LSU baseball and head coach Jay Johnson head into a midweek game with New Orleans with just one goal in their minds.
“I want to win Tuesday against New Orleans,” Johnson said after the loss to Tennessee on Sunday.
LSU (22-15, 3-12 SEC) has struggled in conference play after starting the season 16-2. The Tigers have managed just six wins to 13 losses with only three of those wins coming in SEC play. They have dropped all five of their series against SEC foes this season and are fresh off being swept on the road by No. 4 Tennessee.
New Orleans (21-14) is coming off a series sweep over Bluefield State where it won all three games via the run rule. The Privateers outscored Bluefield State 50-9 this weekend and now have 10 run rule victories this season.
New Orleans is scoring 7.8 runs per game this season and are led by Mitchell Sanford. Sanford is batting .400 this season with 47 RBI and 11 home runs. Alexander Saunier and Miguel Useche are tied for second place on the team with 25 RBI. As a team, the Privateers are batting .298 this season with 42 home runs and 69 doubles.
New Orleans’ pitching staff has a 5.83 ERA this season and a 1.58 WHIP through 292 innings. The Privateers have surrendered 47 home runs and 69 doubles this season while walking 130 batters. Their top pitcher this season is Colton Mercer with a 3.28 ERA through 46.2 innings pitched.
Tyler LeBlanc has been New Orleans’ midweek pitcher this season. He’s gone 12.2 innings in four starts with an 8.53 ERA and a 1.89 WHIP. His single-game high this season is three innings pitched. He hasn’t gone more than 2.2 innings in any of his last three games. His last start came against Tulane last week where he went 2.2 innings and gave up three hits and one run.
LSU has pitched Kade Anderson for most of its midweek games, but he threw 28 pitches on Sunday and isn’t likely to start. Javen Coleman has started five games this season, including two SEC starts and didn’t pitch this weekend.
Coleman has a 5.40 ERA on the season through 20 innings pitched with 22 strikeouts. Thatcher Hurd didn’t pitch in the series against Tennessee and could also be in contention to start for LSU.
Hurd started the season as the Tigers’ Friday pitcher before being moved down in the rotation and eventually taken out of the starting rotation completely after early season struggles.
Hurd has a 6.59 ERA this season through 28.2 innings pitched along with 35 strikeouts. His last start came in the Florida series and his last appearance came in relief against Vanderbilt.
LSU has posted a 4.47 ERA this season as a team.
Tommy White is still the team’s top hitter with a .336 batting average. He had a homer on Sunday against Tennessee to bring his season total to 12 along with 33 RBI. Jared Jones leads the team in homers with 14 and RBI with 34.
LSU is batting .282 as a team and 57 home runs. The Tigers scored 16 runs in their last midweek games against McNeese and Jones belted three homers.
LSU and New Orleans will play at 6:30 p.m. from Alex Box and the game will be streamed on SEC Network+.
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