Tigers feel at home in Hoover

LSU will be on the road for an early weekend series playing at an alternate site. But the Tigers should be right at home for the three-game series with Alabama. The Crimson Tide are playing their home games at the Hoover Met in the Birmingham suburb while their on-campus stadium is being gutted and renovated this spring. And that should be fine with the Tigers. It’s a stadium where LSU has won the last two and five of the last seven Southeastern Conference tournaments. Overall, the Tigers have won seven consecutive games in the big ballpark and are 8-1 over the last two seasons, including A 2-0 record against Alabama. LSU (24-5, 5-4 SEC) trails Texas A&M by two games in the SEC West standings, with Alabama (15-12, 4-5) a game behind the Tigers. LSU, which lost two of three in strange and mysterious ways at home last weekend to Kentucky, bounced back Tuesday with an 8-6 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette in a game played at Zephyr Field in Metairie. “We swung the bats well and played tremendous defense,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “We played very well and I’m hopeful we can carry that momentum in this weekend’s series with Alabama.” The Tigers had three home runs among their 10 hits, although it will be much tougher to leave the yard in the spacious environs of the Hoover Met. Shortstop Alex Bregman was the poster child for the bounceback victory. He hit the ball hard all last weekend with little to show for it, but Tuesday was 3-for-3 with a home run, triple and double with four RBIs to key the attack. “It was kind of hard to have bad luck (Tuesday) the way he swung the bat.” Mainieri said. Bregman was on deck when LSU made the final out in the bottom of the eighth, denied a chance for a single that would have allowed him to hit for the cycle. “This is the best I’ve swung the bat in my life,” Bregman said. LSU leads the nation with a .329 batting average (the Tide are hitting .282). Bregman’s home run was his seventh, tying for the team lead with Jared Foster, with both one behind Florida’s Harrison Bader for the SEC lead. LSU will stick with the same weekend pitching rotation it has used all season, with sophomore left-hander Jared Poché going tonight, followed by right-hander freshmen Alex Lange on Friday and Jake Godfrey on Saturday. Lange leads the SEC in ERA at 1.20 and is second in strikeouts with 58 in 45 innings. Pitching Matchups 7 p.m. Today LSU, LH Jared Poche’ (5-1, 3.48 ERA) vs. Bama, LH Taylor Guilbeau (2-2, 3.07). 7 p.m. Friday LSU, RH Alex Lange (5-0, 1.20 ERA) vs. Bama, RH Will Carter (1-3, 5.91 ERA). 2 p.m. Saturday LSU, RH Jake Godfrey (5-0, 3.21 ERA) vs. Bama, RH Geoffrey Bramblett (4-1, 3.67).



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