Cowboys hope to stay dry at LSU

Published 10:26 am Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Batten down the hatches. Shore up the levees. Break out the hip waders and stock up on non-perishibles.

McNeese will once again attempt to perform outdoor athletics over at Louisiana State University.

Weather permitting.

That seems to be the standard disclaimer when Cowboy blue and gold attempts to mix it up with LSU’s purple and gold.

The much anticipated football game lasted less than five minutes before lightning scared everybody away and the game was never resumed.

The forecast more than the actual weather postponed an earlier McNeese-LSU baseball game last month.

McNeese’s basketball team did manage to play hoops at LSU without the roof of the Maravich Assembly Center getting blown off.

But the Cowboys’ baseball team will at least get a mulligan tonight when they visit Alex Box Stadium for a makeup of a game originally scheduled for March 9.

There is, of course, a 60 percent chance of rain, although that seems like pretty good odds for these two teams.

“Hopefully we’ll get it in,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said.

The forecast is actually that possible showers in the afternoon should clear by the 6:30 p.m. first pitch.

But they’ve been fooled before.

There were ark-worthy downpours predicted for the Baton Rouge area all day for the original game, so LSU postponed it to save McNeese from wasting a trip.

“And then, wouldn’t you know, it never rained,” Mainieri said. “I think we’ll get this one in.”

The game won’t be televised on a network, but will be available live streaming online via SECNetwork.com.

Both McNeese (18-11, 10-5 Southland) and LSU (22-9, 6-6 SEC) are coming off of impressive weekends, particularly the Cowboys after sweeping a UNO team that had lost only one home game all season.

“We felt like all three starters were really good this weekend against a really good offensive club,” McNeese coach Justin Hill said. “We limited them with our pitching and our defense, and I thought the guys really put an exclamation point on it with Sunday’s (13-3) win.”

“I know they also beat (No. 25) Houston last week,” Mainieri said. “We’re going to have our hands full, no question.

“Justin is doing a real good job with the program. I know they’re playing well.”

So are the Tigers, who’ve won their last two SEC series after a rough start in conference play.

LSU took two of three against No. 2-ranked Vanderbilt over the weekend. It gave the Tigers a significant bump in the latest polls out Monday, as high as No. 9 in Baseball America and No. 11 in D1 Baseball.

Tonight he Tigers will finally debut highly touted left-hander Jake Latz in tonight’s game.

Latz was an 11th-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays two years ago. He chose LSU instead, but had a stress fracture that required elbow surgery and forced him to miss all of last season.

His rehabbing has continued up until now.

Tonight will be his first appearance, although Mainieri doesn’t expect him to throw much before giving way to another rehabbing pitcher, right-hander Riley Smith.

Smith was injured early in the season.

The Cowboys will counter with Austin Sanders (2-2, 6.00), who’s been encouraging in his recent midweek starts.

“We feel good about our situation,” said Hill, who will be making another homecoming of sorts to the school — if not the ballpark — where he pitched for the Tigers during the 2001-02 seasons.

Hill pitched in the old Alex Box Stadium long before the Tigers opened the new Alex Box Stadium for the 2009 season.

“The trip to Baton Rouge is always fun for me, there’s some nostalgia there,” Hill said. “That’s not the ballpark I played in and not the coach I played for, but I enjoy it.

“I’ve done it enough times that that part isn’t really a big deal anymore. Soon as that first pitch is thrown, it’s just a regular old baseball game.”

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