The LSU Tigers will have a long trip to Oregon, where they will take part at the Corvallis Regionals as the N0.2 seeded team. Their opponent will be the No.3 San Diego State Aztecs, who reached the Regionals after winning the Mountain West Championship on Saturday, defeating the UNLV with 14-5. The first pitch will be thrown on Friday, June 1st, at 1:00 PM ET and will be televised on ESPNU/XTRA.
Game Odds
The BetDSI Sportsbook has released the odds for the Corvallis Regionals, which can be seen here.
Game Preview
The LSU Tigers (37-25, 15-15) will make their 31st tournament appearance, but unlike the last few times, the Tigers will travel more than 2,000 miles, to the Oregon State Beavers Goss Stadium (capacity 3,315), where they will lock horns with the San Diego State Aztecs (39-29, 18-12). Although many had their doubts in the Tigers a few weeks back, they have found their best form as the season came to its end, making a strong run, winning four out of five conference games, and advancing to the finals of the SEC tournament, where they lost to Ole Miss, 9-1.
On the other side, the San Diego State Aztecs, have a strong case going into the Regionals, as well. Head coach Mike Martinez has managed to build a team that became one of the strongest team of the Mountain West conference. Despite losing the series to Nevada, earlier in the season, the Aztecs bounced back with a solid run and advancing all the way to the Mountain West championship game, where they knocked off the UNLV with 14-5. It was their 5th Mountain West conference title in the last 6 seasons.
Jorge Fernandez (4.65 ERA, 6-3), who decided the conference finals game, will start again for the Aztecs, while on the other side, sophomore Nick Bush (3.16 ERA, 1-1) will start for the Tigers.
Prediction
This will be the first time in the schools’ history that these two programs lock horns. The LSU Tigers are favored by the books, mostly because they have more postseason experience, winning 6 national titles while finishing up as the runner-ups of the College World Series last season. Still, the Aztecs will be a tough cookie to beat, as they have beaten some top 25 ranked teams throughout the season. Aztecs are hitting .305 as a team, recording 43 homers, while their pitchers have a 3.90 ERA, and have allowed .251 opponent batting average, as well as 24 home runs.
The LSU Tigers are 4th in the SEC in team batting average with .285. In addition, the Tigers’ hitters have the fewest number of strikeouts in the league with 387, while the LSU pitching unit is 13th in the SEC with a 4.68 ERA.
One important note about this matchup is that the Aztecs are yet to make it past the Regionals, which is something that they might not be able to accomplish this year as well. I am backing the Tigers in this one.
