Jones eyes Crews as LSU and Southeastern match up
04/29/2025
By Hunt Palmer
LSU’s season-long midweek winning streak was snapped at 12 last week when Northwestern State hammered the Tigers 13-3.
Maybe Derek Curiel has some advice for his teammates on how to respond to a season-long streak stopping. After his 43-game on base streak ended Saturday night, he reached five times on Sunday.
Southeastern Louisiana travels over on I-12 from Hammond.
The Lions have had a really strong season in 2025. They’re 33-11 overall, 18-6 to lead the Southland Conference and won a series with Houston Christian over the weekend.
Often times the Southland winner ends up in the Baton Rouge Regional. The way McNeese and Southeastern have played this year, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see either at Alex Box Stadium in June.
LSU still has work to do to make that happen, and midweek losses don’t help the cause. The Tigers will try to ride Sunday’s wave of momentum into Tuesday’s matchup.
LSU is 50-4 versus Southeastern since 1990.
STEP UP
Saturday was a disappointment from the back end of the bullpen. That was a continuation from Tuesday’s poor performance against Northwestern State.
Mavrick Rizy has shown so much promise this year. He’s just oozing potential. But last midweek he walked three of the 12 men he faced, and Saturday he walked two of four. That’s five of the last 16 hitters.
There is absolutely time for Rizy to get right, but it needs to start now.
Conner Ware hasn’t pitched since the Alabama series, but he also has only given up one earned run in his last 7.2 innings of work over five appearances. He’s a guy LSU is going to have to use in a regional at some point. Southeastern is a regional-caliber team.
I’d also expect to see some mound time for Chase Shores, perhaps in a low leverage spot if that presents itself. Shores is really fighting it, and a confidence-building inning in a 9-1 game could be helpful. His teammates will have to help with that.
Lions and Tigers…and Bear, oh midweek
Jared Jones is in rarified air now. His next home run will pass Blake Dean on the all-time LSU list and put him in fifth place. Next up? His former teammate Dylan Crews.
Jones sits at 56 home runs. Crews clubbed 58. Trey McClure hit 59. That’s the last former Tiger Jones will be able to catch as four-year stars Brad Cresse (78) and Eddie Furniss (80) are out of reach.
Jones has mauled midweek pitching to the tune of eight midweek blasts. His last two have comes against SEC pitching, one against Alabama and Friday night’s walk off of Tennessee.
SKIDDING STEVEN
LSU needs Steven Milam’s bat to wake up a bit. He had a pair of extra base hits including a homer on Saturday, but those are his only two hits in his last 23 at bats.
Milam is a really good college hitter. He hits as well from the left side of the plate as the right. He’s just not having a great season to this point.
His SEC batting average is .195, but oddly he leads the team with five home runs off SEC pitching. Milam hit .265 against league arms as a freshman last year.
This offense is built for 1-through-9 to present a threat. Milam needs to be a part of that. Any good swings help, and Southland Conference midweek pitching certainly provides an opportunity.
GAME TIME
The game is set for 6:30 at Alex Box Stadium. Baton Rouge listeners can tune in on WDGL 98.1 FM, the flagship station of LSU Athletics.
LSU will take on Southeastern Louisiana Tuesday night at The Box! pic.twitter.com/UuB5lxd3EW
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) April 28, 2025