With nine straight Southland Conference games over nine days ahead, the Cowgirls will first play nationally ranked LSU in a home game Tuesday night.

Coming off winning two of three on the road from Incarnate Word, McNeese State returns home for a game with the third-ranked Tigers.

LSU will be smarting after losing a doubleheader to South Carolina Sunday, dropping consecutive games for the first time all season. At 31-4, the Tigers will be looking to bounce back from their tough weekend in front of an expected sellout crowd at Joe Miller Field.

The first pitch is at 6 p.m. The two teams will play again in two weeks in Baton Rouge.

“This is a great chance for us to play in front of a big crowd and our fans,” said McNeese head coach James Landreneau. “We want to play well for them and put on a good show. We want to play seven solid innings of clean softball.”

McNeese enters the contest with a 23-15 record and 15-2 at home. For LSU, this will be just their sixth true road game of the season. The Tigers are 3-2 in their first five but are 4-0 in neutral site contests.

The Tigers have a powerful lineup, with three hitters batting over .400. They average 7.7 runs a game and are hitting .365 as a team, good for seventh in the country.

Senior infielder Danieca Coffey leads LSU with a .483 average, followed by junior catcher Maci Bergeron at .453.

Freshman Tori Edwards provides the power with 12 home runs and 49 runs batted in to go with her .426 average.

“They are a powerful team,” said Landreneau. “This is one of the most athletic LSU teams I have seen. They hit for average through the lineup.

“They are great 1 through 9 with bat to ball skills. They are as good a team as there is in the country.”

At the same time, across campus, the McNeese baseball team will be looking for its 20th victory when the Cowboys host Alcorn in their first game in a week.

The 19-5 Cowboys had a rare weekend off due to the odd number of teams in the Southland Conference. They hope to get back into the groove of playing before they take on New Orleans in a home series this weekend.

McNeese rose in the 11Point7 Baseball Mid-Major Power Rankings to the 24th spot after claiming two midweek victories before taking a bye week. The ranking marks the second straight week for the Cowboys in the Top 25 and the third of the season.

First pitch is at 3 p.m.