LSU baseball received a relatively favorable draw from the
NCAA Tournament selection committee on Monday. The Tigers, selected as the No. 6 overall seed in the field, will host No. 2 Dallas Baptist, No. 3 Rhode Island and No. 4 Little Rock in the
Baton Rouge Regional beginning on Friday. LSU's first game in the regional is against Little Rock. First pitch from Alex Box Stadium is set for 2 p.m. and the game will be available to watch on SEC Network. Here's what you need to know about the teams grouped with LSU in its regional.
Little Rock
Breakdown: Little Rock won five games in four days to capture the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament crown, defeating Southern Indiana, Southeast Missouri, Lindenwood and Eastern Illinois twice. The Trojans went on a run despite dropping 10 of their last 11 games in conference play and qualified for the last spot in the OVC Tournament on a tiebreaker. As the No. 8 seed, they became the lowest seed to ever win the conference tourney. Little Rock's best win of the year came on April 15 when they upset Ole Miss 7-3 in Oxford. It also owns the worst RPI in the NCAA Tournament, 44 spots behind Bethune-Cookman which was the next lowest team. Little Rock's attack is led by five hitters with an on-base plus slugging percentage of more than .800: third baseman Ty Rhoades, second baseman Cooper Chaplain, catcher Cade Martin, designated hitter Ryan Geck and center fielder Zach Henry. Rhoades leads the Trojans in home runs and Martin hit the go-ahead run-scoring single in the OVC tournament title game. On the mound, right-hander Jack Cline is the favorite to start Friday's regional opener against LSU. Cline tossed a complete game in the OVC championship game on Sunday, allowing just one earned run and throwing 129 pitches on two days of rest. Little Rock's second starter is right-hander Jackson Wells. He also surrendered just one run in a complete game on Wednesday in the Trojans' first game at the OVC Tournament. In the bullpen, Little Rock doesn't have a reliever, who has also made at least 10 appearances, with an ERA under five.
Rhode Island
Breakdown: Rhode Island beat Davidson, Saint Louis and George Mason in the Atlantic 10 Tournament to clinch its spot in the big dance. The Rams also won the conference regular-season crown and defeated Oregon — a regional host — once in a four-game series in Eugene in February. They have the best RPI in the Atlantic 10 but the weakest RPI among No. 3 seeds in the NCAA tourney. Hitting is Rhode Island's strength. The Rams are sixth in the country in runs scored and have four hitters who have started at least 34 games while holding an OPS of more than 1.000. Leading Rhode Island's offense is third baseman Anthony DePino. The senior has 19 home runs, a .733 slugging percentage and leads the Rams in walks and doubles. After him, right fielder Eric Genther (1.045 OPS), shortstop Reece Moroney (leads the team in batting average) and designated hitter Jack Hopko (15 home runs) provide length for a dangerous lineup. The clear ace of Rhode Island's pitching staff is left-hander Trystan Levesque. The graduate senior threw 10 shutout innings against Oregon in February and allowed just one earned run in 8⅓ innings in his latest start against Davidson on Wednesday. In 15 starts, Levesque has allowed more than four earned runs in just one outing. If Levesque starts on Friday against Dallas Baptist, and the Rams win and face LSU on Saturday, Rhode Island would likely turn to right-hander Jeremy Urena. Urena struggled to begin the year but has pitched well lately, allowing no more than three earned runs in each of his past four starts. In relief, Rhode Island's top option is right-hander Joe Sabbath who has a 3.11 ERA and eight saves in 27 appearances. The Rams lack an abundance of options in relief after Sabbath as they only have one other reliever with an ERA under five besides him.
Dallas Baptist
Breakdown: Dallas Baptist clinched an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament after finishing the year with the fourth best RPI among non-hosting teams, getting two wins over Oklahoma and grabbing a win over TCU. The Patriots faced LSU for the first time on Feb. 26 at Globe Life Field in Arlington. The Tigers won 7-3, garnering 12 hits and receiving multihit performances from Derek Curiel, Jared Jones, Daniel Dickinson, Steven Milam and Jake Brown. LSU started left-hander Conner Ware who tossed four shutout innings before allowing a home run to start the fifth. Like Rhode Island, Dallas Baptist has one of the more dangerous offenses in the country. The Patriots rank 21st nationally in runs scored and will have four available hitters with an OPS better thab 1.000. The biggest bat in their order is catcher Grant Jay. He leads the team with 19 home runs, holding a .322 batting average and a .688 slugging percentage. Center fielder Nathan Humphreys has 17 homers and is first on the Patriots in batting average, and second baseman Keaton Grady owns a .944 OPS. Leading the Patriots rotation for the last month has been right-hander Ryan Borberg and right-hander James Ellwanger. Borberg hasn't surrendered more than two runs since April 19 while Ellwanger struck out 12 batters in six innings on Thursday against Jacksonville State. But until he suffered an injury in April, right-hander and former Tiger Micah Bucknam was the Patriots' ace. He should be available to pitch in the Baton Rouge regional after returning against Jacksonville State this past week and tossing three shutout innings. Dallas Baptist's bullpen allowed five earned runs and eight hits in five innings against LSU in February. Left-hander Tyler Schott has been the Patriots' most consistent reliever, but they also have right-hander Luke Pettitte back from an elongated absence. Pettitte is the son of five-time World Series champion Andy Pettitte and was the Conference USA Freshman of the Year last season.
