BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford Baseball Team will take on the No. 1 ranked LSU Tigers in a three-game series this weekend in Baton Rouge, beginning with a 6:30 p.m. contest on Friday, March 10.
The Bulldogs (6-6) fell 11-6 their last time out against No. 18 Alabama at home on Tuesday, March 7.
Garrett Howe drove in a pair of runs in the midweek setback while
Jayden Davis scored twice.
Carson Hobbs (1-1) shouldered the loss, conceding two runs over 1.2 innings of work and striking out a pair.
Turner Thompson tossed a game-high 2.1 innings of relief while
Ben Petschke struck out four batters over two innings of one-hit relief
The Bulldogs are set to start junior right-hander
Jacob Cravey on Friday evening. Cravey currently leads the SoCon with 23 batters struck out over 16.2 innings pitched while ranking second in the league with an opponents' batting average of .143
Brody Westbrooks will get the nod on Saturday, his second of the season. Lynch, who is sporting a .188 opponents' average, will get the call on Sunday.
Howe enters the weekend as the Bulldog's leading hitter, posting a batting average of .366 to go along with a team-high 15 base hits and 10 runs batted in.
Howe has also been the Bulldogs' best situational hitter, sporting an average of .478 (11-23) with runners on base and .467 (7-15) with runners in scoring position while logging five two-out RBI.
Freshman catcher/outfielder
Lucas Steele has come on strong for the Bulldogs to begin his collegiate career, posting a team-high .786 slugging percentage that ranks third in the SoCon. Steele leads the squad with six extra-base hits (3 HR, 3 2B) and ranks 10th in the league with an on-base clip of .472.
On the mound, six different Bulldogs currently sport an ERA under four. Freshman
Alex Gaeto has yet to give up a run over three appearances, while
Brody Westbrooks and
Trey Sanders both hold an ERA of 0.90
Hobbs (1-1) and Petschke (2-1) have logged three of the Bulldog's six wins, with Hobbs registering two saves and Petschke with one. Prior to Hobb's 1.2-inning outing against Alabama, he had not given up a run all season.
LSU (12-1) has won its last seven contests in a row, grabbing a 9-2 victory most recently on Wednesday, March 7.
The Tigers come in with a record of 13-0 against current Southern Conference members, with nine of those wins coming against Mercer. LSU is 2-0 against the Citadel and 1-0 against both UNCG and Western Carolina.
The Tigers enter the weekend ranking sixth nationally with an average of 11 runs scored per game. Junior outfielder Dylan Crews leads the team in batting average (.465), runs (21), hits (20), doubles (6), and RBI (19)
LSU's pitching staff has been equally impressive, ranking fourth in the country in hits allowed per nine innings at 5.86. Junior righty Paul Skenes (3-0) leads the country with 36 strikeouts in 18 innings and has given just one run in the year for an ERA of 0.50.
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