LSU Baseball vs. Kentucky Wildcats Series Preview, First Pitch Times, TV Schedule

Jay Johnson and the LSU Tigers will hit the road to Lexington this weekend for a three-game SEC series against a Top-25 foe in the Kentucky Wildcats.

In what will be another "must win" series for Johnson and Co. after dropping back-to-back matchups to the Vanderbilt Commodores and Oklahoma Sooners, LSU is expecting another hard-fought series.

“(Kentucky) Coach (Nick) Mingione is a great coach and a great human being; his team is very fundamentally sound. Their pitching staff always has a good identity, and they use their strengths really, really well," Johnson said this week.

"Offensively, they try to put pressure on you, and they’re playing with a lot of confidence right now. So, it’s going to be a big challenge, and we need to come out ready to go.”

The Preview: No. 19 Kentucky Wildcats (20-4, 4-2) at LSU Fighting Tigers (17-9, 2-4)

DATES/TIMES
• Friday, March 27 at 6:30 p.m. CT (SEC Network+)
• Saturday, March 28 at 2 p.m. CT (SEC Network+)
• Sunday, March 29 at 12 p.m. CT (SEC Network+)

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

RANKINGS
UK – No. 19 (D1 Baseball, NCBWA, USA Today); No. 21 (Baseball America)

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
Game 1
LSU – So. RH Casan Evans (2-0, 4.80 ERA, 30.0 IP, 13 BB, 50 SO)
UK – Sr. RH Jaxon Jelkin (5-0, 2.94 ERA, 33.2 IP, 8 BB, 37 SO
Game 2
LSU – So. RH William Schmidt (3-1, 3.00 ERA, 30.0 IP, 9 BB, 46 SO)
UK – So. RH Nate Harris (3-1, 4.97 ERA, 25.1, 12 BB, 28 SO)
Game 3
LSU – TBA
UK – Jr. LH Ben Cleaver (1-1, 2.45 ERA, 18.1 IP, 12 BB, 24 SO)

ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Sophomore right-hander Casan Evans defeated seventh-ranked Oklahoma last Thursday, limiting the Sooners to one unearned run on three hits in 7.2 innings with one walk and a career-best 15 strikeouts … Evans’ 15 Ks represented the most by an LSU pitcher in an SEC game since Paul Skenes also recorded 15 strikeouts on May 5, 2023, at Auburn … Evans’ outing was the longest of his career, as he fired 110 pitches and allowed just three singles … Evans retired 16 of the first 17 Oklahoma batters, and he completed the outing by retiring eight of the last 10 Sooner hitters that he faced … Evans’ previous career highs in innings pitched and strikeouts came last season in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional versus Little Rock (June 2), when he logged 6.0 innings and recorded 12 Ks in a relief outing … he also worked 6.0 innings versus Tennessee on April 27 of last season as a starting pitcher.

• Freshman catcher/first baseman Omar Serna Jr. is batting .381 (8-for-21) in LSU’s last five games with two doubles, two homers and six RBI … he was LSU’s leading hitter in the Tigers’ SEC series last weekend versus seventh-ranked Oklahoma, batting .400 (4-for-10) with one double, one homer, three RBI, two runs and a .538 on-base percentage … Serna is batting .344 (11-for-32) in his last eight games with two doubles, three homers, 14 RBI and eight runs.

• The LSU pitching staff compiled a 2.45 cumulative ERA over the Tigers’ four games last week, allowing just 12 earned runs in 44.0 innings with 22 walks, 67 strikeouts and a .199 opponent batting average … the staff ERA in the three-game Oklahoma series last weekend was 2.33, as LSU limited the Sooners to seven earned runs over 27.0 innings with 12 walks, 41 strikeouts and a .202 opponent batting average.

• Sophomore right-hander Deven Sheerin has logged 10 strikeouts in 6.1 innings over his last three relief appearances, and junior left-hander Santiago Garcia has recorded 10 strikeouts in 6.2 innings over his last four relief outings.

ABOUT THE WILDCATS
• No. 19 Kentucky is 20-4 this season, 4-2 in the SEC; the Wildcats opened SEC play two weeks ago by sweeping Alabama in Lexington, and they dropped two of three league games at Ole Miss last weekend … the Wildcats are batting .294 as a team with 48 doubles, 10 triples, 22 home runs and 70 steals in 83 attempts.

• Kentucky is led at the plate by infielder Hudson Brown, who is hitting .390 with seven doubles, two homers, 22 RBI and 22 runs … outfielder Jayce Harnish is batting .347 with four doubles, two triples, three homers and 19 RBI, and infielder Ethan Hindle has team-highs of six homers and 27 RBI.

• The Kentucky pitching staff has a 3.88 cumulative ERA with 233 strikeouts in 209.0 innings while allowing a .220 opponent batting average and 18 home runs.

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