GAMETHREAD: Baseball vs McNeese St., 6:30pm, SECN+

After a weekend of pitching duels in Athens, LSU is back in BR for a few nights before heading out for a Thursday weekend series at Miss St. SO RH Ma’Khail Hilliard will get the start tonight, but the Tigers will have to patch this game together as the walking wounded list for the LSU pitching staff continues to grow. Coach Mainieri has announced that Landon Marceaux and Chase Costello didn’t make an appearance against UGA this weekend because of, say it with me now, “arm soreness”. That makes 8 LSU pitchers now dealing with injuries of some kind.

McNeese (13-11, 2-4 Southland) has a....nondescript record on the year. No big name pelts on the wall. They beat the bad teams and lose to the good teams, including getting swept by Incarnate Word last weekend. McNeese says this about their team:

Junior first baseman/ outfielder Jake Dickerson leads the Cowboys offensively with a .333 batting average, including two doubles, one home run, 14 RBI’s, and 14 runs.

Four of the nine starters in the McNeese batting lineup have a batting average of above .300 including, Shane Selman, Clayton Rasbeary, and Carson Maxwell.

On the mound, junior right-handed pitcher Brad Kincaid leads the team with a 1.89 ERA in 10 appearance, one being a start. In his last appearance he pitched 2.2 innings, allowed only one hit, struck out two batters, and allowed zero runs.

Kincaid has not surrendered a run in his last five outings, where he has pitched a total of nine innings, only allowed two hits, and struck out 12 batters.

McNeese is batting .283 as a team and has a 4.86 ERA, compared to opponents’ .244 average and 6.11 ERA.

Pitching Matchup

LSU – So. RH Ma’Khail Hilliard (0-0, 1.74 ERA, 10.1 IP, 6 BB, 14 SO)

MSU – Fr. RH Brett Payne (0-0, 6.14 ERA, 7.1 IP, 12 BB, 7 SO)