No. 2 Baseball Takes on No. 7 Houston in Classic Published: March 05, 2015, 05:45 PM (CT) BATON ROUGE, La. – Second-ranked LSU (12-1) takes its first road trip of the season this weekend as the Tigers play in the Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park. LSU will face the University of Houston (8-4) at 7 p.m. CT Friday, Baylor (6-5) at 3:30 p.m. CT Saturday and Nebraska (6-4) at 11 am. CT Sunday. The games will be carried on affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (in Baton Rouge, 98.1 FM on Friday and Sunday, and 100.7 FM on Saturday), and live audio and stats for the contests may be accessed at www.LSUsports.net. All LSU games will be televised by Cox Sports Television and by Root Sports Southwest. There will be no online streaming of any games in the Houston College Classic "We’re very excited for this opportunity to play in a Major League ball park against some outstanding teams,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “Having played 13 games, we have a pretty sound idea about the strengths and weaknesses of our team, and this weekend allows us to continue to develop as we begin SEC play next week. We’re looking forward to having a great experience this weekend and the chance to see the tremendous LSU following in the Houston area.” This weekend’s event marks the second time in LSU baseball history the Tigers have played in an MLB ball park. LSU played in the 1995 Hormel Foods Classic at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, at the time the home of the Minnesota Twins. The Tigers won three straight games over Florida State, Michigan and Minnesota in the Metrodome. LSU is No. 2 in the Baseball America poll and No. 3 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings and enters Friday’s game riding a nine-game win streak. Mainieri said sophomore left-hander Jared Poche’ (3-0) will start Friday’s game on the mound for the Tigers, while Houston coach Todd Whitting will counter with sophomore right-hander Andrew Lantrip (3-0). Poche’ improved to 3-0 this season by defeating Princeton last Friday in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field. He limited Princeton to two runs on six hits in 6.2 innings with one walk and five strikeouts. Poche has a 12-3 mark in his two seasons at LSU with a 2.37 career ERA. LSU is hitting .334 on the year with nine home runs and 27 steals in 31 attempts. The Tigers are led at the plate by senior catcher Kade Scivicque, who is batting .448 (13-for-29) with three doubles, three homers, 10 RBI and 11 runs. Sophomore outfielder Jake Fraley is hitting .400 (12-for-30) with three doubles, three triples and seven RBI, while junior outfielder Mark Laird is batting .396 (19-for-48) with two doubles, five RBI, 14 runs and five steals. Senior infielder Conner Hale has hit safely in all 13 of LSU’s games this season, and he is batting .327 (18-for-55) on the year with five doubles, one triple, 10 RBI and nine runs scored. Houston is hitting .277 as a team with seven home runs and 21 steals in 24 attempts. Junior first baseman Chris Iriart is batting .348 (16-for-46) with two doubles, three homers and 11 RBI, junior outfielder Kyle Survance is batting .333 (18-for-54) with one double, two triples, six RBI and 11 steals, and freshman infielder Connor Wong is hitting .321 (17-for-53) with two doubles, one triple, two homers and 14 RBI. Houston leads, 25-19, in the all-time series with LSU that began in 1975. The teams met three times last season in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional, with LSU defeating UH, 5-1, in the second round of the regional before the Cougars rebounded with 5-4 (11 innings) and 12-2 victories over the Tigers to win the regional. LSU and Houston also met in NCAA Regional play in 1985 at Austin (11-4 UH win) and in 1990 at Baton Rouge (6-4 LSU win). Houston College Classic #8 Houston Cougars (8-4) vs. #2 LSU Fighting Tigers (12-1) LSU will play Baylor (6-5) on Saturday and Nebraska (6-4) on Sunday DATES/TIMES vs. Houston on Friday, March 6 – 7 p.m. CT vs. Baylor on Saturday, March 7 – 3:30 p.m. CT vs. Nebraska on Sunday, March 8 – 11 a.m. CT STADIUM Minute Maid Park in Houston RANKINGS LSU – No. 2 by Baseball America; No. 3 by Collegiate Baseball; No. 5 by USA Today Houston – No. 8 by Baseball America; No. 12 by Collegiate Baseball; No. 13 by USA Today Baylor – unranked Nebraska - unranked RADIO LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates, including WDGL 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge (Friday and Sunday); WTGE 100.7 FM in Baton Rouge (Saturday) LSUsports.net – live audio and live stats TV All games will be televised by Cox Sports Television and by Root Sports Southwest *There will be no online streaming of any games in the Houston College Classic SERIES RECORD VS. HOUSTON Houston leads, 25-19, in the all-time series with LSU that began in 1975. The teams met three times last season in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional, with LSU defeating UH, 5-1, in the second round of the regional before the Cougars rebounded with 5-4 (11 innings) and 12-2 victories over the Tigers to win the regional. LSU and Houston also met in NCAA Regional play in 1985 at Austin (11-4 UH win) and in 1990 at Baton Rouge (6-4 LSU win). PITCHING MATCHUP VS. HOUSTON LSU – Jr. LHP Jared Poche’ (3-0, 1.96 ERA, 18.1 IP, 5 BB, 13 SO) UH – So. RHP Andrew Lantrip (3-0, 0.46 ERA, 19.2 IP, 3 BB, 16 SO)
The starting pitcher for Houston was 3-0 this year and 6-0 last year. Yes this was his first college loss. Named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball and the American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year.
Solid win against a top 10 opponent with their best pitcher? I'll take it all day every day. I think I read that cougar pitcher surrendered his first HR yesterday. Who knew we could hit! I wanna grow up and be Alex Bregman. Just sayin.
Four Aggies Make Houston College Classic All-Tournament Team By: Houston Astros Posted: Sun 9:55 PM, Mar 08, 2015 HOUSTON, TX — The 2015 Houston College Classic concluded tonight at Minute Maid Park with Texas A&M being named the Tournament Champions with a perfect 3-0 record. The Aggies were matched by LSU, which also went 3-0, but earned the tiebreaker with a plus-eight run differential, as opposed to the Tigers plus-six mark. Hawaii, the University of Houston and Nebraska each went 1-2, while Baylor finished 0-3. The Houston College Classic had a total weekend attendance of 37,793, with strong crowds on Friday (10,651), Saturday (16,276) and Sunday (10,866). This marks the highest total tournament attendance since 2007. Minute Maid Park hosted the Houston College Classic and Astros FanFest on the same weekend from 2001-07, making 2015 the highest total tournament attendance since the two events split. Each team placed at least one player on the 2015 Houston College Classic All-Tournament Team, which was highlighted by the Classic’s Most Outstanding Player RHP Grayson Long from Texas A&M. He tossed 7.0 scoreless frames, recording 10 strikeouts, in the Aggie’s Saturday night victory over Houston. The remaining 2015 All-Tournament Team filled out as listed below: C Michael Barash, Texas A&M .333 (2x6), 2 R, 2B, HR, RBI, BB 1B Chris Iriart, Houston .222 (2x9), R, 2 2B, RBI, 2 BB 2B Josh Vidales, Houston .500 (5x10), 3 R, RBI, BB 3B Conner Hale, LSU .400 (4x10), 2 R, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, BB SS Alex Bregman, LSU .385 (5x13), 3 R, 2B, 3 SB OF Kaeo Aliviado, Hawaii .273 (3x11), R, 2 RBI, 3 BB OF Austin Darby, Nebraska .333 (3x9), 2B, RBI, SB, BB OF J.B. Moss, Texas A&M .300 (3x10), 2 R, HR, 3 RBI DH Ben Miller, Nebraska .400 (4x10), 2 RBI, HBP P Daniel Castano, Baylor 0-1, 1.12 ERA (1ER/8IP), 8 H, 2 BB, 2 SO P Matt Kent, Texas A&M 1-0, 2.45 ERA (2ER/7.1IP), 6 H, 1 BB, 9 SO P Alex Lange, LSU 1-0, 0.00 ERA (0ER/7IP), 7 H, 2 BB, 4 SO P Grayson Long, Texas A&M 1-0, 0.00 ERA (0ER/7IP), 3 H, 0 BB, 10 SO Houston College Classic Most Outstanding Player: RHP Grayson Long, Texas A&M The Astros also announced the field for the 2016 Houston College Classic, which will feature both the University of Houston and Rice, along with Arkansas, Louisiana-Lafayette, TCU and Texas Tech. The 16th annual tournament will feature nine games at Minute Maid Park from Feb. 26-28, 2016.
