It should be a fun atmosphere in Hammond tonight as the 2nd ranked LSU baseball team visits Southeastern Louisiana. Pat Kennelly Diamond seats 3,500 and SLU will squeeze that many people and a few more into their cozy stadium.
Both teams are off to a great start. LSU is 11-1 after winning four games in Houston. The Lions also had a successful weekend, knocking off 11th ranked East Carolina on Sunday. SLU followed up the win over the Pirates with a 12-2 victory over Alcorn State on Tuesday night to improve to 9-4 under first year head coach Bobby Barbier.
“I like playing teams with a new coach because there’s usually a real positive energy with the first year if handled right and I know they brought in some good players and I felt they were going to win a lot of games, and so far so good, they are playing really well right now,” said Johnson.
Through 13 games, Southeastern Louisiana has pitched really well, they have a team ERA of 3.67, which leads the Southland Conference.
Jude Hall is leading them at the plate with a .406 batting average, 4 home runs and 13 RBI.
LSU is coming off a week where they went 4-0 in Houston. Johnson said playing three games at the home of the Astros, Minute Maid Park, energized his club.
“It’s such a charge, it’s uplifting,” said Johnson.
Freshman lefthander Kade Anderson will get the start on the mound. The Madisonville native is off to a 2-0 start, and he’s allowed one earned run over nine innings. He struck out seven in his last outing against Rice.
In the field, expect Johnson to keep rotating players in and out of the lineup. Hayden Travinksi, Tommy White and Jared Jones are the only three players to start every game this season.
But you have ten players who have already received 27 or more at-bats. That basically means, every night you have two players on the bench that would be starting anywhere else in the country.
First pitch is at 6 PM.
