Preview: LSU baseball vs Texas - ULL - Texas State
No. 2 LSU Tigers (8-1)
vs. No. 13 Texas Longhorns (7-1), UL Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns (5-3), Texas State Bobcats (5-3)
DATES/TIMES
LSU vs. Texas - Friday, March 1 @ 7 p.m. CT
LSU vs. UL Lafayette – Saturday, March 2 @ 7 p.m. CT
LSU vs. Texas State – Sunday, March 3 @ 3 p.m. CT
STADIUM
Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas (41,168)
RANKINGS
LSU – No. 2 Baseball America; No. 2 USA Today; No. 3 D1 Baseball
Texas – No. 13 USA Today; No. 14 Baseball America; No. 15 D1 Baseball
UL Lafayette and Texas State are unranked
RADIO
· LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates
· Live audio at www.LSUsports.net/live; Live stats at www.LSUstats.com
TV/ONLINE
All games of the Astros Foundation College Classic will be streamed live without a paywall on Astros.com and on the Astros X, Facebook and YouTube channels.
All games will be televised by Space City Home Network and available on the channel in the entirety of the Astros five-state viewing area of Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Most of the games will be on the Space City Home Network primary channel, with Saturday’s LSU-UL Lafayette game and Texas-Texas State game aired live on the Space City Home Network alternate channel. Space City Home Network is available on DirecTV, AT&T Uverse, Xfinity, Consolidated Communications, btel, Astound, Phonoscope, and I-Net.
MLB Network will air the LSU-Texas game on tape delay on Friday night, beginning at 11 p.m. CT. The LSU-UL Lafayette game on Saturday night at 7 p.m. CT will air live on MLB Network (the MLB Network telecast will be blacked out in the Astros viewing area of Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico).
LSU SERIES RECORDS VS. TEXAS - UL LAFAYETTE - TEXAS STATE
Texas leads the overall series with LSU, 28-14-1, and the Longhorns have won four of the last six meetings with the Tigers; however, LSU posted a 3-0 win over Texas last season on February 28 in Austin … the Tigers are 1-1 vs. the Longhorns in the Astros College Classic – LSU posted a 4-3 win over UT in 2020, and Texas recorded a 6-1 win over LSU in 2022 … LSU won two of three games over Texas in the 2009 College World Series Finals to capture the Tigers’ sixth national championship … LSU has seven CWS titles, which is second only to Southern California’s 12 CWS championships … Texas is third NCAA history with six CWS titles.
LSU leads the all-time series with UL Lafayette, 57-28, as the squads first met in 1912 … LSU has won seven of the past 11 and 17 of the past 26 meetings with ULL since 2000; however, the Cajuns defeated the Tigers, 8-5, last season (April 18) in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
LSU leads its series with Texas State, 3-0, as the Tigers swept the Bobcats in a three-game series February 27-29, 2004, in Alex Box Stadium.
QUOTING COACH JAY JOHNSON
“Our players aspire to play in Major League parks one day, so playing in Minute Maid Park is really cool for them. We have a strong connection with the Astros, obviously, because of our location and (former LSU and current Astros infielder) Alex Bregman, and I’ve coached a lot of players who played in the Astros organization. It wasn’t hard to get our players to get excited about practicing for 50 minutes in Minute Maid Park today.
“Texas has a great team, and they’re playing really well right now, so it’s going to be a great challenge. UL Lafayette and Texas State both play a very aggressive, confident brand of baseball. I think we’ve improved over the last week, and we’re obviously trying to win as many games as we can, but we’re also working to get better and figure out what our best team is. This weekend has tremendous value for us.”
ABOUT THE TIGERS
LSU has won three straight games, and the Tigers this week are ranked No. 2 in the nation by Baseball America and USA Today, and No. 3 in the country by D1 Baseball.
LSU opened this week with a 16-4 win at Rice on Wednesday night .. freshman left-hander Kade Anderson pitched five innings without allowing an earned run, and catcher Brady Neal launched two homers in the victory at Reckling Park … the Tigers reached base 26 times in the contest with 11 hits, 10 walks and five hit-by-pitches … Neal was 2-for-4 on the night with two homers, five RBI, three runs and a walk … centerfielder Paxton Kling was productive from the lead-off spot, driving in four runs and scoring twice to spark the Tigers’ offensive output.
Junior right-hander Luke Holman fired seven shutout innings last Saturday in a win over Northern Illinois … Holman limited the Huskies to two hits with no walks and eight strikeouts … he needed only 77 pitches in the efficient seven-inning outing, recording 50 pitches for strikes … after hitting the lead-off batter with a pitch in the third inning, Holman retired 10 consecutive NIU hitters, and after allowing a one-out single in the sixth, he retired five straight batters to complete his outing … Holman is 2-0 this season with a 0.00 ERA in 12.1 innings … he has recorded one walk and 18 strikeouts, and he’s limiting opponents to a .125 batting average.
Sophomore outfielder Paxton Kling is hitting .636 (7-for-11) with one homer, seven RBI, seven runs, seven walks, five hit-by-pitches, three steals and a .760 on-base percentage … batting in the lead-off spot in the lineup, Kling reached base in all six of his plate appearances last Sunday versus Stony Brook with two singles, two walks and two hit-by-pitches … over the course of LSU’s last five games, Kling has reached base 19 times in 25 plate appearances.
LSU’s win on Saturday over Northern Illinois was the 100th victory for coach Jay Johnson as the Tigers’ head coach … now in his third season in Baton Rouge, Johnson is the fastest coach to earn 100 wins at LSU, accomplishing the feat in just 140 games … entering Friday’s game versus Texas, Johnson has a 102-40 (.718) record at LSU, including leading the Tigers the 2023 College World Series title.
LSU blasted five home runs in its win over Northern Illinois on Thursday, marking the first five-homer game for the Tigers since June 4, 2023, in the NCAA Regional versus Oregon State in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
Second baseman/outfielder Josh Pearson launched two home runs in last Thursday’s win over Northern Illinois, marking the third two-homer game of his career … he also hit two dingers versus Nicholls and at Mississippi State during the 2022 season.
Senior left-hander Nate Ackenhausen earned a relief win last Thursday over Northern Illinois, limiting the Huskies to one run on two hits in 3.2 innings with three walks and six strikeouts, just one strikeout shy of his LSU career high.
Junior third baseman Tommy White collected a team-best six RBI in the Tigers’ four games last week, and he unloaded his first homer of the season Thursday versus Northern Illinois … with three more RBI in Wednesday’s win at Rice, White has nine RBI in LSU’s last five games … junior shortstop Michael Braswell III also collected six RBI in four games last week, as he was 3-for-7 at the plate in three games with one triple, one homer and three runs.
ABOUT THIS WEEKEND’S OPPONENTS
Texas is 7-1 this season and ranked No. 13 in the USA Today Coaches Poll … the Longhorns have posted a 2-1 series victory over San Diego, a three-game sweep of Cal Poly, and individual wins over Houston Christian and St. John’s … the Longhorns are hitting .329 as a team with 20 doubles, two triples and 13 homers … INF/OF Jared Thomas is hitting a sizzling .581 (18-for-31) with five doubles, one homer, six RBI, 14 runs and six steals.
UL Lafayette is 5-3 this season, and the Cajuns are batting .261 on the year with 18 doubles, two triples and 10 home runs … infielder Trey LaFleur is hitting .525 (10-for-19) with two doubles, one triple, two homers and seven RBI.
Texas State has a 5-3 mark this season, and the Bobcats have a .315 cumulative batting average with 17 doubles, two triples and 13 home runs … infielder Ryne Farber is batting .556 (15-for-27) with four doubles and eight RBI.
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