LSU baseball has now jumped up five spots and sits at No. 25 in RPI after a 9-1 over Georgia in game one of the SEC Tournament.
The rankings can still change as more games are played, but the Tigers will have another perfect opportunity to move forward in the rankings and solidify their postseason spot when they play No. 3 seed Kentucky tomorrow.
The Wildcats have the third best RPI and KPI in the nation, and a win would all but lock up a postseason berth for LSU. Kentucky (39-12, 22-8 SEC) shared the SEC regular-season title with No. 1 Tennessee and looks almost guaranteed be a top-eight national seed in the NCAA Tournament after winning a school record 22 SEC games.
Kentucky received a first-round bye in the SEC Tournament along with Tennessee and Texas A&M and is coming off three-straight SEC series wins. Most recently, the Wildcats took two out of three games against Vanderbilt to claim their share of the regular-season title.
LSU and Kentucky last played in the Super Regionals during the 2023 season. LSU won 14-0 in the first game and 8-3 in game two to claim the series and advance to Omaha.
Kentucky has the fifth best batting average in the SEC with a .294 and the seventh best ERA with a 5.06. Its offense has produced 111 doubles, nine triples and 75 homers this season and its pitching staff has recorded 450 strikeouts.
LSU has the fifth best ERA in the SEC with a 4.32 and the eighth best batting average with a .283. The Tigers have 104 doubles, ten triples and 94 homers and their pitching staff has the second most strikeouts in the SEC with 615.
First-Team All-SEC designated hitter Nick Lopez leads the team in batting average with a .380 and has six homers with 47 RBI. Left fielder Ryan Waldschmidt also made First-Team All-SEC with a .370 batting average and 11 homers. Ryan Nicholson leads the team with 17 homers.
Tommy White leads the Tigers with a .345 batting average and 23 homers. He recorded three hits against Georgia to bring his total to 11 hits over the last four games he’s played.
Trey Pooser has been the Wildcat’s ace this season with a 4.34 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP in nine starts this season. His last start came last Thursday against Vanderbilt when he went five innings allowing four hits, four runs and two walks.
Neither team has named a starting pitcher ahead of the game. Gage Jump and Griffin Herring won’t be available for LSU after pitching in the win over Georgia.
LSU could choose to throw Luke Holman on short rest like it did Jump. Holman made Second-Team All-SEC and has a team-leading 2.73 ERA this season. He pitched 6.2 innings against Ole Miss on Saturday and allowed five hits, two runs and recorded nine strikeouts.
LSU and Kentucky’s game will start at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. It will be televised on SEC Network.
The SEC Tournament is now double elimination meaning both teams will be guaranteed to play again on Thursday. The winner will play at 4:30 p.m. and the loser will play at 9:30 a.m. Both games will be televised on SEC Network.
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