LAKE CHARLES – The McNeese baseball team returns to action with a pair of mid-week games at national ranked LSU Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. followed by a home contest against Louisiana Tech Wednesday at 6 o'clock.
On Tuesday, the Pokes travel to Baton Rouge for a rescheduled game against the Fighting Tigers of LSU. The game is set for a 6:30 p.m. start and is slated to be streamed live on SEC Network +, available at WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app.
The Pokes will then follow that game up by returning home to The Jeaux for a date with Louisiana Tech Wednesday night at 6 o'clock. The game will also feature the annual student crawfish boil set to take place at the baseball pavilion during the contest.
Both contests can also be heard on KEZM - 1310 AM and at kezmonline.com.
McNeese (18-11) bounced back with a great week on the diamond as the Pokes went 4-0 with a win against No. 24 Houston and a three-game Southland Conference sweep at New Orleans. The Pokes became the first team this season to hand the Privateers, who entered the weekend ranked in the top 35 in RPI, a series loss.
Senior
Connor Crane leads the way for McNeese with a .382 offensive clip along with 42 hits, 32 runs scored, 11 doubles, five homers for a .636 slugging percentage and 12 walks and eight hit by pitches for a .477 on-base percentage. He also leads the team with 13 stolen bases.
As a team, the Pokes are batting .284 on the season and are averaging 9.5 hits and 5.7 runs per game. The pitching staff has a 3.83 ERA with 246 strikeouts to 91 walks in 263.0 innings of work.
Junior left-hander
Austin Sanders (2-2) is slated to begin on the mound against LSU. He recently threw a 7.0 inning performance that helped McNeese defeat the nationally ranked Houston Cougars last week. Wednesday's starter for Louisiana Tech has yet to be decided.
LSU (21-10) enters the mid-having secured a series win at home against No. 6 Vanderbilt over the weekend as the Tigers have won six of their last 10 contests. LSU is ranked in all major baseball polls with its highest ranking coming from the Baseball America Top 25 poll which ranks the Tigers ninth.
LSU has yet to announce its starter for Tuesday's contest.
The Bayou Bengals are batting .301 as a team with Antoine Duplantis pacing the offense with a .364 clip and a .438 on-base percentage. Greg Deichmann leads with a .533 slugging percentage with 40 hits, seven doubles, two triples and four home runs. The LSU pitching staff holds a 3.98 ERA with 117 walks, 285 strikeouts and a .252 opponent batting average.
Louisiana Tech (18-10) took a C-USA series win over Western Kentucky last weekend and have won six of their last 10 games. The Bulldogs hold a 7-7 road record this season and will cap off an eight-game road stretch when they visit the Pokes.
The Bulldogs are hitting .292 as a team with six players hitting above .300 entering the mid-week game. Jonathan Washam leads the way for Louisiana Tech with a .392 average in 23 games while Cody Daigle has driven in a team-high 23 RBI. The Louisiana Tech pitching staff holds a 4.15 ERA with 226 strikeouts and 105 walks in 243.0 innings of work.
Louisiana Tech did not have a starter for Wednesday's game decided yet.
