Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Baton Rouge Regional Preview: LSU, Houston, Bryant, & Southeastern LA
It’s that time of year again: postseason baseball at The Box! Two weeks ago, it looked as though the road to Omaha for the Tigers head out on a road tour. Instead, the LSU bats came alive and an impressive 8-game winning streak and SEC Tournament Championship later, the Tigers were named the #8 national seed. With that distinction, the road to Omaha now leads through Baton Rouge for the 7th time since the new Super Regional format was put in place in 1999 and the 3rd straight year. The significance of this is that in 15 of LSU’s 16 College World Series appearances, the Tigers hosted the regional/super regional round(s).
Houston Cougars History: 19th regional app (last 2008); 2 CWS appearances (last 1967, runner-up)
Record: 44-15
Conference: 14-9, 3rd American Athletic – won inaugural AAC tourney auto-bid
Non-Conf: 27-5
Home: 25-8
Away: 14-4
Neutral: 5-3
Record vs. RPI: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team RPI: 10 (9)
vs Top 25: 5-5 (6-8)
vs Top 50: 10-8 (14-11)
vs Top 100: 18-9 (23-12-1)
Team Overview:
Houston is in its 4th year under head coach Todd Whitting, and the Cougars are making their first post season under the Houston grad. The Cougars had a solid season in the brand new American Athletic Conference finishing 3rd in the league, but went on to win the inaugural AAC Conference Tourney. Houston’s non-conference RPI was #1 in the country, and many felt that their 27-5 record in those games would be enough to host a regional. Houston had some impressive wins this year, including a 3 game season sweep over former in-city rival Rice. Houston only suffered 1 series loss this season, but it was a big one in early April when AAC regular season champ Louisville swept the Cougars on their home turf. Houston is making its second trip to a Baton Rouge regional, going 0-2 back in 1997 as part of the 6-team regional format.
Team Stat Comparison (LSU in parentheses)
Runs/game scored: 5.2 (6.4)
Runs/game allowed: 2.7 (2.7)
Team ERA: 2.20 (2.42)
Team BA: .281 (.286)
Team Fielding %: .969 (.975)
Common Opponents:
Texas A&M 1-0 (LSU 1-2)
Starting Pitching:
Pitching is the backbone of this Houston club. The team ERA of 2.20 is 4th in the nation (LSU is 9th) and has improved by a run and half per game from a year ago. They don’t walk a lot of guys and have the 2nd best WHIP in the country. Aaron Garza, the staff ace, is a strike thrower who works down in the zone with a 2 seam FB and a slider. Jake Lemoine is a big 6’5 righty that works in the low-90’s and throws 4 pitches: fastball, changeup, slider, and curve. Jared West and David Longville have each spent time as weekend starters this year and will need to provide good starts for Houston to take down LSU and advance.
Projected Pitching Rotation:
Game 1: So. RHP Jake Lemoine (6-6, 2.35 ERA, 95.2 IP, 81 H, 25 ER, 23 BB, 82 K, .233 OBA, 1.09 WHIP)
Game 2: Jr. RHP Aaron Garza (8-4, 2.65 ERA, 98.1 IP, 86 H, 29 ER, 10 BB, 56 K, .236 OBA, 0.98 WHIP)
Game 3: Jr. RHP David Longville (1-0, 2.98 ERA, 54.1 IP, 63 H, 18 ER, 7 BB, 34 K, .297 OBA, 1.29 WHIP)
Game 4: So. LHP Jared West (2-2, 2.64 ERA, 47.2 IP, 36 H, 14 ER, 18 BB, 39 K, .207 OBA, 1.13 WHIP)
Relief Pitching:
Houston’s bullpen has been tremendous this year, but two guys stand out among the group and they are Tyler Ford and Chase Wellbrock. Tyler Ford is a southpaw stud and leads the nation with his 0.72 WHIP. Chase Wellbrock and his 12 saves helped him to be named to the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List. Wellbrock isn’t an imposing closer and won’t overpower hitters with this mid-80s fastball, but he has a lot of movement and throws a nasty slider. Both Ford and Wellbrock can go multiple innings of relief when called upon.
Top Bullpen Arms:
Sr. RHP Chase Wellbrock (20 app, 4-0, 12 saves, 1.15 ERA, 39.0 IP, 33 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 33 K, .241 OBA, 0.97 WHIP)
Sr. LHP Tyler Ford (24 app, 8-0, 4 saves, 1.26 ERA, 64.1 IP, 41 H, 9 ER, 5 BB, 43 K, .182 OBA, 0.72 WHIP)
Fr. RHP Andrew Lantrip (12 app, 6-0, 1.40 ERA, 38.2 IP, 24 H, 6 ER, 5 BB, 32 K, .174 OBA, 0.75 WHIP)
Jr. RHP Jared Robinson (20 app, 4-1, 1.72 ERA, 31.1 IP, 23 H, 6 ER, 12 BB, 26 K, .204 OBA, 1.12 WHIP)
Houston Offense:
Houston hasn’t been an offensive prowess this season, but similar to LSU, that is what carried them to the conference tournament title, scoring 13 and 10 runs in their final two games with a .373 team average in the tournament. Josh Vidales was named tournament Most Outstanding player hitting .733 in the 4 games. The true leader of this team is senior first baseman Casey Grayson. He leads the team in hits, doubles, home runs, RBIs, walks, on base percentage, slugging percentage, and batting average. This lineup below features 4 true leftys, 2 switch-hitters, and 3 rightys; however, as a team, Houston hits for the exact same average against RHP as they do LHP. A recent spark for this club – Houston’s version of Jake Fraley, if you will – has been third baseman Conner Hollis, who his hitting .333 in 22 starts this season, most of which have come within the last month.
Houston is very aggressive on the base paths and will run at very successful rate. Kyle Survance has logged 30 stolen bases on the year, 10th most in the country. Ratcliff, Vidales, and Fulmer each have double digit steals on the season.
Houston Projected Lineup:
1) RF Kyle Survance (.315 avg, 10 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 29 RBI, 46 R, 32 BB, 43 K, 30-37 SB)
2) LF Michael Pyeatt (.305 avg, 3 2B, 2 3B, HR, 18 RBI, 17 R, 19 BB, 22 K, 5-6 SB)
3) 1B Casey Grayson (.335 avg, 16 2B, 3B, 6 HR, 48 RBI, 35 R, 46 BB, 24 K, 1-6 SB)
4) DH Justin Montemayor (.304 avg, 14 2B, HR, 30 RBI, 32 R, 11 BB, 44 K, 0-0 SB)
5) 3B Connor Hollis (.333 avg, 3 2B, 6 RBI, 12 R, 9 BB, 14 K, 1-2 SB)
6) SS Frankie Ratcliff (.281 avg, 7 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 24 RBI, 38 R, 36 BB, 28 K, 17-21 SB)
7) C Caleb Barker (.221 avg, 8 2B, 2 3B, HR, 25 RBI, 24 R, 29 BB, 33 K, 2-2 SB)
8) 2B Josh Vidales (.278 avg, 5 2B, 30 RBI, 40 R, 35 BB, 14 K, 11-14 SB)
9) CF Ashford Fulmer (.266 avg, 9 2B, 4 HR, 30 RBI, 24 R, 13 BB, 37 K, 10-13 SB)
Other Contributors:
CF Landon Appling (.225 avg, 2B, 5 RBI, 14 R, 7 BB, 15 K, 4-6 SB)
3B Jordan Stading (.228 avg, 2B, 13 RBI, 13 R, 23 BB, 24 K, 0-0 SB)
Defense:
Houston’s .969 fielding % is 104th in the nation. Middle infielders Ratcliff and Vidales have combined for a very high 31 errors this season, and the team’s 45 double plays also ranks just over 100th in country. Senior catcher Caleb Barker is outstanding behind the dish throwing out 43% of attempting stealers.
Season Stats
Roster
Schedule (via Warren Nolan)
Bryant Bulldogs History: 2nd regional app (last 2013)
Record: 42-14
Conference: 19-5, 1st Northeast Conference – won NEC tourney auto-bid
Non-Conf: 20-9
Home: 12-5
Away: 24-8
Neutral: 6-1
Record vs. RPI: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team RPI: 43 (9)
vs Top 25: 0-3 (6-8)
vs Top 50: 0-3 (14-11)
vs Top 100: 1-5 (23-12-1)
Team Overview:
Bryant is a school that is only been competing in baseball at the Division I level for the 6th season, yet already is making its 2nd appearance in an NCAA regional. In 2009, the Bulldogs became a D1 independent winning 32 games in its first season. Starting with the 2010 season, Coach Steve Owens took the wheel as the team joined the Northeast Conference for the first time. Since then, the Dogs have won the NEC regular season title in 4 of 5 seasons in the league. They were finally able to break through in the conference tournament in 2013 earning an automatic bid for the school’s first NCAA postseason appearance. Bryant made its presence known by beating Jalen Beeks and Arkansas in the first round of the Regional before dropping the next two games. This 2014 club returned 4 of the top 6 hitters and 3 of its main 5 pitchers.
Team Stat Comparison (LSU in parentheses)
Runs/game scored: 6.8 (6.4)
Runs/game allowed: 3.5 (2.7)
Team ERA: 2.93 (2.42)
Team BA: .304 (.286)
Team Fielding %: .968 (.975)
Common Opponents: None
Starting Pitching:
While the offense is the main strength, the starting pitchers are the leaders of this team. The rotation consists of 2 seniors and a junior who each has NCAA postseason experience and improved upon last year’s overall results. Kevin McAvoy has been the Friday night guy most of back half of the season. McAvoy is a sinker baller who sits in the low 90s while mixing in his slider. The guy who spent the early part of the year as the Friday night guy is Craig Schlitter, and he has the strongest statistics of the staff. Schlitter has excellent command of his upper 80’s fastball as well as his curve and change which he can throw for strikes in any count. Coming on strong is senior Vaughn Hayward. The Holy Cross transfer has earned his way into a major role on this Bulldog club winning 9 games this season, including the NEC Championship game last weekend. Hayward’s 4 seam fastball has touched 95mph on a couple of occasions but he will typically sit 90 to 92mph. He will mix in a cut fastball as well as a changeup and a curve. This staff is 5th ranked in the nation with 12 shutouts on the season.
Projected Pitching Rotation:
Game 1: Jr. RHP Kevin McAvoy (9-2, 2.81 ERA, 93.0 IP, 74 H, 29 ER, 25 BB, 88 K, .217 OBA, 1.06 WHIP)
Game 2: Sr. RHP Craig Schlitter (10-1, 1.95 ERA, 87.2 IP, 71 H, 19 ER, 17 BB, 69 K, .216 OBA, 1.00 WHIP)
Game 3: Sr. RHP Vaughn Hayward (9-2, 2.41 ERA, 71.0 IP, 63 H, 19 ER, 23 BB, 47 K, .236 OBA, 1.21 WHIP)
Relief Pitching:
The bullpen is the biggest weakness on this team as with many mid-majors. The 4 starting pitchers’ records combine for 30-6, leaving the bullpen with just a 12-8 record on the year. Interestingly, every pitcher on the staff but 1 has allowed fewer hits than innings pitched, and their 7.41 hits allowed/9 ranks 11th in the nation. Two guys stand out in the pen and those arms are southpaws Jonathan Cohen and Trevor Lacosse, who combine for 40 appearances and 10 saves.
Top Bullpen Arms:
Sr. LHP Jonathan Cohen (19 app, 1-0, 1 save, 2.53 ERA, 32.0 IP, 27 H, 9 ER, 7 BB, 19 K, .223 OBA, 1.06 WHIP)
Jr. LHP Trevor Lacosse (21 app, 4-3, 8 saves, 2.94 ERA, 33.2 IP, 28 H, 11 ER, 11 BB, 39 K, .228 OBA, 1.16 WHIP)
Fr. LHP Jack Patterson (10 app, 3-0, 3.41 ERA, 34.1 IP, 27 H, 13 ER, 18 BB, 35 K, .223 OBA, 1.31 WHIP)
So. RHP James Davitt (1 app, 1-1, 3.66 ERA, 19.2 IP, 16 H, 8 ER, 7 BB, 17 K, .222 OBA, 1.17 WHIP)
Bryant Offense:
The Dogs are in the top 25 in the country in 9 offensive categories including batting average, doubles, home runs, OBP, SLG%, runs scored, HBP, sac flies, and SB’s. You can tell from the stats below that 8 of the 9 every day starters are batting over .300 on the year. This team lead the Northeast Conference in 11 of 13 offensive categories, finishing 2nd and 4th in the other two. These guys do not strike out a lot and their BABIP is a high .330 as a team (LSU’s is .307). The Bulldogs rank 8th in the country in stolen bases and the leader is Carl Anderson with 29 steals in 32 tries.
Bryant Projected Lineup:
1) RF Jordan Mountford (.313 avg, 7 2B, 4 HR, 25 RBI, 19 R, 13 BB, 23 K, 8-8 SB)
2) DH AJ Zarozny (.398 avg, 6 2B, 5 HR, 16 RBI, 23 R, 6 BB, 8 K, 7-10 SB)
3) CF Carl Anderson (.316 avg, 10 2B, 3 3B, 7 HR, 40 RBI, 48 R, 22 BB, 23 K, 29-32 SB)
4) 3B John Mullen (.301 avg, 10 2B, 4 HR, 36 RBI, 31 R, 18 BB, 26 K, 15-19 SB)
5) 1B Robby Rinn (.309 avg, 13 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 36 RBI, 37 R, 30 BB, 13 K, 0-0 SB)
6) C Buck McCarthy (.353 avg, 13 2B, 4 HR, 29 RBI, 30 R, 20 BB, 29 K, 2-3 SB)
7) LF Matt Albanese (.329 avg, 16 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR, 36 RBI, 52 R, 20 BB, 21 K, 11-14 SB)
8) 2B Cole Fabio (.340 avg, 3 2B, HR, 16 RBI, 21 R, 17 BB, 19 K, 12-15 SB)
9) SS Dan Celluci (.243 avg, 11 2B, 2 HR, 27 RBI, 26 R, 17 BB, 25 K, 1-1 SB)
Other Contributors:
C/1B Tom Gavitt (.325 avg, 8 2B, 4 3B, 6 HR, 29 RBI, 31 R, 8 BB, 10 K, 0-2 SB)
INF Brandon Bingel (.241 avg, 3 2B, HR, 18 RBI, 17 R, 12 BB, 11 K, 0-0 SB)
OF Daniel St. George (.292 avg, 7 2B, 3B, HR, 13 RBI, 21 R, 12 BB, 19 K, 5-6 SB)
Defense:
Bryant is fielding .968 as a team ranking 128th in the nation. Middle infielders Celluci and Fabio have combined for only 17 errors this season, and the team’s 53 double plays also ranks 53rd in country. Catchers McCarthy and Gavitt have each thrown out 37% (both exactly 10/27) of base stealers from behind the dish.
Season Stats
Roster
Schedule (via Warren Nolan)
Southeastern Louisiana Lions History: 3rd regional app (last 1994)
Record: 37-23
Conference: 18-12, 5th Southland – won conf tourney auto-bid
Non-Conf: 15-11
Home: 20-10
Away: 14-13
Neutral: 3-0
Record vs. RPI: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team RPI: 73 (9)
vs Top 25: 0-5 (6-8)
vs Top 50: 1-8 (14-11)
vs Top 100: 1-8 (23-12-1)
Team Overview:
In his first season as Head Coach, Matt Riser has taken Southeastern to the NCAA postseason for the first time since Riser was 9 years old and just the 3rd time in school history. Southeastern finished 4 games back of Sam Houston State in fifth place in the Southland Conference regular season, but swept the conference tournament to earn the automatic bid. Southeastern and LSU played a midweek game on February 19, which the Tigers won 7-3 lead by a 3 for 5 performance by Conner Hale and the bullpen tossing 4 shutout innings.
Team Stat Comparison (LSU in parentheses)
Runs/game scored: 5.8 (6.4)
Runs/game allowed: 3.8 (2.7)
Team ERA: 2.95 (2.42)
Team BA: .291 (.286)
Team Fielding %: .962 (.975)
Common Opponents:
LSU won head-to-head
UNO 3-0 (LSU 2-0)
Grambling 1-0 (LSU 1-0)
Sacred Heart 2-1 (LSU 1-0)
Tulane 2-1 (LSU 1-1)
Ole Miss 0-2 (LSU 2-1)
Lamar 2-1 (LSU 1-0)
Louisiana Lafayette 0-2 (LSU 0-1)
Nicholls State 2-1 (LSU 1-0)
McNeese 2-1 (LSU 1-0)
Northwestern State 4-1 (LSU 2-0)
Alcorn State 1-0 (LSU 1-0)
TOTAL: SELA 19-11, LSU 14-3
Starting Pitching:
Southeastern has a legitimate ace in Andro Cutura. A 2012 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American, Cutura , now a junior, will throw a low 90’s sinking fastball from the right side along with a cutter and a solid swing-and-miss changeup. Cutura has been the backbone of the rotation all year long. He started 2 games in the conference tournament going a total of 10 innings and throwing 165 pitches in 4 days. Right behind Cutura in that rotation all year long as been Tate Scioneaux. The 6’2 sophomore from Reserve has recorded 14 victories in his young career and gone over 95 innings pitched for the second straight season. Scioneaux’s fastball sits in the 88-91mph range.
Projected Pitching Rotation:
Game 1: Jr. RHP Andro Cutura (10-2, 1.72 ERA, 99.2 IP, 78 H, 19 ER, 19 BB, 95 K, .212 OBA, 0.97 WHIP)
Game 2: So. RHP Tate Scioneaux (7-6, 3.11 ERA, 104.1 IP, 94 H, 36 ER, 20 BB, 72 K, .238 OBA, 1.09 WHIP)
Game 3: Sr. RHP Sean Kennel (5-3, 3.74 ERA, 65.0 IP, 75 H, 27 ER, 11 BB, 43 K, .296 OBA, 1.32 WHIP)
Relief Pitching:
The Lion bullpen is highlighted by three outstanding relievers who combine for 11 saves on the season. Mason Klotz leads the way with his plus slider from a 3-quarter arm slot. He too was named to the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List last month. Senior Matt Pittari can provide multiple innings of relief from the left side throwing 85-88mph. Dylan Hills leads the bullpen with 25 appearances and a 1.07 WHIP in 38 innings all in relief.
Top Bullpen Arms:
So. RHP Mason Klotz (20 app, 1-0, 5 saves, 1.54 ERA, 23.1 IP, 19 H, 4 ER, 14 BB, 24 K, .209 OBA, 1.41 WHIP)
Sr. LHP Matt Pittari (17 app, 0-0, 1 save, 1.24 ERA, 29.0 IP, 29 H, 4 ER, 11 BB, 15 K, .259 OBA, 1.38 WHIP)
Sr. RHP Dylan Hills (25 app, 6-3, 5 saves, 1.89 ERA, 38.0 IP, 30 H, 8 ER, 11 BB, 38 K, .221 OBA, 1.07 WHIP)
So. LHP Kyle Cedotal (11 app, 3-3, 2.14 ERA, 42.0 IP, 38 H, 10 ER, 13 BB, 26 K, .252 OBA, 1.21 WHIP)
Southeastern Offense:
Jameson Fisher is the guy to watch out for on this team. He was a freshman All-American last year and hasn’t disappointed in his sophomore campaign. Fisher’s .394 average is 11th best in the country and has great plate discipline with 47 walks and HBPs against 28 strikeouts. Andrew Godbold in his first season with Southeastern has started every game in the outfield and pounded 8 gopher balls and a .348 average to go with his team leading 57 RBI’s, which ranks 11th in the nation. The Lions lead the Southland Conference in stolen bases and have six guys with 8 or more steals on the season. Jacob Williams leads the team with 13 swiped bags.
Southeastern Projected Lineup:
1) CF Jacob Seward (.286 avg, 5 2B, 3B, 22 RBI, 38 R, 29 BB, 16 K, 12-17 SB)
2) C Jameson Fisher (.394 avg, 16 2B, 3B, 37 RBI, 52 R, 30 BB, 28 K, 8-16 SB)
3) RF Andrew Godbold (.348 avg, 10 2B, 3B, 8 HR, 57 RBI, 41 R, 24 BB, 24 K, 8-11 SB)
4) 3B Brett Hoffman (.321 avg, 16 2B, HR, 41 RBI, 30 R, 16 BB, 37 K, 0-0 SB)
5) DH Daniel Midyett (.299 avg, 3 2B, 2 3B, 31 RBI, 15 R, 13 BB, 22 K, 6-8 SB)
6) 1B Sam Robertson (.281 avg, 11 2B, 3 HR, 25 RBI, 41 R, 19 BB, 28 K, 8-11 SB)
7) SS Kennon Menard (.279 avg, 4 2B, HR, 26 RBI, 17 R, 16 BB, 29 K, 3-6 SB)
8) LF Kyle Cedotal (.258 avg, 8 2B, 14 RBI, 31 R, 20 BB, 31 K, 11-20 SB)
9) 2B Jacob Williams (.257 avg, 8 2B, 22 RBI, 34 R, 22 BB, 31 K, 13-18 SB)
Other Contributors:
2B Kevin Carr (.290 avg, 2 2B, 20 RBI, 7 R, 10 BB, 22 K, 1-2 SB)
3B Jesse Buratt (.185 avg, 2 2B, 6 RBI, 13 R, 16 BB, 11 K, 2-2 SB)
Defense:
Defense is not Southeastern’s specialty with terrible .962 fielding % ranking 215th in the nation. Middle infielders Menard and Williams have combined for a very high 36 errors this season, and the team’s 39 double plays is nothing to write home about. Catcher Jameson Fisher is throwing out 30% of attempting stealers.
Season Stats
Roster
Schedule (via Warren Nolan)
Regional Overview and Prediction:
Based on RPI, this Baton Rouge regional is the 2nd toughest of the 16 host sites with an average RPI of 34 with the Gainesville regional being the toughest at a 32 RPI average. Houston is the highest 2 seed in the tournament and Southeastern is the 2nd highest 4 seed based on the RPI. This Baton Rouge Regional features every aspect of quality baseball with power hitting, outstanding pitching, tons of speed, and some solid defense. Two starting pitchers in the top 5 in the country in WHIP, 3 closers on the Stopper of the Year Watch List, and a couple of the nation’s top base stealers are all featured in this 4-team double elimination tournament.
All of the teams in this regional have piled up a number of wins and some impressive stats. However, Southeastern and Bryant have done so against less than stiff competition. Southeastern is just 1-8 against the Top 100 and has a road record of 14-13. Their only win against a regional team was a conference tourney win over Sam Houston State, who swept the Lions in the regular season. Bryant has built up a high RPI of 43 due to playing and winning most of their games on the road this season. The Bulldogs are just 1-5 against teams in the top 100 RPI and 30 of the team’s 42 wins have come against teams below RPI 150. The thing that Bryant has in its favor is experience after winning a game in the Manhattan Regional last year with this same core of players. I believe the level of competition will be too much for the Bulldogs to handle, but their bats get them a convincing win over Southeastern on Saturday afternoon. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Bryant made a run at Houston on Sunday morning in the elimination game. If that should happen, LSU cruises to the supers on their depleted staff.
The Houston Cougars have a 14-4 record on the road this season and the #1 non-conference RPI. Houston has had mixed results against some top teams this year by sweeping Rice and sweeping Charleston, but getting swept by Louisville. Similar to LSU, Houston has won a bunch of close, low scoring games. They are 28-2 when holding opponents to 3 runs or less and 33-1 when scoring at least 4 runs themselves. On the flip side, when the Cougars are held to 3 runs or less, they are 11-14 on the year. LSU’s pitching staff is well rested coming out of a conference tournament with no reliever throwing more than 23 pitches and the starters all have extra days of rest. There will be plenty of upsets around the country, but I just don’t see any playing out in this regional. LSU’s pitching is too strong and the bats are too hot. By the end of the weekend, I like the Tigers to be within 2 wins of Omaha.
PREDICTIONS:
Game 1: LSU 7, Southeastern 1
Game 2: Houston 6, Bryant 4
Game 3: Bryant 8, Southeastern 3 – SELU eliminated
Game 4: LSU 4, Houston 0
Game 5: Houston 7, Bryant 5 – Bryant eliminated
Game 6: LSU 7, Houston 3 – Houston eliminated; LSU regional champions
Houston Cougars History: 19th regional app (last 2008); 2 CWS appearances (last 1967, runner-up)
Record: 44-15
Conference: 14-9, 3rd American Athletic – won inaugural AAC tourney auto-bid
Non-Conf: 27-5
Home: 25-8
Away: 14-4
Neutral: 5-3
Record vs. RPI: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team RPI: 10 (9)
vs Top 25: 5-5 (6-8)
vs Top 50: 10-8 (14-11)
vs Top 100: 18-9 (23-12-1)
Team Overview:
Houston is in its 4th year under head coach Todd Whitting, and the Cougars are making their first post season under the Houston grad. The Cougars had a solid season in the brand new American Athletic Conference finishing 3rd in the league, but went on to win the inaugural AAC Conference Tourney. Houston’s non-conference RPI was #1 in the country, and many felt that their 27-5 record in those games would be enough to host a regional. Houston had some impressive wins this year, including a 3 game season sweep over former in-city rival Rice. Houston only suffered 1 series loss this season, but it was a big one in early April when AAC regular season champ Louisville swept the Cougars on their home turf. Houston is making its second trip to a Baton Rouge regional, going 0-2 back in 1997 as part of the 6-team regional format.
Team Stat Comparison (LSU in parentheses)
Runs/game scored: 5.2 (6.4)
Runs/game allowed: 2.7 (2.7)
Team ERA: 2.20 (2.42)
Team BA: .281 (.286)
Team Fielding %: .969 (.975)
Common Opponents:
Texas A&M 1-0 (LSU 1-2)
Starting Pitching:
Pitching is the backbone of this Houston club. The team ERA of 2.20 is 4th in the nation (LSU is 9th) and has improved by a run and half per game from a year ago. They don’t walk a lot of guys and have the 2nd best WHIP in the country. Aaron Garza, the staff ace, is a strike thrower who works down in the zone with a 2 seam FB and a slider. Jake Lemoine is a big 6’5 righty that works in the low-90’s and throws 4 pitches: fastball, changeup, slider, and curve. Jared West and David Longville have each spent time as weekend starters this year and will need to provide good starts for Houston to take down LSU and advance.
Projected Pitching Rotation:
Game 1: So. RHP Jake Lemoine (6-6, 2.35 ERA, 95.2 IP, 81 H, 25 ER, 23 BB, 82 K, .233 OBA, 1.09 WHIP)
Game 2: Jr. RHP Aaron Garza (8-4, 2.65 ERA, 98.1 IP, 86 H, 29 ER, 10 BB, 56 K, .236 OBA, 0.98 WHIP)
Game 3: Jr. RHP David Longville (1-0, 2.98 ERA, 54.1 IP, 63 H, 18 ER, 7 BB, 34 K, .297 OBA, 1.29 WHIP)
Game 4: So. LHP Jared West (2-2, 2.64 ERA, 47.2 IP, 36 H, 14 ER, 18 BB, 39 K, .207 OBA, 1.13 WHIP)
Relief Pitching:
Houston’s bullpen has been tremendous this year, but two guys stand out among the group and they are Tyler Ford and Chase Wellbrock. Tyler Ford is a southpaw stud and leads the nation with his 0.72 WHIP. Chase Wellbrock and his 12 saves helped him to be named to the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List. Wellbrock isn’t an imposing closer and won’t overpower hitters with this mid-80s fastball, but he has a lot of movement and throws a nasty slider. Both Ford and Wellbrock can go multiple innings of relief when called upon.
Top Bullpen Arms:
Sr. RHP Chase Wellbrock (20 app, 4-0, 12 saves, 1.15 ERA, 39.0 IP, 33 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 33 K, .241 OBA, 0.97 WHIP)
Sr. LHP Tyler Ford (24 app, 8-0, 4 saves, 1.26 ERA, 64.1 IP, 41 H, 9 ER, 5 BB, 43 K, .182 OBA, 0.72 WHIP)
Fr. RHP Andrew Lantrip (12 app, 6-0, 1.40 ERA, 38.2 IP, 24 H, 6 ER, 5 BB, 32 K, .174 OBA, 0.75 WHIP)
Jr. RHP Jared Robinson (20 app, 4-1, 1.72 ERA, 31.1 IP, 23 H, 6 ER, 12 BB, 26 K, .204 OBA, 1.12 WHIP)
Houston Offense:
Houston hasn’t been an offensive prowess this season, but similar to LSU, that is what carried them to the conference tournament title, scoring 13 and 10 runs in their final two games with a .373 team average in the tournament. Josh Vidales was named tournament Most Outstanding player hitting .733 in the 4 games. The true leader of this team is senior first baseman Casey Grayson. He leads the team in hits, doubles, home runs, RBIs, walks, on base percentage, slugging percentage, and batting average. This lineup below features 4 true leftys, 2 switch-hitters, and 3 rightys; however, as a team, Houston hits for the exact same average against RHP as they do LHP. A recent spark for this club – Houston’s version of Jake Fraley, if you will – has been third baseman Conner Hollis, who his hitting .333 in 22 starts this season, most of which have come within the last month.
Houston is very aggressive on the base paths and will run at very successful rate. Kyle Survance has logged 30 stolen bases on the year, 10th most in the country. Ratcliff, Vidales, and Fulmer each have double digit steals on the season.
Houston Projected Lineup:
1) RF Kyle Survance (.315 avg, 10 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 29 RBI, 46 R, 32 BB, 43 K, 30-37 SB)
2) LF Michael Pyeatt (.305 avg, 3 2B, 2 3B, HR, 18 RBI, 17 R, 19 BB, 22 K, 5-6 SB)
3) 1B Casey Grayson (.335 avg, 16 2B, 3B, 6 HR, 48 RBI, 35 R, 46 BB, 24 K, 1-6 SB)
4) DH Justin Montemayor (.304 avg, 14 2B, HR, 30 RBI, 32 R, 11 BB, 44 K, 0-0 SB)
5) 3B Connor Hollis (.333 avg, 3 2B, 6 RBI, 12 R, 9 BB, 14 K, 1-2 SB)
6) SS Frankie Ratcliff (.281 avg, 7 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 24 RBI, 38 R, 36 BB, 28 K, 17-21 SB)
7) C Caleb Barker (.221 avg, 8 2B, 2 3B, HR, 25 RBI, 24 R, 29 BB, 33 K, 2-2 SB)
8) 2B Josh Vidales (.278 avg, 5 2B, 30 RBI, 40 R, 35 BB, 14 K, 11-14 SB)
9) CF Ashford Fulmer (.266 avg, 9 2B, 4 HR, 30 RBI, 24 R, 13 BB, 37 K, 10-13 SB)
Other Contributors:
CF Landon Appling (.225 avg, 2B, 5 RBI, 14 R, 7 BB, 15 K, 4-6 SB)
3B Jordan Stading (.228 avg, 2B, 13 RBI, 13 R, 23 BB, 24 K, 0-0 SB)
Defense:
Houston’s .969 fielding % is 104th in the nation. Middle infielders Ratcliff and Vidales have combined for a very high 31 errors this season, and the team’s 45 double plays also ranks just over 100th in country. Senior catcher Caleb Barker is outstanding behind the dish throwing out 43% of attempting stealers.
Season Stats
Roster
Schedule (via Warren Nolan)
Bryant Bulldogs History: 2nd regional app (last 2013)
Record: 42-14
Conference: 19-5, 1st Northeast Conference – won NEC tourney auto-bid
Non-Conf: 20-9
Home: 12-5
Away: 24-8
Neutral: 6-1
Record vs. RPI: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team RPI: 43 (9)
vs Top 25: 0-3 (6-8)
vs Top 50: 0-3 (14-11)
vs Top 100: 1-5 (23-12-1)
Team Overview:
Bryant is a school that is only been competing in baseball at the Division I level for the 6th season, yet already is making its 2nd appearance in an NCAA regional. In 2009, the Bulldogs became a D1 independent winning 32 games in its first season. Starting with the 2010 season, Coach Steve Owens took the wheel as the team joined the Northeast Conference for the first time. Since then, the Dogs have won the NEC regular season title in 4 of 5 seasons in the league. They were finally able to break through in the conference tournament in 2013 earning an automatic bid for the school’s first NCAA postseason appearance. Bryant made its presence known by beating Jalen Beeks and Arkansas in the first round of the Regional before dropping the next two games. This 2014 club returned 4 of the top 6 hitters and 3 of its main 5 pitchers.
Team Stat Comparison (LSU in parentheses)
Runs/game scored: 6.8 (6.4)
Runs/game allowed: 3.5 (2.7)
Team ERA: 2.93 (2.42)
Team BA: .304 (.286)
Team Fielding %: .968 (.975)
Common Opponents: None
Starting Pitching:
While the offense is the main strength, the starting pitchers are the leaders of this team. The rotation consists of 2 seniors and a junior who each has NCAA postseason experience and improved upon last year’s overall results. Kevin McAvoy has been the Friday night guy most of back half of the season. McAvoy is a sinker baller who sits in the low 90s while mixing in his slider. The guy who spent the early part of the year as the Friday night guy is Craig Schlitter, and he has the strongest statistics of the staff. Schlitter has excellent command of his upper 80’s fastball as well as his curve and change which he can throw for strikes in any count. Coming on strong is senior Vaughn Hayward. The Holy Cross transfer has earned his way into a major role on this Bulldog club winning 9 games this season, including the NEC Championship game last weekend. Hayward’s 4 seam fastball has touched 95mph on a couple of occasions but he will typically sit 90 to 92mph. He will mix in a cut fastball as well as a changeup and a curve. This staff is 5th ranked in the nation with 12 shutouts on the season.
Projected Pitching Rotation:
Game 1: Jr. RHP Kevin McAvoy (9-2, 2.81 ERA, 93.0 IP, 74 H, 29 ER, 25 BB, 88 K, .217 OBA, 1.06 WHIP)
Game 2: Sr. RHP Craig Schlitter (10-1, 1.95 ERA, 87.2 IP, 71 H, 19 ER, 17 BB, 69 K, .216 OBA, 1.00 WHIP)
Game 3: Sr. RHP Vaughn Hayward (9-2, 2.41 ERA, 71.0 IP, 63 H, 19 ER, 23 BB, 47 K, .236 OBA, 1.21 WHIP)
Relief Pitching:
The bullpen is the biggest weakness on this team as with many mid-majors. The 4 starting pitchers’ records combine for 30-6, leaving the bullpen with just a 12-8 record on the year. Interestingly, every pitcher on the staff but 1 has allowed fewer hits than innings pitched, and their 7.41 hits allowed/9 ranks 11th in the nation. Two guys stand out in the pen and those arms are southpaws Jonathan Cohen and Trevor Lacosse, who combine for 40 appearances and 10 saves.
Top Bullpen Arms:
Sr. LHP Jonathan Cohen (19 app, 1-0, 1 save, 2.53 ERA, 32.0 IP, 27 H, 9 ER, 7 BB, 19 K, .223 OBA, 1.06 WHIP)
Jr. LHP Trevor Lacosse (21 app, 4-3, 8 saves, 2.94 ERA, 33.2 IP, 28 H, 11 ER, 11 BB, 39 K, .228 OBA, 1.16 WHIP)
Fr. LHP Jack Patterson (10 app, 3-0, 3.41 ERA, 34.1 IP, 27 H, 13 ER, 18 BB, 35 K, .223 OBA, 1.31 WHIP)
So. RHP James Davitt (1 app, 1-1, 3.66 ERA, 19.2 IP, 16 H, 8 ER, 7 BB, 17 K, .222 OBA, 1.17 WHIP)
Bryant Offense:
The Dogs are in the top 25 in the country in 9 offensive categories including batting average, doubles, home runs, OBP, SLG%, runs scored, HBP, sac flies, and SB’s. You can tell from the stats below that 8 of the 9 every day starters are batting over .300 on the year. This team lead the Northeast Conference in 11 of 13 offensive categories, finishing 2nd and 4th in the other two. These guys do not strike out a lot and their BABIP is a high .330 as a team (LSU’s is .307). The Bulldogs rank 8th in the country in stolen bases and the leader is Carl Anderson with 29 steals in 32 tries.
Bryant Projected Lineup:
1) RF Jordan Mountford (.313 avg, 7 2B, 4 HR, 25 RBI, 19 R, 13 BB, 23 K, 8-8 SB)
2) DH AJ Zarozny (.398 avg, 6 2B, 5 HR, 16 RBI, 23 R, 6 BB, 8 K, 7-10 SB)
3) CF Carl Anderson (.316 avg, 10 2B, 3 3B, 7 HR, 40 RBI, 48 R, 22 BB, 23 K, 29-32 SB)
4) 3B John Mullen (.301 avg, 10 2B, 4 HR, 36 RBI, 31 R, 18 BB, 26 K, 15-19 SB)
5) 1B Robby Rinn (.309 avg, 13 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 36 RBI, 37 R, 30 BB, 13 K, 0-0 SB)
6) C Buck McCarthy (.353 avg, 13 2B, 4 HR, 29 RBI, 30 R, 20 BB, 29 K, 2-3 SB)
7) LF Matt Albanese (.329 avg, 16 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR, 36 RBI, 52 R, 20 BB, 21 K, 11-14 SB)
8) 2B Cole Fabio (.340 avg, 3 2B, HR, 16 RBI, 21 R, 17 BB, 19 K, 12-15 SB)
9) SS Dan Celluci (.243 avg, 11 2B, 2 HR, 27 RBI, 26 R, 17 BB, 25 K, 1-1 SB)
Other Contributors:
C/1B Tom Gavitt (.325 avg, 8 2B, 4 3B, 6 HR, 29 RBI, 31 R, 8 BB, 10 K, 0-2 SB)
INF Brandon Bingel (.241 avg, 3 2B, HR, 18 RBI, 17 R, 12 BB, 11 K, 0-0 SB)
OF Daniel St. George (.292 avg, 7 2B, 3B, HR, 13 RBI, 21 R, 12 BB, 19 K, 5-6 SB)
Defense:
Bryant is fielding .968 as a team ranking 128th in the nation. Middle infielders Celluci and Fabio have combined for only 17 errors this season, and the team’s 53 double plays also ranks 53rd in country. Catchers McCarthy and Gavitt have each thrown out 37% (both exactly 10/27) of base stealers from behind the dish.
Season Stats
Roster
Schedule (via Warren Nolan)
Southeastern Louisiana Lions History: 3rd regional app (last 1994)
Record: 37-23
Conference: 18-12, 5th Southland – won conf tourney auto-bid
Non-Conf: 15-11
Home: 20-10
Away: 14-13
Neutral: 3-0
Record vs. RPI: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team RPI: 73 (9)
vs Top 25: 0-5 (6-8)
vs Top 50: 1-8 (14-11)
vs Top 100: 1-8 (23-12-1)
Team Overview:
In his first season as Head Coach, Matt Riser has taken Southeastern to the NCAA postseason for the first time since Riser was 9 years old and just the 3rd time in school history. Southeastern finished 4 games back of Sam Houston State in fifth place in the Southland Conference regular season, but swept the conference tournament to earn the automatic bid. Southeastern and LSU played a midweek game on February 19, which the Tigers won 7-3 lead by a 3 for 5 performance by Conner Hale and the bullpen tossing 4 shutout innings.
Team Stat Comparison (LSU in parentheses)
Runs/game scored: 5.8 (6.4)
Runs/game allowed: 3.8 (2.7)
Team ERA: 2.95 (2.42)
Team BA: .291 (.286)
Team Fielding %: .962 (.975)
Common Opponents:
LSU won head-to-head
UNO 3-0 (LSU 2-0)
Grambling 1-0 (LSU 1-0)
Sacred Heart 2-1 (LSU 1-0)
Tulane 2-1 (LSU 1-1)
Ole Miss 0-2 (LSU 2-1)
Lamar 2-1 (LSU 1-0)
Louisiana Lafayette 0-2 (LSU 0-1)
Nicholls State 2-1 (LSU 1-0)
McNeese 2-1 (LSU 1-0)
Northwestern State 4-1 (LSU 2-0)
Alcorn State 1-0 (LSU 1-0)
TOTAL: SELA 19-11, LSU 14-3
Starting Pitching:
Southeastern has a legitimate ace in Andro Cutura. A 2012 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American, Cutura , now a junior, will throw a low 90’s sinking fastball from the right side along with a cutter and a solid swing-and-miss changeup. Cutura has been the backbone of the rotation all year long. He started 2 games in the conference tournament going a total of 10 innings and throwing 165 pitches in 4 days. Right behind Cutura in that rotation all year long as been Tate Scioneaux. The 6’2 sophomore from Reserve has recorded 14 victories in his young career and gone over 95 innings pitched for the second straight season. Scioneaux’s fastball sits in the 88-91mph range.
Projected Pitching Rotation:
Game 1: Jr. RHP Andro Cutura (10-2, 1.72 ERA, 99.2 IP, 78 H, 19 ER, 19 BB, 95 K, .212 OBA, 0.97 WHIP)
Game 2: So. RHP Tate Scioneaux (7-6, 3.11 ERA, 104.1 IP, 94 H, 36 ER, 20 BB, 72 K, .238 OBA, 1.09 WHIP)
Game 3: Sr. RHP Sean Kennel (5-3, 3.74 ERA, 65.0 IP, 75 H, 27 ER, 11 BB, 43 K, .296 OBA, 1.32 WHIP)
Relief Pitching:
The Lion bullpen is highlighted by three outstanding relievers who combine for 11 saves on the season. Mason Klotz leads the way with his plus slider from a 3-quarter arm slot. He too was named to the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List last month. Senior Matt Pittari can provide multiple innings of relief from the left side throwing 85-88mph. Dylan Hills leads the bullpen with 25 appearances and a 1.07 WHIP in 38 innings all in relief.
Top Bullpen Arms:
So. RHP Mason Klotz (20 app, 1-0, 5 saves, 1.54 ERA, 23.1 IP, 19 H, 4 ER, 14 BB, 24 K, .209 OBA, 1.41 WHIP)
Sr. LHP Matt Pittari (17 app, 0-0, 1 save, 1.24 ERA, 29.0 IP, 29 H, 4 ER, 11 BB, 15 K, .259 OBA, 1.38 WHIP)
Sr. RHP Dylan Hills (25 app, 6-3, 5 saves, 1.89 ERA, 38.0 IP, 30 H, 8 ER, 11 BB, 38 K, .221 OBA, 1.07 WHIP)
So. LHP Kyle Cedotal (11 app, 3-3, 2.14 ERA, 42.0 IP, 38 H, 10 ER, 13 BB, 26 K, .252 OBA, 1.21 WHIP)
Southeastern Offense:
Jameson Fisher is the guy to watch out for on this team. He was a freshman All-American last year and hasn’t disappointed in his sophomore campaign. Fisher’s .394 average is 11th best in the country and has great plate discipline with 47 walks and HBPs against 28 strikeouts. Andrew Godbold in his first season with Southeastern has started every game in the outfield and pounded 8 gopher balls and a .348 average to go with his team leading 57 RBI’s, which ranks 11th in the nation. The Lions lead the Southland Conference in stolen bases and have six guys with 8 or more steals on the season. Jacob Williams leads the team with 13 swiped bags.
Southeastern Projected Lineup:
1) CF Jacob Seward (.286 avg, 5 2B, 3B, 22 RBI, 38 R, 29 BB, 16 K, 12-17 SB)
2) C Jameson Fisher (.394 avg, 16 2B, 3B, 37 RBI, 52 R, 30 BB, 28 K, 8-16 SB)
3) RF Andrew Godbold (.348 avg, 10 2B, 3B, 8 HR, 57 RBI, 41 R, 24 BB, 24 K, 8-11 SB)
4) 3B Brett Hoffman (.321 avg, 16 2B, HR, 41 RBI, 30 R, 16 BB, 37 K, 0-0 SB)
5) DH Daniel Midyett (.299 avg, 3 2B, 2 3B, 31 RBI, 15 R, 13 BB, 22 K, 6-8 SB)
6) 1B Sam Robertson (.281 avg, 11 2B, 3 HR, 25 RBI, 41 R, 19 BB, 28 K, 8-11 SB)
7) SS Kennon Menard (.279 avg, 4 2B, HR, 26 RBI, 17 R, 16 BB, 29 K, 3-6 SB)
8) LF Kyle Cedotal (.258 avg, 8 2B, 14 RBI, 31 R, 20 BB, 31 K, 11-20 SB)
9) 2B Jacob Williams (.257 avg, 8 2B, 22 RBI, 34 R, 22 BB, 31 K, 13-18 SB)
Other Contributors:
2B Kevin Carr (.290 avg, 2 2B, 20 RBI, 7 R, 10 BB, 22 K, 1-2 SB)
3B Jesse Buratt (.185 avg, 2 2B, 6 RBI, 13 R, 16 BB, 11 K, 2-2 SB)
Defense:
Defense is not Southeastern’s specialty with terrible .962 fielding % ranking 215th in the nation. Middle infielders Menard and Williams have combined for a very high 36 errors this season, and the team’s 39 double plays is nothing to write home about. Catcher Jameson Fisher is throwing out 30% of attempting stealers.
Season Stats
Roster
Schedule (via Warren Nolan)
Regional Overview and Prediction:
Based on RPI, this Baton Rouge regional is the 2nd toughest of the 16 host sites with an average RPI of 34 with the Gainesville regional being the toughest at a 32 RPI average. Houston is the highest 2 seed in the tournament and Southeastern is the 2nd highest 4 seed based on the RPI. This Baton Rouge Regional features every aspect of quality baseball with power hitting, outstanding pitching, tons of speed, and some solid defense. Two starting pitchers in the top 5 in the country in WHIP, 3 closers on the Stopper of the Year Watch List, and a couple of the nation’s top base stealers are all featured in this 4-team double elimination tournament.
All of the teams in this regional have piled up a number of wins and some impressive stats. However, Southeastern and Bryant have done so against less than stiff competition. Southeastern is just 1-8 against the Top 100 and has a road record of 14-13. Their only win against a regional team was a conference tourney win over Sam Houston State, who swept the Lions in the regular season. Bryant has built up a high RPI of 43 due to playing and winning most of their games on the road this season. The Bulldogs are just 1-5 against teams in the top 100 RPI and 30 of the team’s 42 wins have come against teams below RPI 150. The thing that Bryant has in its favor is experience after winning a game in the Manhattan Regional last year with this same core of players. I believe the level of competition will be too much for the Bulldogs to handle, but their bats get them a convincing win over Southeastern on Saturday afternoon. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Bryant made a run at Houston on Sunday morning in the elimination game. If that should happen, LSU cruises to the supers on their depleted staff.
The Houston Cougars have a 14-4 record on the road this season and the #1 non-conference RPI. Houston has had mixed results against some top teams this year by sweeping Rice and sweeping Charleston, but getting swept by Louisville. Similar to LSU, Houston has won a bunch of close, low scoring games. They are 28-2 when holding opponents to 3 runs or less and 33-1 when scoring at least 4 runs themselves. On the flip side, when the Cougars are held to 3 runs or less, they are 11-14 on the year. LSU’s pitching staff is well rested coming out of a conference tournament with no reliever throwing more than 23 pitches and the starters all have extra days of rest. There will be plenty of upsets around the country, but I just don’t see any playing out in this regional. LSU’s pitching is too strong and the bats are too hot. By the end of the weekend, I like the Tigers to be within 2 wins of Omaha.
PREDICTIONS:
Game 1: LSU 7, Southeastern 1
Game 2: Houston 6, Bryant 4
Game 3: Bryant 8, Southeastern 3 – SELU eliminated
Game 4: LSU 4, Houston 0
Game 5: Houston 7, Bryant 5 – Bryant eliminated
Game 6: LSU 7, Houston 3 – Houston eliminated; LSU regional champions
LSU vs Auburn – Thu 6 (No TV) | Fri 6 (No TV) | Sat 1 (FSN)
The LSU Fighting Tigers head back on the road for the final weekend of the season. The roads traveled this time lead to the state of Alabama where LSU will face off with the Tigers of Auburn. LSU (37-14-1, 14-11-1) is still in contention for the SEC Western Division title, but needs to have a good weekend and get a little help along the way. The Fighting Tigers split a pair of rain-affected games on Saturday with Alabama before having game 3 cancelled. Then comes another ordinary Tuesday night, the last home game of the season against another in-state opponent. That’s where the ordinary ends and the extraordinary begins. LSU broke out the bats for 27 runs on 23 hits in less than 6 innings of play, breaking a school record with a 27 run margin of victory. Same game, more history, five LSU pitchers combined to no-hit the Demons, the first combined no-hitter in school history. This magical night was enough to get LSU Baseball onto SportsCenter for the 3rd time this season. Auburn (28-25, 10-17) is fighting for its postseason life, and unless they can work their way into the SEC tournament, their season will end on Saturday. The Tigers of Auburn are 1-5 in their last 6 SEC games and haven’t won a series at home since the opening weekend of SEC play in mid-March. They lost 2 of 3 last weekend at Kentucky and won a midweek contest with UAB on Tuesday night. LSU leads the all-time series 91-70, including a sweep in Alex Box Stadium last year.
Thursday night’s game is scheduled to start at 6:00pm and is NOT on TV. Friday’s game is also scheduled to start at 6:00pm and it too will NOT be televised. Both games 1 and 2 are available for Premium All Access members on AuburnTigers.com. Game 3 will start at 1:00pm on Saturday and will air on FSN. Streaming for Saturday only will be available on ESPN3.com but is subject to blackout in all of the SEC states. As always, audio is available for all 3 games in the GeauxZone.
Auburn Tigers Record: 28-25
Conference: 10-17, 7th SEC west
Non-Conf: 18-8
Home: 19.13
Away: 7-10
Neutral: 2-2
Record vs. RPI: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team RPI: 63 (18)
vs Top 25: 4-10 (4-8)
vs Top 50: 13-16 (14-12)
vs Top 100: 16-20 (15-12)
Team Overview:
Sunny Golloway is in his first year as head coach of the Auburn Tigers and already learning the difficulty of coaching in the SEC. Starting with the departure of 3 players just a couple weeks into the season, multiple midseason suspensions, and later with a frustrating stretch of 10 losses in 14 games, Golloway was quoted as saying “I had no idea how many things were broken when I took the job. I had no idea and I'm learning the hard way, I will tell you that.” Things haven’t gotten much better for the new Tiger skipper with the team in last place in the West and on the verge of missing the conference tournament, which only excludes 2 of the league’s 14 teams. Auburn has scored the 3rd fewest runs in the SEC and the .278 batting average against is 4th worst in the league. These Tigers are just average at the plate, and with the loss of Keegan Thompson are a well below-average pitching team. Auburn hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 2010 and barring a serious run in the next 10 days to win the conference tourney, that streak will continue.
Team Stat Comparison (LSU in parentheses)
Runs/game scored: 4.4 (6.1)
Runs/game allowed: 3.8 (2.9)
Team ERA: 3.09 (2.58)
Opponent ERA: 3.73 (5.17)
Team BA: .274 (.278)
Opponent BA: .249 (.221)
Team Fielding %: .971 (.973)
Opponent Fielding %: .968 (.968)
Good OOC wins: vs Indiana State (1-0), Mercer (3-0)
Bad OOC losses: East Tennessee State (0-1), Presbyterian College (2-1)
SEC Series Wins: vs Texas A&M (2-1), @ Tennessee (2-1), @ Arkansas (2-1)
SEC Series Losses: vs Missouri (1-2), @ Ole Miss (0-3), @ Alabama (1-2), vs South Carolina (1-2), vs Mississippi State (0-3), @ Kentucky (1-2)
Common OOC Opponents:
South Alabama 1-0 (LSU 1-0)
Starting Pitching:
Unfortunately for Auburn, their stud freshman Keegan Thompson took a linedrive off the foot last weekend against Kentucky and will miss the remainder of the season. As a freshman, he had developed into the backbone of the Aubie staff, as well as being a contributor on the offensive side and playing first base. Normal weekend starters Dillon Ortman and Michael O’Neal will throw games 1 and 2 again, but the third starter is yet to be determined.
The rotation for LSU will be slightly different this weekend due to the way the rain affected last weekend. Jared Poché will start the opening game of the series, since he was not able to throw on Sunday. He will face off against RHP Dillon Ortman. The Auburn senior is 6-2 in SEC contests and his 1.83 ERA is 6th in the league, even ahead of Nola’s 2.00 in SEC games. Ortman has 9 wins on the season and a 2.01 ERA over 94 innings of work, 3rd most in the SEC. Dillon won’t overpower you with his upper-80s fastball, but he lives in the zone, walking just 1.4 batters per 9 innings. In addition to that fastball, he mixes in a changeup and a slider, which he can both throw for strikes in any count. Left handed batters achieve much more success against Ortman hitting .277 as opposed to the .202 average of right handers.
Stat of the week: Auburn is 21-14 vs. RH starters and 7-11 vs LH starters.
Friday night, Aaron Nola will take to the mound to face off against Michael O’Neal. The senior southpaw O’Neal does not overwhelm anyone with his stuff, but he can throw multiple pitches for strikes. He has four pitches including his fastball at just 82-84mph in addition to a big, loopy curve and a changeup that both fall in the zone just over the 70mph range. The fourth pitch is a newly developed slider that he mixes in to show a different look from the bending 12-6 breaker. Like Poché did for LSU, O’Neal started the game on Tuesday night and threw 64 pitches in 2.2 innings. Aaron Nola is coming off of his best outing of the season going the complete game against Alabama allowing just 4 hits for LSU’s 14th shutout on the year.
The injury to Keegan Thompson really dilutes the quality of options for Coach Golloway, and with that, no starter for game 3 has been announced yet. A longshot candidate to fill that spot is Senior Centerfielder Ryan Tella. Being solely a position player for his college career, Tella stepped into an unexpected relief role against Kentucky with the bases loaded and no outs and proceeded to strike out the side. In just his 2nd collegiate relief appearance that day, Tella went on to take the loss in extra innings, but a new option emerged for the Tigers. More experienced and likely options include So. RHP Trey Wingenter (1-1, 2.38 era, 22.2 ip, .298 oba) or So. RHP Justin Camp (1-5, 4.01 era, 42.2 ip, .246 oba). LSU will continue with the same policy of a TBA for the game 3 starter with Alden Cartwright being the prime candidate.
Thursday's Pitching Matchup:
LSU - Fr. LHP Jared Poché (7-3, 2.55 ERA, 70.2 IP, 56 H, 20 ER, 23 BB, 43 K, .224 OBA, 1.12 WHIP)
AU - Sr. RHP Dillon Orton (9-3, 2.01 ERA, 94.0 IP, 81 H, 21 ER, 15 BB, 58 K, .229 OBA, 1.02 WHIP)
Friday's Pitching Matchup:
LSU - Jr. RHP Aaron Nola (8-1, 1.43 ERA, 94.2 IP, 55 H, 15 ER, 22 BB, 111 K, .169 OBA, 0.81 WHIP)
AU - Sr. LHP Michael O’Neal (3-5, 3.82 ERA, 68.1 IP, 71 H, 29 ER, 27 BB, 27 K, .277 OBA, 1.43 WHIP)
Saturday's Pitching Matchup: TBA
Relief Pitching:
Nearly 27% of the runs Auburn has allowed this year have come in the 8th inning or later and the Tigers have been outscored 53-17 in those innings. Not many of the team’s 28 wins have come from the relief pitching. Jay Wade leads the Auburn bullpen with 22 appearances and 4 victories in relief. He is one of just a few relievers that have been dependable for the Tigers on the back end with his bullpen best 1.04 WHIP. Terrance Dedrick leads the team with 4 saves, but he has allowed 32 hits and a very high 15 walks in 25 innings. There is only 1 left handed pitcher on this Auburn team aside from O’Neal and that is Junior Daniel Koger. He has been a starter in 26 games of his career but has spent most of this season being called out from the practice dirt. Despite being a southpaw, leftys hit for .348 while right handers hit just .204 against Koger.
Top Bullpen Arms:
Sr. RHP Jay Wade (22 app, 4-2, 1 save, 3.28 ERA, 35.2 IP, 31 H, 13 ER, 6 BB, 24 K, .235 OBA, 1.04 WHIP)
Jr. RHP Jacob Milliman (10 app, 0-0, 2.19 ERA, 12.1 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 6 BB, 11 K, .205 OBA, 1.21 WHIP)
So. RHP Trey Wingenter (12 app, 1-1, 2.38 ERA, 22.2 IP, 28 H, 6 ER, 8 BB, 22 K, .298 OBA, 1.59 WHIP)
Jr. RHP Trey Cochran-Gill (27 app, 0-2, 1 save, 3.58 ERA, 32.2 IP, 40 H, 13 ER, 9 BB, 20 K, .315 OBA, 1.50 WHIP)
Jr. LHP Daniel Koger (13 app, 2-0, 3.92 ERA, 20.2 IP, 19 H, 9 ER, 8 BB, 16 K, .247 OBA, 1.31 WHIP)
Sr. RHP Terrance Dedrick (22 app, 2-3, 4 saves, 5.04 ERA, 25.0 IP, 32 H, 14 ER, 15 BB, 19 K, .323 OBA, 1.88 WHIP)
Auburn Offense: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team BA: .274 (.278)
Team OBP: .366 (.363)
Team SLG: .344 (.400)
The Auburn position players are a mixed age group starting 4 freshman and 4 seniors, but standing out among the ranks is sophomore Jordan Ebert. His .356 batting average is 2nd best in the SEC. Damek Tomscha leads the team in home runs with 5, and his .452 on base percentage is 2nd only to A.J. Reed in the SEC. Tomscha and Damon Haecker have combined for 59 walks on the season. Haecker is a switch-hitting freshman shortstop and is the only player has started all 53 games for the Tigers. Senior leader Ryan Tella has not let down in his final year after a disappointing junior campaign hitting .310 and 3 home runs and 13 stolen bases.
On the bases, no team in the SEC runs more than the Auburn Tigers. Five different Auburn players have attempted 15 or more stolen bases, compared to LSU which has only 1 at that mark. Dan Glevenyak leads the group with 14 swiped bases in 16 tries. On the negative side of that aggressiveness, Auburn has been caught stealing more than any other team in the league.
Auburn Projected Lineup:
1) RF Anfernee Grier (.257 avg, 7 2B, 10 RBI, 14 R, 12 BB, 20 K, 7-15 SB)
2) SS Damon Haecker (.258 avg, 4 2B, 17 RBI, 23 R, 33 BB, 31 K, 10-17 SB)
3) C Blake Austin (.267 avg, 10 2B, 3 HR, 30 RBI, 19 R, 15 BB, 27 K, 4-8 SB)
4) DH Daniel Robert (.281 avg, 5 2B, 3B, HR, 12 RBI, 12 R, 17 BB, 23 K, 1-2 SB)
5) 1B Damek Tomscha (.325 avg, 8 2B, 5 HR, 28 RBI, 37 R, 26 BB, 20 K, 4-5 SB)
6) CF Ryan Tella (.310 avg, 6 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 18 RBI, 30 R, 14 BB, 23 K, 13-18 SB)
7) LF Jordan Ebert (.356 avg, 5 2B, 3B, 28 RBI, 28 R, 12 BB, 24 K, 9-15 SB)
8) 2B Dan Glevenyak (.248 avg, 5 2B, 3 3B, HR, 16 RBI, 21 R, 18 BB, 20 K, 14-16 SB)
9) 3B Connor Short (.222 avg, 2B, 8 RBI, 6 R, 7 BB, 12 K, 9-10 SB)
Other Contributors:
C Blake Logan (.282 avg, 3 2B, HR, 17 RBI, 9 R, 10 BB, 13 K, 0-0 SB)
INF Brett Binning (.348 avg, 2 RBI, 5 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 1-1 SB)
OF Sam Gillikin (.224 avg, 5 2B, 4 RBI, 5 R, 6 BB, 11 K, 0-1 SB)
Defense:
Auburn’s season defensively is an anomaly in that most of their errors came in the OCC schedule rather than SEC play. This defense has committed just 20 errors in the 27 conference games while committing 40 errors in 26 games outside of the league. Their SEC fielding percentage of .980 is tops in the league and the overall .971 FLD% is 11th. Middle infielders Damon Haecker and Dan Glevenyak combine for 21 errors on the year, but the team’s 50 double plays are the 2nd most turned in the SEC. Although stealing the 3rd fewest bags in the conference, LSU may choose to be more aggressive on the bases than in previous games. Main catcher Blake Austin throws out less than 29% of attempting base stealers. Tyler Moore is scheduled to catch for LSU also throws out just under 29% of stealers, which could come into play with Auburn’s aggressive style of base running.
Season Stats
Roster
Schedule (via Warren Nolan)
Media Coverage:
TV: Saturday only – FSN
Online: Saturday only - espn3.com and the watchESPN app with blackout restrictions in effect
Radio: 98.1 FM (check your local listings) all 3 games; audio always available through the GeauxZone
PREDICTION: This is definitely crunch time for both teams as it is for most teams across the country. Does LSU use Tuesday’s record performance to springboard into a postseason run? Does Auburn break out at home against a top ranked team to earn a spot in the SEC tournament? If you ask me, Thursday night will determine everything. Ortman vs Poché. If LSU can come away with this one, I think it leads to the first road sweep of the season. Either way, Nola is as close to a lock as it gets on Friday night against O’Neal, and I think game 3 will be a matter of a thin bullpen for Auburn. The LSU bats will show up on Friday and Saturday for a series win. The sweep? Well let’s see what happens just 46 hours after putting on a hitting display not seen in many years. I think we get to the bullpen early enough to make an impact and get that much needed sweep, then… we scoreboard watch in the West.
Thu: LSU 4, Auburn 3
Fri: LSU 6, Auburn 0
Sat: LSU 8, Auburn 4
Thursday night’s game is scheduled to start at 6:00pm and is NOT on TV. Friday’s game is also scheduled to start at 6:00pm and it too will NOT be televised. Both games 1 and 2 are available for Premium All Access members on AuburnTigers.com. Game 3 will start at 1:00pm on Saturday and will air on FSN. Streaming for Saturday only will be available on ESPN3.com but is subject to blackout in all of the SEC states. As always, audio is available for all 3 games in the GeauxZone.
Auburn Tigers Record: 28-25
Conference: 10-17, 7th SEC west
Non-Conf: 18-8
Home: 19.13
Away: 7-10
Neutral: 2-2
Record vs. RPI: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team RPI: 63 (18)
vs Top 25: 4-10 (4-8)
vs Top 50: 13-16 (14-12)
vs Top 100: 16-20 (15-12)
Team Overview:
Sunny Golloway is in his first year as head coach of the Auburn Tigers and already learning the difficulty of coaching in the SEC. Starting with the departure of 3 players just a couple weeks into the season, multiple midseason suspensions, and later with a frustrating stretch of 10 losses in 14 games, Golloway was quoted as saying “I had no idea how many things were broken when I took the job. I had no idea and I'm learning the hard way, I will tell you that.” Things haven’t gotten much better for the new Tiger skipper with the team in last place in the West and on the verge of missing the conference tournament, which only excludes 2 of the league’s 14 teams. Auburn has scored the 3rd fewest runs in the SEC and the .278 batting average against is 4th worst in the league. These Tigers are just average at the plate, and with the loss of Keegan Thompson are a well below-average pitching team. Auburn hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 2010 and barring a serious run in the next 10 days to win the conference tourney, that streak will continue.
Team Stat Comparison (LSU in parentheses)
Runs/game scored: 4.4 (6.1)
Runs/game allowed: 3.8 (2.9)
Team ERA: 3.09 (2.58)
Opponent ERA: 3.73 (5.17)
Team BA: .274 (.278)
Opponent BA: .249 (.221)
Team Fielding %: .971 (.973)
Opponent Fielding %: .968 (.968)
Good OOC wins: vs Indiana State (1-0), Mercer (3-0)
Bad OOC losses: East Tennessee State (0-1), Presbyterian College (2-1)
SEC Series Wins: vs Texas A&M (2-1), @ Tennessee (2-1), @ Arkansas (2-1)
SEC Series Losses: vs Missouri (1-2), @ Ole Miss (0-3), @ Alabama (1-2), vs South Carolina (1-2), vs Mississippi State (0-3), @ Kentucky (1-2)
Common OOC Opponents:
South Alabama 1-0 (LSU 1-0)
Starting Pitching:
Unfortunately for Auburn, their stud freshman Keegan Thompson took a linedrive off the foot last weekend against Kentucky and will miss the remainder of the season. As a freshman, he had developed into the backbone of the Aubie staff, as well as being a contributor on the offensive side and playing first base. Normal weekend starters Dillon Ortman and Michael O’Neal will throw games 1 and 2 again, but the third starter is yet to be determined.
The rotation for LSU will be slightly different this weekend due to the way the rain affected last weekend. Jared Poché will start the opening game of the series, since he was not able to throw on Sunday. He will face off against RHP Dillon Ortman. The Auburn senior is 6-2 in SEC contests and his 1.83 ERA is 6th in the league, even ahead of Nola’s 2.00 in SEC games. Ortman has 9 wins on the season and a 2.01 ERA over 94 innings of work, 3rd most in the SEC. Dillon won’t overpower you with his upper-80s fastball, but he lives in the zone, walking just 1.4 batters per 9 innings. In addition to that fastball, he mixes in a changeup and a slider, which he can both throw for strikes in any count. Left handed batters achieve much more success against Ortman hitting .277 as opposed to the .202 average of right handers.
Stat of the week: Auburn is 21-14 vs. RH starters and 7-11 vs LH starters.
Friday night, Aaron Nola will take to the mound to face off against Michael O’Neal. The senior southpaw O’Neal does not overwhelm anyone with his stuff, but he can throw multiple pitches for strikes. He has four pitches including his fastball at just 82-84mph in addition to a big, loopy curve and a changeup that both fall in the zone just over the 70mph range. The fourth pitch is a newly developed slider that he mixes in to show a different look from the bending 12-6 breaker. Like Poché did for LSU, O’Neal started the game on Tuesday night and threw 64 pitches in 2.2 innings. Aaron Nola is coming off of his best outing of the season going the complete game against Alabama allowing just 4 hits for LSU’s 14th shutout on the year.
The injury to Keegan Thompson really dilutes the quality of options for Coach Golloway, and with that, no starter for game 3 has been announced yet. A longshot candidate to fill that spot is Senior Centerfielder Ryan Tella. Being solely a position player for his college career, Tella stepped into an unexpected relief role against Kentucky with the bases loaded and no outs and proceeded to strike out the side. In just his 2nd collegiate relief appearance that day, Tella went on to take the loss in extra innings, but a new option emerged for the Tigers. More experienced and likely options include So. RHP Trey Wingenter (1-1, 2.38 era, 22.2 ip, .298 oba) or So. RHP Justin Camp (1-5, 4.01 era, 42.2 ip, .246 oba). LSU will continue with the same policy of a TBA for the game 3 starter with Alden Cartwright being the prime candidate.
Thursday's Pitching Matchup:
LSU - Fr. LHP Jared Poché (7-3, 2.55 ERA, 70.2 IP, 56 H, 20 ER, 23 BB, 43 K, .224 OBA, 1.12 WHIP)
AU - Sr. RHP Dillon Orton (9-3, 2.01 ERA, 94.0 IP, 81 H, 21 ER, 15 BB, 58 K, .229 OBA, 1.02 WHIP)
Friday's Pitching Matchup:
LSU - Jr. RHP Aaron Nola (8-1, 1.43 ERA, 94.2 IP, 55 H, 15 ER, 22 BB, 111 K, .169 OBA, 0.81 WHIP)
AU - Sr. LHP Michael O’Neal (3-5, 3.82 ERA, 68.1 IP, 71 H, 29 ER, 27 BB, 27 K, .277 OBA, 1.43 WHIP)
Saturday's Pitching Matchup: TBA
Relief Pitching:
Nearly 27% of the runs Auburn has allowed this year have come in the 8th inning or later and the Tigers have been outscored 53-17 in those innings. Not many of the team’s 28 wins have come from the relief pitching. Jay Wade leads the Auburn bullpen with 22 appearances and 4 victories in relief. He is one of just a few relievers that have been dependable for the Tigers on the back end with his bullpen best 1.04 WHIP. Terrance Dedrick leads the team with 4 saves, but he has allowed 32 hits and a very high 15 walks in 25 innings. There is only 1 left handed pitcher on this Auburn team aside from O’Neal and that is Junior Daniel Koger. He has been a starter in 26 games of his career but has spent most of this season being called out from the practice dirt. Despite being a southpaw, leftys hit for .348 while right handers hit just .204 against Koger.
Top Bullpen Arms:
Sr. RHP Jay Wade (22 app, 4-2, 1 save, 3.28 ERA, 35.2 IP, 31 H, 13 ER, 6 BB, 24 K, .235 OBA, 1.04 WHIP)
Jr. RHP Jacob Milliman (10 app, 0-0, 2.19 ERA, 12.1 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 6 BB, 11 K, .205 OBA, 1.21 WHIP)
So. RHP Trey Wingenter (12 app, 1-1, 2.38 ERA, 22.2 IP, 28 H, 6 ER, 8 BB, 22 K, .298 OBA, 1.59 WHIP)
Jr. RHP Trey Cochran-Gill (27 app, 0-2, 1 save, 3.58 ERA, 32.2 IP, 40 H, 13 ER, 9 BB, 20 K, .315 OBA, 1.50 WHIP)
Jr. LHP Daniel Koger (13 app, 2-0, 3.92 ERA, 20.2 IP, 19 H, 9 ER, 8 BB, 16 K, .247 OBA, 1.31 WHIP)
Sr. RHP Terrance Dedrick (22 app, 2-3, 4 saves, 5.04 ERA, 25.0 IP, 32 H, 14 ER, 15 BB, 19 K, .323 OBA, 1.88 WHIP)
Auburn Offense: (LSU numbers in parentheses)
Team BA: .274 (.278)
Team OBP: .366 (.363)
Team SLG: .344 (.400)
The Auburn position players are a mixed age group starting 4 freshman and 4 seniors, but standing out among the ranks is sophomore Jordan Ebert. His .356 batting average is 2nd best in the SEC. Damek Tomscha leads the team in home runs with 5, and his .452 on base percentage is 2nd only to A.J. Reed in the SEC. Tomscha and Damon Haecker have combined for 59 walks on the season. Haecker is a switch-hitting freshman shortstop and is the only player has started all 53 games for the Tigers. Senior leader Ryan Tella has not let down in his final year after a disappointing junior campaign hitting .310 and 3 home runs and 13 stolen bases.
On the bases, no team in the SEC runs more than the Auburn Tigers. Five different Auburn players have attempted 15 or more stolen bases, compared to LSU which has only 1 at that mark. Dan Glevenyak leads the group with 14 swiped bases in 16 tries. On the negative side of that aggressiveness, Auburn has been caught stealing more than any other team in the league.
Auburn Projected Lineup:
1) RF Anfernee Grier (.257 avg, 7 2B, 10 RBI, 14 R, 12 BB, 20 K, 7-15 SB)
2) SS Damon Haecker (.258 avg, 4 2B, 17 RBI, 23 R, 33 BB, 31 K, 10-17 SB)
3) C Blake Austin (.267 avg, 10 2B, 3 HR, 30 RBI, 19 R, 15 BB, 27 K, 4-8 SB)
4) DH Daniel Robert (.281 avg, 5 2B, 3B, HR, 12 RBI, 12 R, 17 BB, 23 K, 1-2 SB)
5) 1B Damek Tomscha (.325 avg, 8 2B, 5 HR, 28 RBI, 37 R, 26 BB, 20 K, 4-5 SB)
6) CF Ryan Tella (.310 avg, 6 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 18 RBI, 30 R, 14 BB, 23 K, 13-18 SB)
7) LF Jordan Ebert (.356 avg, 5 2B, 3B, 28 RBI, 28 R, 12 BB, 24 K, 9-15 SB)
8) 2B Dan Glevenyak (.248 avg, 5 2B, 3 3B, HR, 16 RBI, 21 R, 18 BB, 20 K, 14-16 SB)
9) 3B Connor Short (.222 avg, 2B, 8 RBI, 6 R, 7 BB, 12 K, 9-10 SB)
Other Contributors:
C Blake Logan (.282 avg, 3 2B, HR, 17 RBI, 9 R, 10 BB, 13 K, 0-0 SB)
INF Brett Binning (.348 avg, 2 RBI, 5 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 1-1 SB)
OF Sam Gillikin (.224 avg, 5 2B, 4 RBI, 5 R, 6 BB, 11 K, 0-1 SB)
Defense:
Auburn’s season defensively is an anomaly in that most of their errors came in the OCC schedule rather than SEC play. This defense has committed just 20 errors in the 27 conference games while committing 40 errors in 26 games outside of the league. Their SEC fielding percentage of .980 is tops in the league and the overall .971 FLD% is 11th. Middle infielders Damon Haecker and Dan Glevenyak combine for 21 errors on the year, but the team’s 50 double plays are the 2nd most turned in the SEC. Although stealing the 3rd fewest bags in the conference, LSU may choose to be more aggressive on the bases than in previous games. Main catcher Blake Austin throws out less than 29% of attempting base stealers. Tyler Moore is scheduled to catch for LSU also throws out just under 29% of stealers, which could come into play with Auburn’s aggressive style of base running.
Season Stats
Roster
Schedule (via Warren Nolan)
Media Coverage:
TV: Saturday only – FSN
Online: Saturday only - espn3.com and the watchESPN app with blackout restrictions in effect
Radio: 98.1 FM (check your local listings) all 3 games; audio always available through the GeauxZone
PREDICTION: This is definitely crunch time for both teams as it is for most teams across the country. Does LSU use Tuesday’s record performance to springboard into a postseason run? Does Auburn break out at home against a top ranked team to earn a spot in the SEC tournament? If you ask me, Thursday night will determine everything. Ortman vs Poché. If LSU can come away with this one, I think it leads to the first road sweep of the season. Either way, Nola is as close to a lock as it gets on Friday night against O’Neal, and I think game 3 will be a matter of a thin bullpen for Auburn. The LSU bats will show up on Friday and Saturday for a series win. The sweep? Well let’s see what happens just 46 hours after putting on a hitting display not seen in many years. I think we get to the bullpen early enough to make an impact and get that much needed sweep, then… we scoreboard watch in the West.
Thu: LSU 4, Auburn 3
Fri: LSU 6, Auburn 0
Sat: LSU 8, Auburn 4
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