BATON ROUGE, LA — A Mardi Gras day matinee will pit two unbeaten teams against each other as Southern University travels across town to take on No. 1 LSU. The first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. with the game being streamed on SEC Network+.
Southern comes into the game as the winners of the inaugural Cactus Jack HBCU classic after going 3-0 on the weekend. The Jaguars defeated Jackson State 5-4 on Friday, Grambling 4-3 Saturday, and Texas Southern 11-1 in seven innings on Sunday.
Southern hit .316 with two home runs, two triples, and six doubles at Minute Maid Park. Jaylen Armstrong leads Southern at the plate after going 7-for-14 with two doubles. Armstrong finished every game with multiple hits.
Khyle Radcliffe, Hunter Tabb, and Justin Wiley are all batting over .300 and started all three games. Radcliffe went 3-for-7 with four RBIs and three stolen bases, while Tabb was 5-for-13 with a home run and three RBIs and Wiley finished 3-for-9 with two RBIs.
O’Neill Burgos had himself a day on Sunday against TSU. Burgos opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first, hit a grand slam in the second, and ended the game with an RBI fielder’s choice in the seventh.
The Jaguars used eight pitchers who pitched two or more innings and gave up eight runs, seven earned. Daren Smith, Riley Ashton, and Jalon Long all earned wins on the weekend, while Jerry Burkett II and Drew Lasseigne picked up saves.
The pitching staff limited the opposition to a .184 batting average.
The Tigers come into the matchup having swept Western Michigan by a combined score of 24-5.
Six different batters who played in every game have an average over .300. No. 1 LSU is led by Gavin Dugas who went 6-for-8 with two home runs.
The Jaguars’ lone win against LSU came at Lee-Hones Stadium, 7-2 on April 9, 2019. This will be the 15th matchup between the two teams since the 2012 season, with all but three being at Alex-Box Stadium.
