No. 1 Tigers open three-game series against struggling Kentucky

BATON ROUGE – No. 1 LSU has nowhere to go but down, but that does not appear to be on its horizon any time soon.

The Tigers, who are top ranked in USA Today and Baseball America, won their 22nd game out of 25 on Tuesday at Tulane, 13-7, with at least 15 hits for the third straight game. LSU leads the nation in hitting with a .332 batting average and has the fewest strikeouts in the Southeastern Conference with 108.

“We’ve been swinging the bats very well this season,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “We have to continue playing at a high level.”

The Tigers (4-2 SEC) do trail No. 2 Texas A&M (25-1, 5-1 SEC) in the SEC West standings entering the opener of their three-game series against Kentucky (16-9, 2-4 SEC) at 7 p.m. on the SEC Network. The Aggies are hosting Missouri (19-7, 5-1 SEC) this weekend.

LSU will start sophomore left-hander Jared Poche (5-1, 3.37 ERA) against Kentucky sophomore right-hander Zack Brown (2-2, 2.43 ERA) in the opener. Freshman right-hander Alex Lange (5-0, 1.42 ERA) will start Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. game on the SEC Network against junior right-hander Dustin Beggs (3-2, 3.44 ERA). LSU freshman Jake Godfrey (5-0, 2.25 ERA) will start Sunday’s 11 a.m. game that will also be carried by the SEC Network against junior right-hander Kyle Cody (2-2, 4.88 ERA).

The Tigers lead the series with Kentucky by 46-25-1 and have won 11 of the last 15 series with the Wildcats. LSU has won seven straight over Kentucky in Alex Box Stadium. Kentucky has not defeated the Tigers in Baton Rouge since a 5-2 victory in 2009.