BATON ROUGE, La. - For the third time in five days, the
University of New Orleans baseball team will return to the state's capital city
as they face No. 20 LSU at Alex Box Stadium at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.
The game can be heard live on the LSU Sports Radio Network
with live stats and video available on LSUSports.net.
UNO (1-2) is seeking their first win in Baton Rouge this
year after dropping a pair of games to Southern last weekend, sandwiched around
a victory at Maestri Field on Saturday.
The Privateers will send right-handed pitcher Garrett
Manning (0-0) to the mound to face LSU (3-0).
Manning made his first appearance this season out of the
bullpen, retiring the side in his lone inning of relief against the Jaguars on
Saturday. A transfer from North Area Iowa Community College, Manning played
both right field and pitcher in the JUCO ranks.
At the plate, returning starter Nolan Church has set the
pace for the UNO, going 5-for-12 at the plate against SU for a .417 average.
Church belted a home run on Sunday and totaled three RBIs with his two doubles.
Through three games, Church has a .462 on-base percentage.
Junior college transfer Andrew Garcia has paid immediate
dividends with a three-game hitting streak to begin his tenure on the
Lakefront, while hitting 4-for-10 with a home run and two RBIs.
LSU swept former UNO head coach Tom Walter and his Wake
Forest squad at Alex Box Stadium to open the season. With the sweep, the Tigers
moved up a spot in this week's Baseball America Poll to No. 20.
Tyler Jones will be making his LSU debut on Tuesday, after
transferring over from 2010 NJCAA World Series participant Madison Area Tech in
Wisconsin. Jones was a 2010 NJCAA First Team All-American after posting a 9-2
record with a 3.01 ERA to accompany 77 strikeouts in 74.2 innings of work.
Mikie Mahtook belted four home runs and tallied six RBIs
against WF for head coach Paul Maineri's squad. A preseason All-American,
Mahtook led an offense that hit .330 against the Demon Deacons and includes six
regular starters with batting averages over .364.
Following Tuesday's game, UNO will compete in a three-day
tournament at Northwestern State that will include the host Demons, ULM and
Stephen F. Austin. Play begins Friday at 6:30 p.m. against NSU with games on
Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m. against ULM and SFA, respectively.
