MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama baseball team will face its third top-25 team in as many weeks when it travels to Baton Rouge, La., Wednesday for a 6:30 p.m. contest with No. 6 Louisiana State at Alex Box Stadium.
The game will be televised by Cox Sports Television, and will also be broadcast live on WNSP 105.5 FM in Mobile. The radio broadcast can also be accessed nationwide at WNSP.com, while the video stream will be available through the Geaux Zone section at LSUSports.net. Live stats for every South Alabama baseball game are available through the multimedia section at USAJaguars.com, while in-game updates are provided via Twitter at Twitter.com/SouthALBaseball.
South Alabama (10-8) enters the game having won four of its last five contests after winning two of three games last week. The Jags defeated Southern Mississippi 5-1 in Hattiesburg, Miss., last Wednesday before splitting a pair of games with Troy over the weekend at Stanky Field to open Sun Belt Conference play.
Wednesday's contest will mark the first meeting between the schools since 1997 when LSU took two consecutive games from the Jags in the NCAA South I Regional in Baton Rouge to advance to the College World Series en route to its second straight national championship. USA last defeated LSU in the '97 Regional with an 11-5 win.
The Jaguar pitching staff ranks second in the Sun Belt Conference in hits allowed (135), and third in ERA (2.98) and opposing batting average (.227). The South Alabama bullpen has posted a 2.28 ERA with 47 strikeouts against 36 walks, and has recorded four wins and six saves while combining for one shutout in 59 1/3 innings this season.
Right-hander Brandon Hallford ranks third in the SBC in saves (4), and carries a scoreless-innings streak of 15 2/3 innings into Wednesday's contest after tossing four perfect relief innings last week in two appearances. Hallford earned his fourth save of the season last Wednesday at Southern Mississippi, before pitching 2 1/3 scoreless innings against Troy last weekend to earn his second win of the season.
USA is third in the league in fielding percentage (.976), and snapped a string of seven consecutive games with at least one error in the series finale against Troy. It marked the first errorless game for the Jags since its March 1 series finale at No. 24 Arkansas.
No. 6 LSU (17-4) dropped two of three games at No. 3 Vanderbilt over the weekend, falling in the final two games of the series which were played as a doubleheader last Saturday. The first loss of the doubleheader snapped the Tigers' eight-game win streak, while the second loss of the twinbill marked the first time this season LSU has lost consecutive games.
Andrew Stevenson leads the Tigers in batting average (.393), triples (4), slugging percentage (.536) and stolen bases (5), while Alex Bregman and Sean McMullen share the team lead in RBI with 14 each. LSU is hitting .281 as a team, while the pitching staff has posted a 2.06 ERA in 183 1/3 innings and limited opponents to a .219 batting average.
The Tigers are 13-2 at Alex Box Stadium this season and 11-2 in night games. USA is 4-4 on the road and 4-5 in games under the lights this year.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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