LSU baseball schedule announced for the 2022 season

LSU released the schedule for baseball on Wednesday.

On Wednesday the baseball schedule for the LSU Tigers was announced for the upcoming season.

The LSU baseball season will start against Maine on Feb. 18-20 for a three-game series at home. This will be the first game under new LSU head coach Jay Johnson, who comes over from Arizona. The Tigers will take place in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Classic at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, in early March.

During the three-game stretch, they will face future SEC opponents Oklahoma and Texas in back-to-back games. The team will close out the classic with a game against Baylor. The first SEC games will start on Mar. 18-20 when the Texas A&M Aggies come to Baton Rouge.

A full look at the 2022 LSU Tigers baseball schedule:

February Games:

18-20 Maine Home
23 Louisiana Tech Away
25 Towson Home
26 Southern Home
27 Towson Home (Game 1 of DH)
27 Southern Home (Game 2 of DH)

March Games:

2 New Orleans Home
4 Oklahoma Houston, Texas
5 Texas Houston, Texas
6 Baylor Houston, Texas
8 McNeese Home
11-13 Bethune-Cookman Home
15 Tulane Home
18-20 Texas A&M Home
22 Louisiana Tech Home
25-27 Florida Away
29 UL-Monroe Home

April Games:

1-3 Auburn Home
5 Grambling Home
8-10 Mississippi State Away
12 Lamar Home
14-16 Arkansas Away
19 ULL Home
22-24 Missour Home
26 TBA Home
29-30 Georgia Home

May Games:

1 Georgia Home
3 Nicholls Home
6-8 Alabama Away
10 Southeastern Louisiana Home
13-15 Ole Miss Home
17 Northwestern State Home
19-21 Vanderbilt Away
24-29 SEC Tournament Hoover, Alabama

 

Rival SEC baseball atmospheres prove Auburn is lagging far behind

While other SEC baseball stadiums have become atmospheres you have to witness, Auburn’s Plainsman Park remains as dull as ever.

If you’ve been watching the NCAA Baseball Tournament during the past week, you’ve noticed quite amazing atmospheres from Starkville to Fayetteville and many other places in the SEC.

It made me jealous. Not because these SEC teams were winning, in fact the complete opposite. I’m rooting for them. Yet what made me jealous was the fact that these baseball stadiums — Dudy Noble, Baum-Walker, Lindsey Nelson — are much better than Auburn has ever had and, possibly, ever imagined of having.

Let that sink in.

The scenes have been phenomenal. The crowd? Noisy as possible. Heck, Mississippi State set a Super Regional record with 14,385 fans on Saturday.

And what do we have at Auburn? It’s rarely filled to the 4,096 capacity that Plainsman Park holds. We have the three or four guys in that one section along the third-base line that continue yelling things that are as funny as the latest Adam Sandler movie. Oh, and that parking deck. Yes, we have the parking deck full of people drinking but too far away — and disinterested in the game — to make any impact on the home-field advantage.

Heck, we don’t even have outfield seating. I’ve seen some people on Twitter mention putting seats on top of the left-field wall and, yes, that would be a great start but when you see 4,000 people (again, more than we average at a game) in the outfield at an Ole Miss game throwing beer in the air after a home run, the Plainsman Park atmosphere looks like a Jefferson-Pilot noon game at Vanderbilt.

It’s not like the Tigers haven’t won. Taking this year out of the equation, the Butch Thompson era has brought back some glory to the program with a trip to the Super Regionals in 2018 and to Omaha for the College World Series in 2019.

We’ve seen the Auburn fan base turn Jane B. Moore Field into a true home-field advantage. Auburn Arena has become one of the most intimidating environments in college basketball.

So what is lacking for Auburn baseball? Why have SEC stadiums at Ole Miss, Mississippi State and elsewhere become so much wild while Plainsman Park resembles a 9 a.m. World History lecture in Haley Center?

I don’t have all the answers but I can suggest some.

Build a section beyond the right-field wall that allows students to bring coolers with their beverages of choice where they can also see the game. It worked to a degree with K Corner but … well … students tend to be more rowdy than alumni in their 50’s.

Make the game more of an experience than it is right now. Besides baseball, what is the really attraction of going to Plainsman Park right now? It’s not for a great atmosphere that you witness across the street at Jordan-Hare Stadium or Auburn Arena.

Of course, this might also just come down to fan indifference. Are Auburn fans truly bought into baseball? Do they even care if the Tigers succeed or not? It’s been some time since the program put out a successful winner consistently but the same can be true for many other sports that are better supported on campus.

Granted, it is hard to compare a regular season series to a Super Regional but, when it comes to attendance, the stadiums are full to almost full in other places where the Tigers are lucky to play in front of 2,000.

Yes, watching the NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals have made me extremely jealous of the environments that other SEC teams enjoy and use to their advantage. There’s no reason Auburn can’t make Plainsman Park an atmosphere to fear.

Auburn looks to get back on track vs. Mississippi State

Auburn baseball looks to get back on track as the Tigers host Mississippi State this weekend at Plainsman Park.

Auburn had a chance to sweep No. 2 Arkansas last weekend but instead finished 1-2 and will have another tough test in No. 5 Mississippi State.

The Bulldogs will come into Auburn winners of their last four games and the series is already Auburn’s third against a top-five opponent.

While the Tigers are 1-8 in SEC play, they still have 21 games left to play and will have a chance to climb in the standings.

“There’s still so much baseball to be played,” said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson. “We shouldn’t be sitting right here right now with the quality of ball that we’ve played. It’s not going to get any easier and we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. This is a life lesson if you can persevere.”

One of the bright spots in the series against Arkansas was the defense, which Thompson called some of the best he’s seen. The defense turned seven double plays and Kason Howell made several great catches in center field.

Pitching was a tale of two stories as the starters combined to go 1-0 with a 1.55 ERA, 10 strikeouts and six walks in 17.1 innings. On the other hand, seven relievers combined to go 0-2 with a 10.00 ERA, four strikeouts and 13 walks in 9.0 innings.

Some much-needed reinforcements may be coming for the bullpen as Carson Skipper has returned from injury and Hayden Mullins could also return as well. Mason Barnett has also returned into his role as the team’s starter after injuries forced him to be a starter at the start of the season.

The Tigers offense will face a tough test in a Mississippi State pitching staff that ranks second in the SEC in ERA (2.76) and batting average (.189) and leads the league in strikeouts with 372. Offensively, the Bulldogs are much closer to the middle of the pack, ranking eighth in batting average, 12th in slugging and ninth in runs scored.

Auburn’s bats have been much more impressive, ranking top five in batting average (.298), slugging (.484), OBP, (.386).

Pitcher of the Week: Cody Greenhill

Greenhill set the tone for the starting pitchers on Thursday when he led the Tigers to their first SEC win. The senior held Arkansas to one run on three hits over 7.0 innings of work. He also struck out five Razorbacks and did not walk anyone. 

Hitter of the Week: Brody Moore

Moore was excellent at the plate, hitting .462 with six runs scored, one double, one home run and one RBI and was just as good in the field. The junior had five assists and 15 putouts and was a key part of most of the double plays the Tigers turned.

Auburn and Mississippi State will open the series Friday at 6 p.m. CT on SECN+/ESPN+. Games two and three will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Where’s the love? UGA Baseball still unranked in major polls

The Georgia Bulldogs baseball team is being slept on by quite a few pollsters

Despite compiling an impressive 10-3 record to start the season, the Georgia baseball team has not cracked the top 25 in the D1Baseball or Baseball America’s polls.

To give the pollsters credit, the Bulldogs have played a relatively light nonconference schedule. Georgia will face much improved competition in a few weeks during SEC play, but its best win is Georgia State or Georgia Southern.

Georgia lost its top two starting pitchers, Emerson Hancock and Cole Wilcox, to the MLB draft last year, but it is still ranked No. 22 in the nation in team ERA. This includes teams from the Big Ten and Mid-American Conference who have only played 2-3 games as well.

Are the Dawgs being slept on? It sure seems like it …

BAMA BEAT: Recapping Last Week’s Episodes (2.22.21 – 2.26.21)

The ‘Bama Beat podcast is powered by The Tuscaloosa News and TideSports.com. Every episode recorded from Feb. 22-26 included here.

The ‘Bama Beat podcast is brought to you by Wickles Picks and Homefield Apparel. It is powered by The Tuscaloosa News and TideSports.com. Every episode recorded from Feb. 22-26 is included below.

Enjoy!

Alabama Bball wins over UGA, VAN + big game against ARK (Ep. 397)

Cecil Hurt and Hunter Johnson discuss Alabama’s wins over Georgia and Vanderbilt. They then look ahead to one of the biggest Alabama Basketball games in years.

 

Alabama Baseball updates 2.22.21 (Ep. 398)

Brett Hudson and Hunter Johnson sit down to provide updates on the Alabama baseball season, including the sweep of McNeese State to start the year.

 

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion.

Download the USA TODAY SportsWire app to follow Roll Tide Wire and your other favorite teams in the Apple Store for iPhones and Google Play for Android devices.

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Alabama Baseball: Game Ball Winners from McNeese State Series

Alabama got off to a hot start last weekend by sweeping the visiting McNeese State to open the 2021 season. Here are the game-ball winners.

The Alabama Crimson Tide got off to a hot start last weekend by sweeping the visiting McNeese State Cowboys to open the 2021 season.

When the first pitch was thrown by Connor Prielipp last Friday, it closed out a 345-day drought where baseball was not played in Tuscaloosa. The Tide capitalized on a 16-1 shortened regular season by taking all three games from McNeese State during opening weekend.

Game Ball Winners-

Connor Prielipp (5.0 innings, 4 hits, 8 strikeouts)

Prielipp and the Crimson Tide defense complemented each other during the season-opener on Friday. The All-America candidate struck out eight batters over five innings, leaving the game with a 5-0 lead.

Zane Denton (7 hits, 5 RBI, 2 HR)

Denton was a bright spot for the Alabama offense in the series, providing a key bat in clutch moments.

In a game that took a while for any offense to get going, it was Denton’s stick that came through for the series-clinching win. Down 3-0 heading to the 7th inning, Denton delivered a single that scored William Hamiter to put Alabama on the board. Tied 3-3 in the bottom of the 9th inning, Denton delivered again with a solo walk-off home run to give Alabama the 4-3 win.

Denton finished the day with three hits and two RBI. Denton also nailed a home run and collected two more RBI in the Sunday clincher.

Owen Diodati (3 hits, 6 RBI, 2 HR)

Diodati did not collect many hits over the weekend… but the ones he did made noise. Diodati hit two home runs in Saturday and Sunday’s games respectively and collected four RBI in Sunday’s 9-5 win.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion.

Download the USA TODAY SportsWire app to follow Roll Tide Wire and your other favorite teams in the Apple Store for iPhones and Google Play for Android devices.

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Alabama baseball moves up in latest Baseball America top-25

Alabama baseball swept McNeese State in their opening series, and they are now on the rise in the rankings after entered ranked No. 25.

Head coach Brad Bohannon and his 2021 Alabama baseball squad got the sweep in their season-opening series against McNeese State at home. They outscored the Cowboys through three games with a combined 23 runs to 14.

Because of their weekend success, the Crimson Tide have moved up Baseball America’s latest top-25 rankings.

Alabama entered the season ranked No. 25, but is now No. 22.

There are still some games left to play before the team gets to their conference schedule. They will next face off in a one-game contest on the road against Jacksonville State.

The upcoming conference schedule will be daunting for Alabama. In the latest rankings, there are eight SEC teams in the top 25, five of which reside in the top 10.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to publish any news regaridng the 2021 Alabama baseball team.

Baseball America releases new Top 25 rankings

Baseball America unveils new Top 25 list

Monday, Baseball America released its latest Top 25 poll after the first weekend of play for 2021.

The Gators of Florida fell a few spots to No. 7 after dropping back-to-back games against Miami, while the Bulldogs still have not cracked the Top 25.

Georgia started off slow with a season-opening loss to Evansville, but was able to rebound to win three-straight and take the series.

Up next for the Dawgs is a date with Georgia State on Wednesday in Atlanta before hosting Gardner-Webb for four games in Athens next weekend.

To view the full Top 25 rankings for this week, click here ….

WATCH: Walk-off home run gives Alabama the win

Alabama baseball has won game No. 2 on the season, this time with a walk-off home run in the the bottom of the ninth inning.

Alabama baseball won their opening day matchup against McNeese State yesterday with a final score of 6-10. Today, the game was much closer, but ended with an exclamation point.

The contest was low-scoring all the way through, until McNeese went up 3-0 by the sixth inning.

The Brad Bohannon-led Crimson Tide squad rallied back fast, as they tied the game in the bottom of the eigth inning.

With the game tied in the bottom of the ninth inning, sophomore infielder Zane Denton stepped up to the plate and delivered big time.

The switch hitter pulled a pitch deep into right field that sailed over the wall to give Alabama the walk-off win.

The Crimson Tide won with a final score of 3-4.

Brand-new college baseball show to debut February 20th

Southern Slams Baseball announces the debut of a LIVE NCAA baseball show for 2021 college season

Folks, college baseball season is right around the corner

In just one week, teams from across the nation in all 50 states will take to the diamond to compete for 8 spots to Omaha in June, including the Georgia Bulldogs.

Southern Slams Baseball, the newly launched college baseball content brand, announced Thursday that it will be debuting an “all-new Saturday LIVE show” on everything around the game.

The brand will finally bring us access to a College Gameday-like show for baseball every Saturday morning. If you’re interested in learning more, visit Southern Slams Baseball here …

And let’s hope our Diamond Dogs have a big year up in Athens after Georgia football completed yet another successful season under head coach Kirby Smart!