Tennessee Volunteers vs. #6 LSU Fighting Tigers at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field

The Fighting Tigers are back in The Box to face the Tennessee Volunteers with only two home SEC series left this season. LSU (31-10-1, 10-7-1) has been on a roll lately winning 7 of the last 9 conference games and 11 of 13 overall since being swept by Florida. After taking its first road SEC series at Ole Miss, LSU avenged its loss to Tulane earlier this season by throwing its nation-leading 13th shutout of the season in a 6-0 victory on Tuesday. Tennessee (25-14, 7-11) enters the weekend dropping 5 of the last 7 games overall and a midweek game at East Tennessee State on Tuesday night. This is the 72nd meeting between these schools with LSU holding the all-time series record 50-21. The last series meeting was an LSU sweep in Baton Rouge in 2011 with Kurt McCune winning game 2 of that series and Joe Broussard throwing in relief.

The series this weekend is back to the normal Friday through Sunday schedule, which gives each LSU starter an extra day of rest. Friday night’s game will start at 7:00pm and is not on tv, with the only video being through the GeauxZone. Saturday’s game will be televised on CST in addition to being streamed on ESPN3.com, the watchESPN app, and the GeauxZone. First pitch Saturday night is scheduled for 6:30pm. Game 3 will start at noon and can only be viewed through the GeauxZone. Audio is available all 3 games in the GeauxZone.

Tennessee Volunteers
Record: 25-14
Conference: 7-11, 6th SEC east
Non-Conf: 18-3
Home: 18-6
Away: 7-8
Neutral: 0-0

Record vs. RPI: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team RPI: 30 (15)
vs Top 25: 3-6 (3-7)
vs Top 50: 8-7 (8-8)
vs Top 100: 11-11 (11-8)

Team Overview:
Head coach Dave Serrano is in his third season and is starting to put his successful touch into the Tennessee program. The Vols have already won as many games as they did the previous two seasons. Tennessee started its season 12-0, but the SEC competition has caused some setbacks for this young pitching staff, and they have gone 13-14 since that hot start. This is a team that returned most of its lineup which was decent last season. The pitching on the other hand was atrocious last season, and Serrano is relying heavily on some newcomers to build the team around. The Vols are hitting .252 as a team with a 4.22 era in SEC games. They have shown some signs of improvement with series wins against Arizona State and Vanderbilt, but Tennessee is still a few years away from competing in the SEC East.

Team Stat Comparison (LSU in parentheses)
Runs/game scored: 6.0 (5.9)
Runs/game allowed: 4.0 (2.6)

Team ERA: 3.39 (2.31)
Opponent ERA: 4.86 (4.88)

Team BA: .280 (.272)
Opponent BA: .234 (.208)

Team Fielding %: .975 (.975)
Opponent Fielding %: .963 (.966)

Good OOC wins: UNLV (3-0), @ Arizona State (2-1), Western Carolina (1-0)
Bad OOC losses: None

SEC Series Wins: @ Missouri (2-1), vs Vanderbilt (2-1)
SEC Series Losses: vs Auburn (1-2), @ South Carolina (0-3), @ Georgia (1-2), vs. Alabama (1-2)

Common OOC Opponents:
Purdue: 2-0 (LSU 3-0)

Starting Pitching:
The Vols have had a pretty steady rotation of four guys in the starting rotation this season; however, due to the recent struggles in SEC play, coach Serrano will be making a drastic change to the weekend rotation. Peter Lenstrohm will be making his first start of his Tennessee career. The 6’2 junior has thrown 25.1 innings in 17 appearances this season allowing just 16 hits. He throws a fastball around 90mph and he mixes a changeup with his breaking ball. He will be getting the pleasure of making that first start on the road and facing off against the nation’s best in Aaron Nola.

Starting on Friday night will be Andy Cox. The sophomore will be making his 23rd appearance but just 3rd start of the season. Cox was named this week to the NCBWA’s midseason Stopper of the Year watchlist along with LSU’s Joe Broussard. He has been the Vols’ best pitcher this season of both starters and relievers. Cox is a typical southpaw throwing his fastball in the upper 80’s as well as a variety of offspeed pitches. He’ll throw a slider, a curve, and a changeup of varying speeds in the low 70’s up to 80. Opposite Cox on the hill for LSU will be Jared Poché. Jared took the loss last week and has had some struggles on the road, but on the home dirt he has been superb. This game will be the best matchup of the weekend.

On Sunday, Serrano will go back to regular Friday night starter Nick Williams. The senior righty has had an up and down career as a Vol, but his 1.05 WHIP, .233 OBA, and 3.54 are the best of his 4 years. His fastball sits 89-91 and his second best pitch is a curve. In five SEC starts he is 1-2 with a 4.79 ERA allowing 40 hits in 35.2 innings of work. LSU coach Paul Mainieri found lightning in a bottle with freshman Alden Cartwright last Sunday. Alden threw 4 scoreless innings last week, getting the tigers jump started to go on to shut out Ole Miss and win the rubber game of that series.

Friday's Pitching Matchup:
UT - Jr. RHP Peter Lenstrohm (17 app, 1-1, 2.13 ERA, 25.1 IP, 16 H, 6 ER, 8 BB, 16 K, .178 OBA, 0.96 WHIP)
LSU - Jr. RHP Aaron Nola (7-1, 0.88 ERA, 71.2 IP, 39 H, 7 ER, 15 BB, 91 K, .159 OBA, 0.75 WHIP)

Saturday's Pitching Matchup:
UT - So. LHP Andy Cox (21 app, 3-1, 2 saves, 1.62 ERA, 50.0 IP, 27 H, 9 ER, 15 BB, 45 K, .160 OBA, 0.84 WHIP)
LSU - Fr. LHP Jared Poché (6-3, 2.59 ERA, 55.2 IP, 44 H, 16 ER, 17 BB, 36 K, .222 OBA, 1.10 WHIP)

Sunday's Pitching Matchup:
UT - Sr. RHP Nick Williams (4-4, 3.54 ERA, 61.0 IP, 52 H, 24 ER, 12 BB, 46 K, .233 OBA, 1.05 WHIP)
LSU - Fr. RHP Alden Cartwright (1-0, 1.74 ERA, 20.2 IP, 13 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 18 K, .176 OBA, 0.77 WHIP)

Relief Pitching:
With the movement of Lenstrohm and Cox to the rotation, the list of dependable bullpen arms gets even thinner. The role of the closer will certainly go to Drake Owenby, who leads the team with 5 saves this year. He is a lefty that is known to have some control problems, giving up 37 free passes and 40 hits in 48 career innings. John Peterson is a JUCO transfer having a nice showing in his first season as a Volunteer with a solid 0.96 WHIP in 16 relief outings. Should any of the starters get in early trouble, you can probably expect Hunter Martin, Andrew Lee, or Kyle Serrano to come in for long relief. They are the normal weekend starters.

Top Bullpen Arms:
Jr. RHP John Peterson (16 app, 2-0, 2.22 ERA, 28.1 IP, 22 H, 7 ER, 5 BB, 21 K, .222 OBA)
So. RHP Trevor Bettencourt (17 app, 1-1, 2 saves, 2.77 ERA, 26.0 IP, 22 H, 8 ER, 8 BB, 25 K, .237 OBA)
So. LHP Drake Owenby (18 app, 2-1, 5 saves, 2.95 ERA, 21.1 IP, 20 H, 7 ER, 15 BB, 21 K)
Fr. RHP Hunter Martin (2-2, 3.23 ERA, 39.0 IP, 42 H, 14 ER, 11 BB, 22 K, .280 OBA)
Fr. RHP Kyle Serrano (3-2, 5.40 ERA, 41.2 IP, 35 H, 25 ER, 28 BB, 28 K, .230 OBA)

Part 1 of 2... continued in next post