Louisiana Tech (0-0) will get its 2021 season underway this weekend against Air Force (0-1) and #12 LSU (1-0).

Tech and Air Force are scheduled for a 4 PM first pitch Sunday afternoon. The Bulldogs and Tigers will square-off at 6:30 PM Monday night.

Lane Burroughs enters his 5th season as the HC of the Diamond Dogs and is 120-70 overall.

Tech was picked to finish 2nd in the West Division of Conference USA in the preseason.

Pitching Probables:

Sunday -- LA Tech LHP Jonathan Fincher (2-2, 2.66 ERA) vs Air Force RHP Zach Argo (1-1, 4.47 ERA in 2019)

Monday -- LA Tech RHP Ryan Jennings (Tech Debut) vs LSU RHP AJ Labas (1-2, 3.55 era)

Key Returners for the Bulldogs:

- OF Parker Bates -- .422/.531/.891, 8 HR, 28 RBI in 2020 (Preseason C-USA Player of the Year)

- OF Steele Netterville -- .407/.500/.797, 6 HR, 22 RBI in 2020

- IF Hunter Wells -- .324/.417/.465, 1 HR, 15 RBI in 2020

- IF Taylor Young -- .309/.420/.588, 5 HR, 15 RBI in 2020

- LHP Kyle Griffen -- 1-1, 3.10 ERA in 2020

- RHP Tyler Follis -- 0-0, 3.79 ERA in 2020

Previewing the Air Force Falcons:

Mike Kazlausky enters his 11th season as the HC at Air Force. In the brief 2020 season, the Falcons finished 7-12 overall.

Key Players:

- IF Cole Blatchford -- .343/.405/.627, 3 HR, 13 RBI in 2020

- IF/OF Cayden Zimmerman -- .333/.392/.400, 0 HR, 6 RBI in 2020

- RHP Nathan Price -- 1-3, 3.46 ERA in 2020

Air Force was picked to finish 4th in the Mountain West in the preseason by D1Baseball.com.

Previewing the #12 LSU Tigers:

Paul Mainieri begins his 15th season as the HC at LSU in 2021. Mainieri is 603-260-3 with one National Championship during his tenure in Baton Rouge.

LSU was off to a 12-5 start in 2020 before Covid-19 put the season to a halt.

Looking ahead to 2021, the Tigers will be young in some key spots but are expected to be really good on the mound, especially in its starting rotation.

RHP AJ Labas will get the start against Tech Monday night. Expect Labas to be 89-92 with his fastball, along with a good slider and change-up.

Key Players:

- OF/DH Cade Beloso -- .313/.353/.453, 1 HR, 12 RBI in 2020

- OF Giovanni DiGiacomo -- .351/.429/.459, 0 HR, 4 RBI in 2020

- OF Dylan Crews -- True Freshman, D1Baseball.com pegs Crews as the best freshman in the SEC

- RHP Devin Fontenot -- 1-0, 0.90 era in 2020

LSU was picked to finish 4th in the West Division of the SEC by D1Baseball.com in the preseason.

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