Baton Rouge Regional Preview — College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects

Baseball America will break down all 16 regionals, including Baton Rouge, hosted by LSU.

STAT PACK (National rank in parentheses)
	Avg.	Scoring (R/G)	HR	SB	ERA	K/9	WHIP	Fielding %age
1. Louisiana State	.295 (49)	6.6 (54)	38 (91)	89 (23)	3.87 (71)	8.1 (48)	1.38 (84)	.976 (28)
2. Rice	.270 (165)	4.7 (231)	24 (202)	22 (246)	3.77 (59)	8.4 (28)	1.32 (50)	.971 (101)
3. Southeastern Louisiana	.289 (70)	7.0 (32)	46 (55)	109 (6)	2.83 (6)	7.9 (61)	1.22 (18)	.963 (219)
4. Utah Valley	.288 (74)	6.2 (76)	39 (90)	41 (212)	4.82 (163)	6.9 (177)	1.54 (176)	.972 (77)

1. Louisiana State (42-18, 19-11 in Southeastern Confererence)

29th appearance (fifth straight), at-large, third in SEC West

Top 300 Prospects: OF Jake Fraley (66), LHP Jared Poche’ (242)

Season In A Sentence: The Tigers won 14 of their last 16 games, including three wins over Florida, to play their way to the No. 8 national seed.

Player To Watch: Jared Poche’, lhp. The junior lefthander will get the Friday start over Alex Lange, which coach Paul Mainieri said was in deference to a veteran Utah Valley team. Poche’ was the more hittable of the two during the season, but this will be his second regional-opening start in three years. It will be up to the veteran to set the tone for the weekend.

Best Weekend: vs. Florida, May 20-21. After rain forced Thursday’s opener to be pushed back to Saturday, washing out a duel between Lange and Logan Shore, the Tigers got a break the next day when A.J. Puk was forced to leave after two innings because of a stomach issue. Poche’ pitched six strong innings as LSU won Friday and then again in the suspended game to take the series.

Outlook: Utah Valley is a veteran club and Southeastern Louisiana has Jameson Fisher. But clearly Rice, with Jon Duplantier and Blake Fox, represents the biggest challenge to LSU coming out of this regional.

2. Rice (35-22, 19-10 in Conference USA)

22nd appearance (22nd straight), at-large, fourth in C-USA

Top 300 Prospects: RHP Jon Duplantier (51)

Season In A Sentence: Though Rice’s 20-year streak of winning its conference title either in the regular season or tournament was snapped, Rice is back in regionals after another solid all-around season.

Player To Watch: Jon Duplantier, rhp. After a lost 2015, Duplantier rebuilt his draft stock, striking out 143 in 106 innings and allowing just 75 hits. Rice will need another big start out of its ace this weekend.

Best Weekend: at Florida International, May 6-8. FIU struggled to a 29-29 season, but has talent and Rice went to Miami and swept the Panthers, outscoring them 17-1.

Outlook: With Duplantier, Fox, Ricardo Salinas and closer Glenn Otto, Rice has excellent frontline pitching. But it lacks depth and can’t afford to fall into the losers’ bracket. The Owls are postseason veterans and will be a tough out.

3. Southeastern Louisiana (39-19, 22-9 in Southland Conference)

Second appearance (last in 2014), at-large, second in Southland

Top 300 Prospects: Jameson Fisher (64).

Season In A Sentence: The Lions were one of the final teams chosen for the Field of 64, but have wins against Louisiana-Lafayette and Tulane on their resume.

Player To Watch: Jameson Fisher, 1b. Fisher is the nation’s leading hitter at .437. He’s got pop (11 homers, .716 slugging) and can steal a base (15)

Best Weekend: at Lamar, May 6-8. Lamar was still in the mix at the top of the Southland standings when it welcomed Southeastern Louisiana to campus in early May. The Lions quashed the Cardinals hopes of making a late run at the title with a sweep.

Outlook: The Lions boast the nation’s top hitter and a big lefty arm in Dominick Carlini and could give Rice fits in the opening game, but their depth will be tested as the weekend goes on.

4. Utah Valley (37-21, 18-9 in Western Athletic Confererence)

First appearance, automatic, third in WAC, won WAC Tournament

Top 300 Prospects: None

Season In A Sentence: The Wolverines swept through the WAC Tournament and reached their first NCAA Tournament on the strength of a balanced lineup that boasts six .300 hitters.

Player To Watch: Craig Brinkerhoff, 1b. The senior led the Wolverines with 11 homers and a .564 slugging percentage and combined with fellow senior Mark Krueger to make a formidable duo for this veteran-laden lineup

Best Weekend: vs. Minnesota, March 18-20. The Wolverines swept Pac-12 Conference champion Utah in midweek games, and they also took two games against the Big Ten Conference champions in late March. UVU won a pitchers’ duel, 3-2, in the middle game of the series and then routed the Golden Gophers, 15-6, in the rubber game to take a big nonconference series.

Outlook: UVU’s veteran lineup and could wait out the command issues that occasionally dog Poche’. But inexperience and a lack of starting depth behind ace Danny Beddes (9-3, 4.43, 96 SO in 99 IP) will leave the Wolverines short.