The seventh-ranked LSU Tigers are back in action on Thursday night, when they travel to Oxford, Mississippi to take on the tenth-ranked Ole Miss in the opening game of a three-game, weekend, SEC baseball series.

The conference series will mark the sixth of the season for LSU, and will feature a match-up of two top ten teams.

The Tigers, who beat the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, 13-5, in non-conference play on Tuesday night, will come in at 28-9-1, overall, and 8-6-1 in SEC play.

Ole Miss, who defeated the Mississippi St. Bulldogs two of three games in an SEC series last weekend, is currently 29-9, overall, and 9-6 in league play.

Both teams trail first-place Alabama by only one game in the loss column in the SEC West.

LSU is currently hitting a .273 as a team, along with 18 home runs, 215 runs batted in, and 28 stolen bases. The Tigers are led, offensively, by Andrew Stevenson, who is hitting a .376, and Kade Scivicque, who is hitting a .345.

Ole Miss, is currently hitting a .309 as a team, along with 25 home runs, 202 runs batted in, and 66 stolen bases. The Rebels are paced by Austin Anderson and Will Allen, who are hitting a .356 and a .353, respectively.

Pitching-wise, the Tigers bring in a 2.44 team earned run average into  the series, with right-hander Aaron Nola, who will start on Thursday night, leading the way, with a 7-1 record, and an ERA. of 0.70. Jared Poche  (6-2, 2.54) is the likely starter on Friday night, with Saturday TBA.

The Rebels, who currently have an overall 2.19., are paced by junior right-hander Chris Ellis, who is 5-0 with a 0.81 ERA, who will get the start on Thursday. Sophomore left-hander Christian Trent (4-0, 2.44) and junior right-hander Sam Smith (5-2, 2.30) are the likely other two starters in the series.

LSU ranks ninth in the SEC in hitting, and fourth in pitching, while Ole Miss ranks second in both hitting and pitching.

Game times are 6:30 pm on Thursday night, 6:30 pm on Friday night, and 1 o’clock on Saturday afternoon.

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