LSU 21-1 (3-0) at Texas 17-2 (3-0)
By Jake Mastroianni
Two of the biggest blue bloods of college baseball will face off for the first time ever as SEC conference foes this weekend with the LSU Tigers traveling to take on the Texas Longhorns in Austin.
Both of these teams are coming off series sweeps – LSU over Missouri and Texas over Mississippi State, while we have LSU ranked second in our latest Top 25 rankings with Texas at seven.
At the plate
LSU is leading the conference on the season with a .345 batting average and is third in runs scored with 228. They’re also slugging .589 as a team with a .468 on-base-percentage.
It hasn’t come quite as easy offensively for the Longhorns as they rank 10th in the conference with a .296 average and have scored just 132 runs to along with an on-base-percentage of .400. But they are managing a solid .500 slugging percentage as they have the second most doubles in the conference at 49 – only behind LSU’s 59.
Neither team has a clear advantage on the base paths with Texas swiping 24 bases on the year compared to 20 for LSU. Those are among the lowest marks in the conference.
A big discrepancy in the on-base-percentage between these two teams is the number of walks and hit-by-pitches. LSU has earned 140 free passes on the year, which ranks fourth in the conference, and they’ve been hit 41 times (7th in the SEC).
Meanwhile, Texas is just one of four SEC teams that hasn’t walked more than 100 times this year (98) and they’ve had the second-fewest batters hit by a pitch.
Small sample size, but in SEC play LSU is hitting .316 to Texas’ .271 and averaging 9.7 runs per game to Texas’ 6.75 (the Longhorns have played one more conference game; although it doesn’t count towards the standings).
Hitters to watch
LSU: Jarred Jones returned to lead the LSU team in 2025 and he hasn’t disappointed batting .424 with 9 doubles and 8 home runs. He leads the team with 34 RBI and is slugging .812.
Derek Curiel is one of the favorites to win Freshman of the Year so far batting .434 with 8 doubles and 29 runs scored. He’ll be batting leadoff for the Tigers.
Daniel Dickinson, Steven Milam, and Jake Brown all have an OPS over 1.000 coming into this series. Brown is the biggest stolen base threat as he leads the team with five.
Texas: Max Belyeu and Jalin Flores were expected to be the catalysts for this Longhorns offense in 2025, and for the most part they’ve been that, batting .338 and .306 respectively. But in their opening series sweep over Mississippi State, the two combined for just 1 hit.
Ethan Mendoza has been the spark at the top of the order batting .406 with 3 triples, 4 homers, and 5 stolen bases.
Catcher Rylan Galvan has brought the power to the lineup with 7 home runs and 19 RBI, which both lead the team.
On the mound
While many expected the Texas offense to carry the team this year, it’s been the pitching staff who has given them the upper hand. They’re fourth in the conference in ERA at 3.22 with a batting average against of just .206 and 166 strikeouts in 167.2 innings pitched.
They’ve also allowed the fewest home runs of any team in the SEC, but just one fewer than the LSU staff has allowed.
As for that LSU pitching staff, it ranks sixth in the SEC with a 3.32 ERA and has been more dominant with 262 strikeouts in 187 innings pitched.
However, against Missouri last weekend, the LSU pitching staff was not nearly as sharp – particularly on Saturday and Sunday when they combined to allow 11 runs on 17 hits and 13 walks. They also allowed 5 home runs in that series.
Pitchers to watch
LSU: Kade Anderson is second in the conference with 48 strikeouts on the season and has become a dominant Friday night starter.
Casan Evans (0.73 ERA, 23 Ks, 12.1 IP) and Zac Cowan (1.47 ERA, 26 Ks, 18.1 IP) are two of the top arms out of the bullpen who can cover multiple innings.
Chase Shores and Anthony Eyanson have the potential to be studs in the rotation, but they’ve been inconsistent.
Texas: Luke Harrison and Jared Spencer have developed a nice 1-2 punch in the weekend rotation with both having an ERA under 2.40 and striking out over a batter an inning. Opponents are hitting just .195 off Harrison this year.
Andre Duplantier II has been nearly unhittable out of the bullpen allowing just 3 hits in 11 innings with 12 strikeouts.
Max Grubbs and Rugar Riojas are other bullpen arms who can give them multiple innings. Dylan Volantis picked up 2 saves against Mississippi State last weekend.
Weekend schedule and probables (not confirmed)
Fri., March 21 at 7 pm CT (SEC Network+)
Kade Anderson (2.57 ERA, 48 Ks, 28 IP) vs. Jared Spencer (2.36 ERA, 36 Ks, 26.2 IP)
Sat., March 22 at 6 pm CT (SEC Network+)
Anthony Eyanson (3.90 ERA, 40 Ks, 27.2 IP) vs. Luke Harrison (2.08 ERA, 24 Ks, 21.2 IP)
Sun., March 23 at 2 pm CT (SEC Network+)
Chase Shores (3.80 ERA, 27 Ks, 23.2 IP) vs. Jason Flores (1.42 ERA, 9 Ks, 12.2 IP)
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