Preview: LSU Baseball vs. Grambling State Tuesday Night in Alex Box Stadium

Grambling State Tigers (5-13) at LSU Fighting Tigers (14-7)

DATE/TIME
Tuesday, March 17 @ 6:30 p.m. CT

STADIUM
Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field in Baton Rouge, La. (10,718)

RADIO
-LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates
-Live audio at www.LSUsports.net/live; Live stats at www.LSUstats.com

TV/ONLINE
The game will be streamed on SEC Network +

LSU SERIES RECORD VS. GRAMBLING STATE

-LSU leads the all-time series with Grambling 13-0, as the teams first met in 2009 … all 13 of the LSU-Grambling games have been played in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field … in the most recent meeting between the schools, LSU defeated Grambling, 26-2 (7 innings), on April 30, 2024 … the teams were scheduled to meet in Baton Rouge on May 6 of last season; however, the game was canceled due to inclement weather.

QUOTING COACH JAY JOHNSON

“We have good players, and this is important to them. We are very much about the process and how we play, and I want them to keep growing up. I thought that we handled in-game adversity much better last week. I’m proud of the at-bats we took last weekend; it was a good step, and that’s trending in the right direction.”

ABOUT THE LSU TIGERS

-LSU junior rightfielder Jake Brown hit .467 (7-for-15) in four games last week with two doubles, three homers, 11 RBI, six runs and one stolen base ... in the Tigers' SEC series at Vanderbilt, Brown batted .455 (5-for-11) with one double, two homers, nine RBI and four runs ... he tied his career high with six RBI in Sunday's win at Vanderbilt, delivering a three-run homer, a two-run single and a sacrifice fly ... Brown is hitting .419 this season with seven doubles, 11 homers, 37 RBI, 25 runs and five steals.

-Freshman catcher Omar Serna Jr. collected eight RBI in three games last week … he blasted his first career collegiate home run, a grand slam, on Tuesday night versus Creighton to erase a 4-2 fifth-inning deficit and lift the Tigers to an 8-4 win … he logged four RBI while playing in two games of the Vanderbilt series, delivering an two-run single on Saturday night, and a sacrifice fly and an RBI single on Sunday.

-Senior leftfielder Chris Stanfield returned to the LSU starting lineup for the Vanderbilt series, and he batted .400 (4-for-10) in three games with four runs, one RBI, three walks and a .538 on-base percentage … Stanfield was forced to miss 16 games after suffering a hand injury in the second game of the season on February 14 versus Milwaukee.

-Sophomore catcher Cade Arrambide hit .385 (5-for-13) in the Vanderbilt series with two doubles, three RBI, five runs and a .467 on-base percentage … in Sunday’s 16-9 win over the Commodores, Arrambide was 2-for-5 with one double, three RBI and two runs scored.

-Junior shortstop Steven Milam served as the Tigers’ leadoff hitter for all three games of the Vanderbilt series, and he batted .357 (5-for-14) with one double, one RBI, seven runs, one walk, one hit-by-pitch and a .438 on-base percentage … Milam has not committed an error through 21 games this season, posting a 1.000 fielding percentage in 62 chances.

-Sophomore right-hander Deven Sheerin posted relief wins over Creighton on Tuesday night and over Vanderbilt on Sunday … Sheerin worked 2.1 scoreless innings versus Creighton to earn his first career LSU win, allowing just one hit with one walk and four strikeouts … he earned his first career SEC win at Vanderbilt on Sunday, working 2.1 innings and allowing two earned runs on two hits with one walk and four strikeouts … the outing marked Sheerin’s first career appearance in an SEC game.

-Junior left-hander Santiago Garcia earned his first career LSU save on Tuesday versus Creighton, working 2.2 scoreless innings with one hit, no walks and four strikeouts … Garcia made his first career appearance in an SEC game on Sunday at Vanderbilt, and he recorded three strikeouts in 1.0 inning of relief.

-Senior right-hander Zac Cowan pitched brilliantly in relief on Friday night at Vanderbilt, logging 3.1 scoreless innings with one hit, no walks and five strikeouts.

ABOUT THE GRAMBLING TIGERS:

-Grambling is 5-13 this season, and the Tigers won two of three games at Alabama State last weekend … Grambling is making its second trip to Alex Box Stadium this season; the Tigers played three neutral-sites games at Alex Box Stadium on February 27-March 1 and suffered losses to Northeastern (twice) and Dartmouth.

-Grambling is hitting .286 as a team this season with 22 doubles, five triples, 15 home runs and 17 steals in 23 attempts … infielder Hasani Johnson is batting a team-high .368, outfielder Cameron Hill is hitting .324 with three doubles, three homers and 15 RBI, and catcher Julio VasQuez is batting .319 with two doubles, five homers and 18 RBI.

-The Grambling pitching staff has a 9.19 cumulative ERA with 154 strikeouts in 144.0 innings while allowing a .293 opponent batting average and 20 home runs.

(Release via LSU Athletics)