Oklahoma Looks to Rebound Against LSU in SEC Opener

BATON ROUGE, La. (Interstat) — The Oklahoma Sooners, seeking to shake off a midweek shutout, open a three-game Southeastern Conference series against the LSU Tigers on Thursday at Alex Box Stadium/Skip Bertman Field.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CDT under cloudy skies with a temperature near 57 degrees.

Oklahoma (17-4) arrives after a 3-0 loss at Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday, which snapped a four-game winning streak. The Sooners’ offense, which averaged 7.2 runs during that stretch, was held to just three hits.

LSU (15-7) enters conference play following a 7-1 victory over Grambling on Tuesday. The Tigers have won two straight after dropping a road series at Vanderbilt last weekend.

A key player to watch for Oklahoma is reliever Michael Catalano. In his last outing Tuesday, he threw 3 2/3 hitless innings with three strikeouts. Over his last three appearances, he has allowed just one earned run over 7 2/3 innings.

For LSU, reliever Mavrick Rizy has been effective, most recently tossing two scoreless innings with three strikeouts against Grambling. In nine appearances this season, he has recorded 22 strikeouts in 11 innings.

The series marks the start of SEC play for both teams. According to Interstat’s game simulator, Oklahoma is projected to win the opener 7-5.

The teams will meet again Friday and Saturday to complete the series. Oklahoma then travels to face Texas, while LSU will host Kentucky next weekend.