LSU To Host UL Lafayette Tuesday Night At Alex Box Stadium

UL Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns (25-12) at No. 1 LSU Tigers (29-6)

DATE/TIME
Tuesday, April 18 @ 6:30 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)

STADIUM
Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field in Baton Rouge, La. (10,326)

RANKINGS
LSU – No. 1 in all college baseball polls
ULL – unranked

RADIO
·LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates, including 98.1 in Baton Rouge
·Live audio at www.LSUsports.net/live; Live stats at www.LSUstats.com

ONLINE
Tuesday’s game will streamed on SEC Network +

LSU SERIES RECORD VS. UL LAFAYETTE
LSU leads the all-time series with UL Lafayette, 57-27, as the squads first met in 1912 … LSU has won two in a row, seven of the last 10, and 17 of the 25 meetings with ULL since 2000 … the Tigers defeated the Cajuns, 8-4, last season (April 19) in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field … the Tigers posted an 11-2 win in the 2021 season (Feb. 24) in Lafayette, which broke a three-game ULL win streak in the series.


QUOTING LSU COACH JAY JOHNSON
“UL Lafayette is awesome at what they do; they’re the fastest team I’ve ever seen. Every single guy can run. They have a style, and they execute it really well. They have a very good team, and they’re competing for the Sun Belt Conference championship. They’re an awesome opponent.”

ABOUT THE TIGERS
·LSU won three of its four games last week, including an SEC series win over Kentucky, which currently has the best NCAA RPI … LSU’s 29-6 record is its best through 35 games since 2015, when the Tigers were 30-5 … the Tigers have been ranked No. 1 in all of the college baseball polls for 10 consecutive weeks.

·LSU enters this week at or near the top of several NCAA statistical categories … the Tigers are No. 1 in the nation in on-base percentage (.456), scoring average (10.4 runs per game) and shutouts pitched (7) … the Tigers are No. 2 in runs scored (365) and slugging percentage (.587), and LSU is No. 4 in batting average (.329), hit-by-pitch (82), hits allowed per nine innings (6.91) and strikeouts pitched per nine innings (11.7).

·LSU centerfielder Dylan Crews is No. 1 in the nation in batting average (.500), on-base percentage (.648) and runs scored (60); he is No. 3 in walks (39) and No. 9 in slugging percentage (.842) … third baseman Tommy White is No. 1 in the nation in RBI per game (1.94) and in total RBI (62) … right-hander Paul Skenes leads the nation in strikeouts (104), strikeouts per nine innings (17.55), hits allowed per nine innings (4.72) and WHIP (0.69) … Skenes is No. 3 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (11.56) and No. 7 in ERA (1.69).

·Sophomore third baseman Tommy White led LSU to three wins in four games last week, including an SEC series victory over NCAA RPI No. 1 Kentucky … White batted .389 (7-for-18) in four games with four doubles, one homer, 11 RBI, four runs and a .429 on-base percentage … he hit .385 (5-for-13) in the Kentucky series with three doubles, one homer, eight RBI and four runs scored … White provided the game-winning RBI in all three of LSU’s wins last week – he delivered a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning at Tulane on Tuesday to break a 3-3 tie, and LSU went on to an 11-5 win; White’s two-run double in the bottom of the first inning on Thursday versus Kentucky gave LSU a lead it never relinquished in a 16-6 victory; White was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning on Saturday, breaking a 6-6 tie and lifting the Tigers to a 7-6 win.

·Junior right-hander Bryce Collins posted two wins in two relief appearances last week over Tulane and NCAA RPI No. 1 Kentucky … he worked a combined 5.0 innings, allowing no runs on one hit with three walks and six strikeouts … he worked the final 2.1 innings of Saturday’s win over Kentucky, blanking the Wildcats on one hit with one walk and four strikeouts … Collins entered Saturday’s game in the seventh inning after Kentucky had scored three runs to take a 6-4 lead, and he recorded a strikeout to end the inning with a runner at first base; he then fired two shutout innings to earn the win after LSU scored two runs in the seventh and the go-ahead run in the eighth … Collins entered the Tulane game on Tuesday in the fourth inning with one out, a runner at first base and the scored tied 3-3; he worked 2.2 scoreless innings as LSU grabbed the lead, allowing no hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

·Freshman first baseman Jared Jones batted .500 (7-for-14) in four games last week with three doubles, two homers, five RBI, six runs and a .611 on-base percentage … in LSU’s SEC series win over NCAA RPI No. 1 Kentucky, Jones hit .400 (4-for-10) with two homers, five RBI and five runs … he blasted two solo homers in the Tigers’ 7-6 win over Kentucky on Saturday, and each dinger – one in the second inning and one in the sixth inning – gave the Tigers a lead … Jones smashed three doubles in LSU’s win at Tulane on Tuesday, tying the school single-game record for doubles … Jones is second on the LSU squad this season in homers (11), and he is third on the club in RBI (36) and doubles (9).

ABOUT THE CAJUNS
·UL Lafayette dropped two of three games last weekend to Troy in a Sun Belt Conference series … the Cajuns are 10-5 in the SBC.

·The Cajuns are hitting .282 as a team with 68 doubles, 10 triples, 42 homers and 105 stolen bases in 139 attempts .. UL Lafayette’s pitching staff has a 4.20 cumulative ERA with 293 strikeouts in 326 innings while limiting opponents to a .228 batting average.

·Catcher Julian Brock is hitting .345 with team highs of eight homers and 41 RBI … infielder John Taylor and OF/1B Carson Roccaforte are each hitting .315 and have each provided 26 RBI … outfielder Heath Hood is batting a team-high .378, and he leads the Cajuns in steals with 24 in 27 attempts.

(Release via LSU Athletics)