Two SEC foes meet in the Super Regionals of the 2023 college baseball tournament with a spot in Omaha, Nebraska on the line.
LSU took two of three from Kentucky at home during the regular season, and will look to do similar over the weekend in Baton Rouge against a Wildcats team that snuck into the Super Regionals round.
Kentucky prides itself on its pitching staff and defense, but after a shaky Regionals can the team find its form on the mound?
Here are the odds for Game 1 of potentially three games over the weekend:
Kentucky vs. LSU odds, run line and total
Kentucky vs. LSU prediction and pick
LSU won two of three from Kentucky in the regular season, hanging 16 on the Wildcats in the first meeting that was called after eight innings due to a 10 run rule and 7-6 in the series finale. It's worth noting that UK was able to plate runs in the other meeting, a 13-10 win.
However, this could be a problematic matchup for the Wildcats in Game 1 especially against an elite pitcher in Paul Skenes. The future MLB right hander has a 1.90 ERA through 16 starts this season while striking out more than 10 batters for every walk.
While Kentucky has the best fielding percentage in the regular season and the team posted a top 30 ERA, the offense is going to cost them against the Bayou Bengals. UK was outside the top 200 in home runs per game and posted a slugging percentage outside the top 100.
Not only does LSU have arguably the best pitcher in the sport at the moment, the offense is a elite, second in regular season on-base percentage and third in home runs per game. The team will be at home and is in line for a monster outing at the plate after Kentucky allowed 33 runs in this same stadium in April.
I'll lay it with the Tigers in Game 1.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
