Alex Box Stadium will be rocking Thursday night when No. 9 Tennessee rolls in to face No. 1 LSU in an environment that’s expected to be sold out and then some.

Ron Higgins of Tiger Details reports that some 14,000 fans are expected in Baton Rouge Thursday night for the series opener. The opening pitching matchup is LSU righthander Paul Skenes (5-0, 0.72 ERA, 37.1 IP, 7 BB, 71 SO)
against Tennessee righthander Chase Dollander (4-2, 3.93 ERA, 34.1 IP, 8 BB, 53 SO).

Game 2
LSU – Jr. RH Ty Floyd (4-0, 2.05 ERA, 26.1 IP, 9 BB, 31 SO
UT – So. RH Chase Burns (2-1, 4.15 ERA, 34.2 IP, 9 BB, 59 SO)

Game 3
LSU – So. RH Thatcher Hurd (2-0, 3.91 ERA, 23.0 IP, 15 BB, 32 SO)
UT – So. RH Drew Beam (3-1, 2.54 ERA, 28.1 IP, 8 BB, 27 SO)

LSU has won 4 of its last 5 games, including an SEC series victory over No. 3 Arkansas last weekend. Tennessee is 3-3 in the SEC after being swept at Missouri to begin league play and recording a 3-game sweep of Texas A&M last weekend in Knoxville. The Vols lead the SEC with a 2.62 team ERA.

LSU coach Jay Johnson said his guys are ready.

“I think our guys have done a great job respecting the schedule and have shown up ready to play, ready to compete,” he said. “We’re facing an incredibly talented opponent with a great pitching staff, one of the best staffs in the country. They have an explosive position player group, and they know how to win, so it’s going to be a fun weekend, and I know our players are looking forward to it. We’ve got 7 more SEC weekends just like this one coming up, so we’ll focus on this one, attack it, and move on to the next one.”