LSU to open Baton Rouge regional today against Lehigh

Top-ranked LSU (48-10), the 2015 SEC regular-season champion, opens the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional at 3 p.m. today in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field when they meet Lehigh (25-29), champions of the Patriot League Tournament.
LSU is the regional’s top seed, while Lehigh is the No. 4 seed. No. 2 seed UNC Wilmington and No. 3 seed Tulane will meet in the regional’s second game at 7 p.m. today.
The regional continues Saturday and Sunday, and, if necessary, will finish Monday. The winner of the Baton Rouge Regional will meet the winner of the Houston Regional — hosted by the University of Houston — next weekend in an NCAA Super Regional series.
All LSU games in the Baton Rouge Regional will be televised on the SEC Network, and they will be carried on affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network, including WDGL 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge. Live audio and stats may be accessed at www.LSUsports.net, and the LSU games may be viewed at WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.
All Baton Rouge Regional games not involving LSU may be viewed at ESPN3.com.
LSU is ranked No. 1 this week in the six primary college baseball polls, marking the eighth consecutive week and the 11th overall the Tigers are No. 1 in at least one poll.
LSU has won 25 of its last 30 games and 18 of its last 22.
LSU captured the 2015 Southeastern Conference championship, claiming their league-best 16th SEC title and their third championship during coach Paul Mainieri’s nine-season-tenure.
LSU also won the SEC Western Division title for the 18th time in school history and for the fifth time in Mainieri’s tenure.
Mainieri said Thursday morning after the Tigers’ practice that the regular season has prepared LSU well for postseason play.
“I try to make the regional as normal as possible,” Mainieri said in a news release. “During the course of the year, I put a lot of pressure on the kids. I try to make them do everything perfect in practice and, of course, in games. You want them to focus on each game because it’s important. I do it so that when we get to the postseason and the regional, they don’t have to try harder or do anything out of the ordinary.
“It’s still the game of baseball,” Mainieri said. “The only thing that is different is that the margin of error is much smaller. You have to take advantage of your scoring opportunities, you can’t make base running mistakes, you’ve got to make big pitches, and you have to make the plays, because the stakes are so much higher. If all of a sudden you act differently, then the players get tight. They won’t play as well as they did all year. I’m big about setting a standard every day. They can relax, have fun and play the game like they do.”
LSU enters the NCAA Tournament No. 2 in the nation in base hits (691) and No. 3 nationally in team batting average (.320).
LSU has the best batting average (.320) and ERA (2.94) among SEC teams.
Four LSU players received 2015 All-America recognition Thursday from Collegiate Baseball magazine. Junior shortstop Alex Bregman and freshman pitcher Alex Lange were named first-team All-Americans; senior catcher Kade Scivicque was voted to the second-team All-America squad; and junior first baseman Chris Chinea received a third-team All-America designation.
LSU and Lehigh have never met on the baseball diamond. Lehigh is the alma mater of LSU director of athletics Joe Alleva, who was the quarterback of the Mountain Hawks football squad and team captain in 1974.
The Tigers are 20-4 all-time against members of the Patriot League — LSU is 2-0 vs. Army, 2-1 vs. Bucknell, 4-0 vs. Colgate, 3-0 vs. Holy Cross, 0-1 vs. Lafayette and 9-3 vs. Navy.