of the two seeds in the NCAA Tournament at the 20 spot. DBU earned an at-large bid after cruising through Conference USA.
The Patriots are looking to win their first regional since 2021, when they defeated Oregon State in the Fort Worth regional.
DBU is led by 18th year head coach Dan Heefner. Heefner has led the Patriots to the NCAA Tournament 13 times. The Patriots are also only one of five teams in college baseball to reach the NCAA regionals in every year of the past ten years.
DBU certainly passes the eye test for being a two seed, with quad one wins against Oklahoma, TCU and UTSA on the year. In the Patriots’ two midweek victories over Oklahoma, they outscored the Sooners 21-1 in total.
DBU PITCHING
The DBU pitching staff has been solid this season as they have a team ERA of 4.97, which ranks 69th in the nation, and 10.3 strikeouts per game, 16th in the nation.
The Patriots have elite starting pitching with a three-headed monster in junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Borberg, sophomore right-handed pitcher James Ellwanger and junior right-handed pitcher Micah Bucknam.
Borberg is the usual Friday night starter with an 8-4 record. Borberg has pitched a team-high 75 innings, giving up 70 hits, only 18 walks and striking out 73 with a team best ERA of 3.36. Borberg has the ability to give his team long outings while being efficient and limiting walks. Borberg pitched against LSU earlier this season in Dallas, where he was charged with the loss – and allowed four hits and a run in four innings.
Ellwanger has been the usual Saturday starter for the Patriots with a 4-2 record and an ERA of 3.81 ERA. Ellwanger has thrown far less innings than Borberg with 59, but he is the best pitcher on this team when it comes to making batters swing and miss. Ellwanger has 90 strikeouts on the year which is tied for 53rd in the country.
The last starter that has made his way back from a recent injury is a familiar name for Tiger fans. Micah Bucknam will make his return to Baton Rouge after transferring to DBU following last season. Bucknam is 6-1 on the year with a 4.37 ERA . In his 59.2 innings of work, Bucknam struck out 78 and only walked 23 batters. His fastball sits at 95-96 mph and when he locates his off-speed pitches, he is hard to touch.
BULLPEN ARMS LSU MAY SEE
JR RHP Jerrod Jenkins (6-2): 5.14 ERA, 49 IP, 65 H, 48 K, 22 BB
JR LHP Mason Peters (4-2): 4.70 ERA, 38.1 IP, 32 H, 54 K, 16 BB
JR LHP Liam Watt (0-0): 5.75 ERA, 36 IP, 44 H, 29 K, 11 BB
DBU OFFENSE
The Patriots have been so successful this year because of their ability to swing the bats. DBU ranks 38th in the country with a team batting average of .304. The lineup has lots of power as it totaled 97 home runs this season (T-16 in NCAA).
The Patriots are led offensively by senior outfielder Nathan Humphrey. Humphrey is a left-handed pull-hitter for the Patriots and has lots of pop in his swing. Humphrey has totaled a .360 BA, 77 hits, 17 home runs, 66 RBI, 36 walks and 19 stolen bases.
Redshirt junior infielder Keaton Grady is the toughest at-bat for this Patriots team. Grady puts together great-at bats as he has only struck out 19 times this season. Grady has a .348 batting average, 57 hits, 23 RBI and 26 walks.
Junior catcher Grant Jay is one of the best hitters in college baseball as he has the ability to hit for both contact and power. He comes into Baton Rouge with a .322 batting average with 67 hits, a team-high 19 home runs, 59 RBI and 40 walks. Although Jay has the ability to make opposing pitchers pay, he also strikes out often, with 65 strikeouts on the year.
Overall, Dallas Baptist has both the arms and the bats to make some noise in the Baton Rouge, but it will come down to performances from its bullpen and the bottom of its lineup.
RHODE ISLAND 38-20 (22-8)
The University of Rhode Island is returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016, when they were defeated by South Carolina in the Columbia regional.
The Rams are led by 11th year head coach Raphael Cerrato. Cerrato and his team comes into Baton Rouge as the worst third seed in the tournament by RPI, where they rank 68th.
Rhode Island earned an automatic bid after sweeping the Atlantic 10 Tournament, defeating Davidson, Saint Louis and George Mason. The Rams have not been necessarily tested much this year, but they do have a road win at Oregon and a win on the road at Boston College.
PITCHING
Rhode Island has struggled pitching-wise this season, where it totals a team ERA of 6.20. The Rams are not a team that is known for striking out hitters either, with only 437 strikeouts as a team.
The Rams’ pitching is led by their Friday and Saturday starters Trystan Levesque and Jeremy Urena.
If the two teams meet, LSU will most likely see Rams Saturday starter Jeremy Urena. Urena, the right-hander, has a record of 6-1 with an ERA of 5.10. Urena has thrown 77.2 innings, while giving up 82 hits, walking 20 batters and striking out 47.
Coach Cerreta announced that ace left-handed pitcher Trystan Levesque would most likely get the nod for game one against Dallas Baptist on Friday. The graduate student left-hander has sparked his team in a category they need most. Levesque, the usual Friday starter, has an 8-1 record with a 3.25 ERA. He has thrown an impressive 88.2 innings, while giving up 83 hits, striking out 90 and only walking 23.
BULLPEN ARMS LSU MAY SEE
SO RHP Joe Sabbath (7-2): 3.11 ERA, 37.2 IP, 27 H, 40 K, 14 BB
FR LHP Parker Aikens (4-2): 5.85 ERA, 32.1 IP, 31 H, 30 K, 19 BB
FR RHP Jake Cullen (3-2): 5.57 ERA, 53.1 IP, 50 H, 48 K, 34 BB
RHODE ISLAND OFFENSE
Even with Rhode Island’s struggles on the mound this season, the Rams make up for it with smashing the baseball.
Rhode Island is 27th in the nation in team batting average at .309 on the year. The Rams also have the ability to hit for power, totaling 85 homers this season. With their ability to hit, the Rams are very aggressive on the base pads. Rhode Island is 23rd in the country in stolen bases with 125.
Rhode Island is led offensively by sophomore infielder Reece Moroney. Moroney leads the team with a .363 batting average on the season to go along with 78 hits, 2 home runs, 41 RBI and 24 stolen bases.
Senior infielder Anthony DePino is also another quality bat for the Rams. DePino hit .359 this season to go along with 78 hits, a team-high 19 home runs, 60 RBI and an impressive 55 walks (11th in NCAA).
Senior catcher Eric Genther is one of the toughest at-bats for opposing pitchers with a .351 batting average, a team-high 81 hits, 10 homers and 53 RBI. Genther has also only struck out 27 times in 231 at-bats.
The last hitter to watch out for on this talented Rhode Island team is junior first baseman Jack Hopko. Hopko slashed an impressive .345 on the year to go with 76 hits, 15 homers, and 80 runs-batted-in (5th in NCAA).
Overall, Rhode Island has the bats and speed to be disruptive on offense, but they it will have to rely on its starters to go long in its outings in the first two regional games if the team wants any shot of getting out of the Baton Rouge regional.
