Michael Bacigalupi
By Hunt Palmer
A once bitter rivalry has cooled over time.
Under former head coach Rick Jones, Tulane rivaled LSU’s talent level in the early 200os. The two teams met in the 2001 Super Regional round when the Green Wave claimed games two and three at Zephyr Field to advance to Omaha and end Skip Bertman’s legendary career in the LSU dugout.
Hurricane Katrina blew through New Orleans four years later, and the Tulane program has never reached those heights again.
The Green Wave (23-26, 8-13) makes the drive over from Uptown New Orleans on Tuesday for the first time in the regular season since 2018. It’s been since March of 2016 since Tulane won in Baton Rouge. The last time the two teams faced off, Paul Skenes took the ball in the 2023 Baton Rouge Regional opener and fired a complete game win.
The stakes won’t be as high on Tuesday night, but the Tigers and Green Wave will lock horns for the 316th time in history. LSU leads the all-time series 184-131.
MUST WIN?
LSU’s RPI rests at No. 55 on Tuesday morning. Tulane’s is 23-26 overall and No. 145 in the RPI. This will be another Quadrant 4 game for LSU, and the Tigers already have five ugly losses against Quad 4 teams. Another would be damaging.
Massive opportunities await against Georgia and Florida plus the SEC Tournament, but those are also significant challenges. LSU cannot really afford to drop another Quad 4 game and tumble a few more spots in the RPI. Georgia and Florida will provide six Quad 1 chances to inch up the RPI rankings.
PITCHING PREVIEW
Zac Cowan rescued LSU in the midweek a week ago. He won’t be doing that Tuesday night after firing six innings on Sunday. Marcos Paz is in the weekend rotation now. So, someone else is going to have to try to get LSU off to a decent start.
Reagan Ricken didn’t record an out last week. Danny Lachenmayer wiggled out of that mess but yielded a three-run shot in the second.
Truth be told, LSU is going to have to use the middle and back end of the staff to navigate this one. That’s a scary proposition.
In Saturday’s double header, Deven Sheerin threw 58 pitches, and Grant Fontenot threw 44. They’ll be available, but LSU has to keep the weekend in mind where all hands are going to have to be on deck against a relentless Georgia offense.
LSU needs to find some arms to come in and throw strikes on Tuesday.
BLISTERING BATS
LSU is in a groove offensively, and that needs to continue on Tuesday. The best way to help out a pitching staff is going out and hanging 10 runs. LSU scored 12 on Southeastern last week.
The Tigers have scored 66 runs over their last eight games. That’s 8.25 per game. The Tigers have not been held under six runs over that stretch. In the last two midweek games, LSU has scored a total of 22 runs on 21 hits. That’s the type of effort that could really make the game against Tulane more comfortable.
WACHS AND HAAS
Tulane is led offensively by Jason Wachs and Matthias Haas. Wachs has had a fantastic season. He’s sporting a .324 batting average with a team-best six homers, and he draws a ton of walks. His OPS in conference games is 1.114. Haas is more of a free swinger, but his batting average is .285.
No one else on the Tulane roster hits better than .280.
Baton Rouge listeners can find the game on the Flagship Home for LSU Athletics, Eagle 98.1 FM.
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