BATON ROUGE, La. – For the first time since he left for Beaumont to be the head coach in waiting, Lamar University baseball head coach
Will Davis will occupy a dugout at Alex Box Stadium when he leads his Cardinals in a midweek tilt at No. 9 LSU Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. in non-conference baseball action.
Davis' Cardinals (22-15, 9-9 Southland) head in on their second five-game win streak of the season, including a big sweep of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi over the weekend, and is 7-2 since April 1. The Tigers enter with a 25-12 overall record, fresh off of a Southeastern Conference series win over Ole Miss. They've won seven of their last 10 contests.
Davis is returning to hometown Baton Rouge, where he coached as an assistant for eight seasons, all after a four-year playing career with the Tigers.
"I'm excited about it because it's a chance for us to play another really good opponent in the midweek this year," said Davis. "I'm sure it will be a little different at first, but once the first pitch thrown it's just another baseball game."
The game will be carried on the SEC Network-Plus, and will be called by Lyn Rollins and College Baseball Hall of Famer Ben McDonald.
The Cardinals will start
Ryan Johnson (1-0, 1.35 earned run average) for the third-straight midweek contest. He started games against Baylor and Grambling, and was set on a predetermined pitch count in each. As a starter, he has a 0.00 ERA in four innings with just two hits allowed.
LSU is expected to start right-hander Caleb Gilbert (1-1, 3.22). Gilbert has seen action in 14 games this year with just one start, against New Orleans in February. The sophomore's worked 22 1/3 innings with eight runs allowed, and has struck out 29 batters to just four walks.
Offensively, outfielder Greg Deichmann is the Triple Crown leader for the Tigers. He paces with a .345 batting average, 12 home runs, 43 runs batted in, and .669 slugging. Four Tigers are hitting above .300, and Kramer Robertson is right on the border at .294. Cole Freeman hits at a .336 clip, followed Zach Watson's .330 mark and Antoine Duplantis' .313.
As a team, the Tigers have a .295 batting average and 254 runs (6.7 per game). They have 66 doubles, six triples and 32 home runs on the season for a total slugging mark of .433. On the base paths they've swiped 40 bags and have only been caught 18 times.
The pitching staff has a 3.49 earned run average in 329 2/3 innings.
Cutter McDowell, who is hitting at a .451 clip in his last 22 games, sits atop the Cardinals in batting average (.358), runs (36) and doubles (18).
Robin Adames holds a .342 batting average, followed by
Reid Russell (.336),
Trey Silvers (.294),
Cole Coker (.292) and
Bryndan Arredondo (.292).
As a unit, the group hits for a .282 batting mark with 71 doubles, three triples and 30 doubles on the year. The Cardinals have scored 231 runs on the year, and average of 6.4 per game.
Lamar's pitching staff has a 3.56 earned run mark on the year, but in its last eight games the unit has a mark of 1.80 over 70 innings of work.
Once Tuesday's game is concluded, Lamar will turn its sights to another Southland Conference on the road at Abilene Christian. That series is slated to start at 6 p.m. Friday evening.
