No. 11 LSU to Play in Shriners Hospital for Children College Classic Against Big-12 Opponents
LSU left for Houston in the wee hours of Thursday morning as the Tigers prepare for a three game series at Minute Maid Park this weekend.
The No. 11 Tigers (6-3) are riding a three game win streak into this weekend series that will see them take on Big-12 powerhouses Texas, Baylor and No. 15 Oklahoma in the home of the Houston Astros. Over that three game win streak, the Tigers have combined to score 23 runs which is easily the best stretch of this young season.
Coach Paul Mainieri said earlier this week that he'd run with the same lineup for the entire week and on Wednesday we learned what that lineup would look like. It features the likely suspects with Cade Beloso at first, Zack Mathis at third, Daniel Cabrera in right, Saul Garza as designated hitter and Alex Milazzo at catcher.
Mainieri ultimately decided to stick Maurice Hampton in left field and Giovanni DiGiacomo out in center, making for one of the speediest one two punches in the SEC. Freshmen Cade Doughty and Collier Cranford round out the order in the middle of the infield at second and shortstop respectively.
That lineup recorded 11 hits in a win over Louisiana Tech including the first multi-hit game for Hampton, who went 2-for-2 with two RBI in the win.
"Maurice was amazing tonight I mean some of those balls he ran down in the outfield, you don't see that too often in college baseball," Mainieri said. "He came through with two really clutch hits with two strikes against him, I thought he played a terrific game."
“I like it, it flows well,” Mathis said of the lineup. “In the past two games we’ve scored 17 runs.”
Mainieri said it'll be interesting to see what kind of impact Hampton and the other young guns can have facing stiffer pitching competition this weekend.
As far as the pitching staff is concerned, Cole Henry, Landon Marceaux and AJ Labas are all coming off of stellar performances last week against Eastern Kentucky. The three combined to allow three earned runs with 15 strikeouts in 20 innings of work against the Colonels.
Henry will open on Friday night facing an undefeated Texas team that is playing with all of the confidence in the world. While the Longhorns offense hasn't been all that stellar nine games in, Mainieri said it's a matchup he's looking forward to.
"Anytime it's LSU-Texas you know that's going to get people pretty excited," Mainieri said. "I would expect there'd be a huge crowd there. Last year we had a tough time in Austin and the year before we won the series here. It'd be nice to even out the last three years. Football beat them, basketball beat them and now it's our turn to to take our shot."
LSU will close the weekend taking on a 5-3 Baylor squad on Saturday afternoon and a Sooner team Sunday ranked No. 15 in the country after a 7-2 to their season.
"Baylor's got a great team and we've had some history with Oklahoma, beating them in the super regional in '13 I think," Mainieri said. "We're looking forward to the competition, we're gonna save face for the SEC this weekend."
Until gametime on Friday, Mainieri said the team will visit the Shriners Hospital on Thursday and then practice at Minute Maid Thursday night. The LSU players are all excited and looking forward to seeing what playing in an MLB stadium is like after dreaming of such things their entire lives.
"I'm excited to play in a big league stadium, I heard the ball flies there," Mathis said. "Hopefully we can put the ball up in the air, put it in play and see where it goes."