Baseball Travels To Nationally-Ranked LSU For Midweek Game

NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans baseball team concludes its stretch of five-straight contests against teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament on Wednesday, Mar. 15 when the Privateers head to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for the second leg of a home-and-home series with nationally-ranked LSU.

LSU leads the all-time series against UNO 59-35, with the Privateers snapping a nine-game skid against the Tigers earlier this season in an 11-8 victory at Maestri Field. In the victory, New Orleans hit eight extra-base hits, with junior outfielder Tristan Clarke posting a double and a home run while sophomore outfielder Orynn Veillon blasted two doubles. Junior right handed pitcher William Griffin threw a team-best 4.0 innings against LSU to get the win.

"LSU is a great team," head coach Blake Dean said. "They are always a tough team to beat and when they play at home it's only that much more challenging. We have to wake our bats up and get some big hits like we did when they came here earlier this season. Lately we have been running into some tough arms that took our offense out of the equation in the games and let some doubt creep in. I'd like to see us get back to that aggressive mentality at the plate and work on rebuilding our confidence and get our offense rolling again."

The Privateers (9-7) end their current stretch of five games against three opponents who reached the 2016 NCAA Tournament on Wednesday after dropping a 4-2 contest to Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday afternoon to complete the weekend series.

UNO boasts one of the top offenses in the Southland Conference, leading the league in slugging percentage (.480), doubles (42), and home runs (16) while ranking second in batting average (.303), hits (171), runs batted in (104), total bases (271) on base percentage (.389) and third in runs scored (112). Clarke leads the SLC in total bases (41), home runs (5) and is second in slugging percentage (.704), fourth in runs batted in (18) and doubles (7) while senior Samuel Capielano has a team-high .400 batting average which ranks fourth.

On the mound, the Privateers rank third in the Southland in strikeouts (133), opposing batting average (.240) and hits allowed (127) while posting a 3.94 ERA. Sophomore southpaw Bryan Warzek leads UNO, and ranks third in the conference, with a 0.77 ERA while junior right handed pitcher Shawn Semple ranks fourth with 29 strikeouts.

LSU (12-4) comes into the midweek matchup after a weekend sweep of Wichita State with a contest against Louisiana College slated for Tuesday, Mar. 14.

The Tigers boasts a .329 batting average, the 10^th-highest in the nation, while holding opponents to the ninth-lowest hits per nine innings at 6.73. Cole Freeman leads LSU with a .482 batting average, the ninth-best in the nation, while Greg Deichmann has seven home runs which ranks sixth. Overall, the Tigers have 177 hits, 118 runs scored, 109 RBI, 85 strikeouts, 58 walks and 20 stolen bases.

On the mound for LSU, Jared Poche' ranks among the nation's bests pitchers with four victories and a 0.00 ERA, both tied for the best in Division I, with 29.0 innings spread through four appearances. The Tigers boast a 3.01 ERA with 145 strikeouts and an opposing batting average of .206.

UNO returns to Maestri Field on Friday, Mar. 17 when New Orleans begins a Southland Conference series against Abilene Christian with first pitch slated for 6:30 p.m. For tickets to future Privateers athletic events, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263) and season tickets can be purchased over the Internet by clicking HERE.