HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana University baseball team held steady in one national poll while slipping one spot in two others after splitting in four games last week, including a series loss at Lamar last weekend.
Southeastern (24-5) returns to action on Tuesday when it travels to Mobile, Ala., to face Sun Belt Conference leader South Alabama (21-10) in a 6 p.m. contest at Stanky Field. The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net.
After earning a midweek win over in-state rival Tulane and salvaging a three-game series at Lamar, Southeastern remained at No. 22 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll. The Lions slipped one spot to No. 22 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Poll and No. 24 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll as the four major college baseball polls were released Monday.
Southeastern claimed a 5-1 win over Lamar on Saturday to avoid a three-game sweep as
Jordan Hymel and
Josh Janway combined on a four-hitter. The Lions close out a four-game road trip before returning home to host Southland Conference rival UT Arlington beginning Friday at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Justin Boudreaux leads Southeastern at the plate with a .345 average along with six home runs and 33 RBI.
Jeff Harkensee, who has three home runs and 21 RBI, is next for the Lions at .336 with
Cody Gougler (.327-3-23),
Cass Hargis (.323-0-24), freshman
Brock Hebert (.315-0-27) and
Chris Franklin (.314-0-7) following.
Southeastern will send senior right-hander
Ryan Boudreaux (3-0, 4.79 ERA) to the mound against USA. The Gonzales native pitched eight solid innings in his last outing in earning a win over Tulane.
USA, which has won its last five games, vaulted into first-place in the Sun Belt after earning a three-game sweep of UNO last weekend. The Jaguars, who are 15-6 at home, are hitting .335 as a team with Zach Grichor (.402-1-21) pacing the club.
Sean Laird (.398-6-31), Jake Overstreet (.394-7-51) and Clint Reynolds (.345-0-20) are next in hitting for South Alabama, which has eight regulars hitting .300 or above.
Right-hander Dustin Crenshaw (2-0, 6.91 ERA) will start on the mound for USA, which leads the Sun Belt in hits (367), runs scored (269), RBI (243), doubles (77), stolen bases (59), steal attempts (79), at-bats (1,097) and total plate appearances (1,288), and ranks second in batting average (.335) and total bases (537).
