Posted on Fri, May. 02, 2008

College baseball: Louisiana St. at Kentucky

HERALD-LEADER STAFF REPORT

What: Three-game series

Where: Cliff Hagan Stadium

When: 6:30 p.m. Friday; 1 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m. Sunday

Radio: All games on WLAP-AM 630

Rankings: Louisiana St. unranked; UK No. 18 (Baseball America), No. 19 (Collegiate Baseball)

Series: Tigers lead 34-19-1

Last season: UK won series 2-0-1 last year at Baton Rouge, La.

Possible Lineups

Kentucky

LF: Keenan Wiley (.356 avg, 38 R, 1 HR, 24 RBI); CF: Collin Cowgill (.380 avg, 62 R, 16 HR, 47 RBI); RF: Sawyer Carroll (.431 avg, 44 R, 12 HR, 63 RBI); 3B: Chris McClendon (.339 avg, 22 R, 2 HR, 19 RBI); 2B: Ryan Wilkes (.358 avg, 31 R, 6 HR, 21 RBI); 1B: Brian Spear (.287 avg, 41 R, 6 HR, 36 RBI); DH: Bryan Rose (.273 avg, 17 R, 3 HR, 16 RBI); SS: Chris Wade (.329 avg, 25 R, 4 HR, 42 RBI); C: Marcus Nidiffer (.241 avg, 16 R, 5 HR, 16 RBI)

Louisiana St.

2B: Ryan Schimpf (.282, 38 R, 7 HR, 25 RBI); 3B: Michael Hollander (.283, 25 R, 4 HR, 26 RBI); DH: Blake Dean (.331, 34 RBI, 10 HR, 36 RBI); RF: Derek Helenihi (.344, 29 R, 2 HR, 27 RBI); C: Micah Gibbs (.323, 16 R, 1 HR, 20 RBI); 1B: Matt Clark (.316, 33 R, 16 HR, 35 RBI); SS: DJ LaMahieu (.325, 34 R, 5 HR, 32 RBI); CF: Leon Landry (.277, 21 R, 2 HR, 16 RBI); LF: Jared Mitchell (.256, 18 R, 3 HR, 12 RBI)

Probable starting pitchers

Friday: LSU, LHP Blake Martin (2-3, 4.71 ERA) vs. UK, LHP Chris Rusin (4-2, 3.19 ERA)

Saturday: LSU, RHP Jordan Brown (3-0, 4.30 ERA) vs. UK, LHP James Paxton (3-2, 3.32 ERA)

Sunday: LSU, LHP Ryan Verdugo (7-2, 3.26) vs. UK, RHP Greg Dombrowski (5-0, 2.96 ERA)

SERIES NOTES

• UK's Greg Dombrowski is one of three SEC pitchers with at least five wins and no losses.

• The Cats have lost just one of their last six meetings with the Tigers.

• The Tigers rank 11th in the SEC in batting average (.294) and last in on-base percentage (.367).

• UK's Ryan Wilkes remains the only everyday second baseman in the SEC that has not committed an error this season.

• The Cats are 25-2 at home this season and 7-2 against SEC opponents.

SEC standings

EASTERN DIVISION

SEC All GB

Georgia 15-5-1 29-14-1 --

Florida 12-9 27-16 31/2

Vanderbilt 11-9 31-13 4

South Carolina 11-10 31-14 41/2

Tennessee 11-10 25-20 41/2

Kentucky 11-10 34-11 41/2

WESTERN DIVISION

Mississippi 11-10 30-17 --

Alabama 10-11 26-21 1

Louisiana St. 9-11-1 29-16-1 11/2

Arkansas 9-11 27-18 11/2

Auburn 8-13 24-22 3

Mississippi St. 6-15 18-26 5

This weekend's series