The Tigers pack their bags once again for another rare February road game; this time making the short drive down I-12 to Hammond, LA, for a midweek contest against the Southeastern Lions. This preview will be shorter than a 3 game weekend set but will cover all of the bases. It’s still early, but I will start using 2014 stats, except where otherwise noted.

Southeastern Louisiana University Lions
Record: 2-1 (2013: 36-24)
Conference: 0-0 Southland (2013: 16-11)
Non-Conf: 2-1 (2013: 17-11)
Home: 0-0 (2013: 18-7)
Road: 2-1 (2013: 11-15)
Neutral: 0-0 (2013: 7-2)

Overview:
Southeastern is under new management as former Tulane star Matt Riser will be spending his first full season as head coach of the Lions. The 30 year-old rookie coach hasn’t disappointed so far as Southeastern opened their season with a nice series win on the road against Louisiana Tech. But the expectations in Hammond are high with Southeastern picked to finish 2nd in the Southland by both the Coaches and the school SID’s. The Lions will be pumped up to face the Tigers in front of a sold out Pat Kennelly Stadium, and a win over LSU would look great on their postseason resume.

(LSU numbers in parentheses)
RPI: 106 (1)
vs Top 25: 0-0 (2-0)
vs Top 50: 0-0 (2-0)
vs Top 100: 0-0 (2-0)

Avg runs scored/game: 6.7 (5.0)
Avg runs allowed/game: 3.3 (1.3)

Starting Pitching:
Team ERA: 2.57 (1.33)

LSU will start Junior lefty Cody Glenn, who will be limited to 6 innings and 75-80 pitches. Glenn is making his 1st start of the season after throwing 1 perfect inning of relief on Sunday afternoon. Behind him, we can look for Joe Broussar and Kurt McCune to see time on the mound. Southeastern will counter with senior Sean Kennel making his first appearance on the mound in 2014. Kennel is a strike zone pounding righty who won’t over-power hitters and pitches to contact.

Wednesday's Pitching Matchup:
Jr. LHP Cody Glenn (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, .000 OBA)
Sr. RHP Sean Kennel (1st appearance, 2013: 6-3, 3.49 ERA, 69.2 IP, 79 H, 27 ER, 13 BB, 36 K, .290 OBA)

Relief Pitching:
Mason Klotz is the go-to guy in the Southeastern bullpen. He lead the team in appearances with 26 last year and already has 2 showings in 3 games this season. Klotz recorded 11 saves in 2013 with a 2.63 earned run average and opponents only hitting for a .204 average against. The Lions have another solid arm with setup man Dylan Hills. Hills captured 7 saves last year in 24 appearances with a 3.34 era. Neither Klotz nor Hills have surrendered a hit or run in their 2 and 1 inning appearances respectively. Other potential relievers are Jason Greenleaf, John Gremillion, and Kyle Keller.

Offense: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team BA: .243 (.290)
Team OBP: .406 (.368)
Team SLG: .272 (.380)

Southeastern is led at the plate by preseason All-Conference selections Jesse Buratt and Jameson Fisher. DH/3rd baseman Buratt was an all-region selection at BRCC as a sophomore before transferring to SELU and leading the Lions in doubles and recording a .366 batting average w/ RISP last year. After being drafted in the 24th round of the 2012 MLB draft and electing to attend school, Jameson Fisher was named to the 2013 NCBWA National Freshman All-American team, leading the team in most offensive categories, including a .315 average. Look for Southeastern to be aggressive on the bases should they be in position to do so. The Lions swiped 9 of 11 bases in their 3 game set with LA Tech over the weekend. Andrew Godbold is off to a slow start in 2014, but can break out at any time. Kyle Cedotal is a 2 way player who threw 4 innings of relief on Sunday, so I expect him to be exclusively in centerfield on Wednesday night.

Defense:
Southeastern’s fielding percentage is an average .969 so far in 2014 with 4 errors. LSU is fielding .991 with just the 1 error by Chinea.

Season Stats
Roster
Schedule (via Warren Nolan)

LINEUP PREDICTIONS:

LSU Lineup:
1) DH- Sean McMullen (.429/0/2)
2) LF- Mark Laird (.143/0/0)
3) SS- Alex Bregman (.545/0/3)
4) C- Chris Chinea (.125/1/1)
5) 3B- Christian Ibarra (.286/0/0)
6) 2B- Conner Hale (.500/0/1)
7) 1B- Tyler Moore (.286/0/0)
8) RF- Jared Foster (.077/0/1)
9) CF- Andrew Stevenson (.500/0/2)
LHP Cody Glenn (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 0.00 OBA)

Southeastern Lineup:
1) LF- Kiko Thompson (.000/0/0)
2) 3B- Jesse Buratt (.231/0/1)
3) C- Jameson Fisher (.250/0/3)
4) RF- Andrew Godbold (.143/0/1)
5) DH- Sam Roberson (.444/0/2)
6) 2B- Brett Hoffman (.300/0/3)
7) 1B- Kevin Carr (.333/0/3)
8) CF- Kyle Cedotal (.333/0/1)
9) SS- Jacob Williams (.455/0/0)
RHP Sean Kennel (1st appearance, 2013: 6-3, 3.49 ERA, 69.2 IP, 79 H, 27 ER, 13 BB, 36 K, .290 OBA)

Media Coverage:
TV – CST only inside of the broadcast area; ESPN3.com elsewhere
Radio – 100.7 FM (and your local LSU sports radio network affiliate)

PREDICTION: LSU has won 31 straight games against teams from the state of Louisiana and 33 straight midweek games. Look for that trend to continue on Wednesday night with the Tigers taking care of the Lions behind the arms of Glenn, Broussard, and McCune. LSU 4, SELA 1

This post was edited on 2/19/14 at 6:07 pm