Former LSU baseball star Paul Skenes has received the call to the big leagues. Skenes will pitch Saturday afternoon for the Pittsburgh Pirates in game two of a series against the Chicago Cubs. Last year’s number one overall pick has been dominant in Triple-A. In seven starts in Indianapolis, Skenes posted a 0.99 ERA and struck out 45 in 27.1 innings.

D-1 Baseball and Baseball America have released their Regional projections and they do not have LSU as one of the 64 teams in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers are at Alabama this weekend and they need to win at least four of their final six conference games to have a chance at receiving a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

D-! baseball has U-L Lafayette as a two-seed in the College Station Regional and Louisiana Tech as a three-seed Starkville Regional. Bulldogs coach Lane Burroughs says it’s questionable whether closer Ethan Bates will pitch this weekend. Burroughs says Bates didn’t feel great an outing against New Mexico State last Saturday.

The Saints have cut quarterback Kellen Mond. New Orleans quarterback room was crowded after drafting Spencer Rattler, so Mond ends up being the odd man out. Derek Carr is the starter and the other back-ups are second-year pro Jake Haener and journeyman Nathan Peterman.

The LSU softball team needed 14 innings to beat Alabama three to two and advance into the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. Taylor Pleasants had the walk-off hit and Sydney Berzon was the winning pitcher after giving up two runs in the first inning. The Tigers take on Tennessee today.

Katelin Cooper drove in a pair of runs and Louisiana Tech softball defeated UTEP two to nothing in the Conference USA Tournament. Tech faces Western Kentucky this afternoon.

In the Southland Tourney…McNeese and Nicholls face each other in an elimination game today. A win for Southeastern today over UIW and they advance to the championship round.

Sterlington, South Beauregard and North Vermilion were among the winners yesterday at the state high school baseball tournament. They all advance to the championship round. Iowa’s season is over after losing to Lutcher five to nothing.