HAMMOND, La. – The New Orleans Privateers will begin their journey in the two-week long Southland Conference Tournament on Thursday with an opening round game versus the HBU Huskies. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
PITCHING MATCH-UP
UNO-
Tyler LeBlanc (6-1, 5.23) vs. HBU-Brennan Bales (0-1, 12.91)
NOTES
-For the second consecutive year, six Privateers landed on the Southland Postseason All-Conference Team. 25 Privateers have been selected to the Postseason Teams under
Blake Dean.
-The Privateers are in the Southland Tournament for the fifth time under Dean in six full seasons. In previous opening round games, New Orleans is 1-3 with their lone win coming in 2018.
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Amani Larry hit his seventh homer and drove in his 50
th run of the season on Tuesday against Southern. Larry is the conference leader in on-base percentage (.473) and the co-leader in total bases (110).
-After Tuesday's win, the Privateers moved to 4-0 in games that were tied after seven innings. They have outscored opponents 27-11 in the ninth inning in 2022.
-New Orleans went 2-1 against HBU in Houston during the regular season. The Privateers scored 35 runs in three games and hit .314. In his start against the Huskies, LeBlanc went six innings and allowed two earned runs.
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Pearce Howard moved into third all-time in total bases passing Johnny Giavotella. Howard is 13 total bases away from first place. He has also moved within two RBI of Brian Traxler for first all-time in that category.
-The winner of Thursday's game will face the winner of Southeastern-A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday a 6 p.m. The loser will face the loser of the other game at 1 p.m. on Friday.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
The Huskies are in their first season under the guidance of Lance Berkman. HBU's offense has been led by Bales who is hitting .313 with 24 RBI. The Huskies hit .293 against Southland opponents.
On the mound, the Huskies have a 7.97 ERA. Andrew Reitmeyer and Tyler Zarella have been two strong bullpen arms for HBU. Zarella has pitched to a 2.05 ERA in 26.1 innings. Reitmeyer has eight saves this season.
The Huskies are 6-16 all-time against New Orleans. HBU last qualified for the NCAA Regionals in 2015 as the Southland Tournament Champions.
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