BATON ROUGE, La. – Returning to NCAA Regional play for for the first time in 20 years, Southeastern Louisiana matches up against LSU, the No. 8-national seed, at 2 p.m. Friday at Alex Box Stadium on ESPN3.

Southeastern (37-23), the No. 4 seed in the regional, faces LSU (44-14-1) for the second time this season, having dropped a 7-3 decision to the then No. 3-ranked Tigers in Hammond back on Feb. 19. Also competing in the Baton Rouge Regional are No. 2 seed Houston (44-15) and the No. 3 seed Bryant (42-14), who face each other later that evening at 7 p.m.

All of Southeastern's NCAA Regional games can be heard on KSLU 90.9 FM, the flagship station of the Southeastern Sports Radio Network, as well as Northshore Broadcasting stations Kajun 107.1 FM and The Highway 104.7 FM. Streaming audio is available online while smartphone users can access audio using either the KSLU or TuneIn Radio apps. Fans can also keep up with Southeastern's Regional experience through live statistics or by following SLUathletics on Twitter. Links to audio, stats and video are available on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.

The Lions earned the Southland Conference's automatic bid after defeating Central Arkansas 9-4 this past Saturday to claim Southeastern's first Southland tournament title.

Jameson Fisher (.394), the Southland Conference's leading hitter, conference newcomer of the year Andrew Godbold (.348), Brett Hoffman (.321) and Daniel Midyett (.299) lead Southeastern at the plate. Godbold's eight home runs are a team best and his 57 RBIs lead the conference. Hoffman, whose 16 doubles are tied with Fisher for the team lead, owns the second-most RBIs (41) on the ballclub. Jacob Williams' 13 stolen bases leads the team.

The Lions are hitting .291 collectively and have been successful on 77-of-123 stolen base attempts. Southeastern's pitching staff has compiled a 2.95 ERA, fanning 397 batters in 528.2 innings pitched.

Junior right-hander Andro Čutura (10-2, 1.72) earns the start for the Lions to open NCAA Regional play, drawing freshman southpaw Jared Poche' (9-3 2.21) for the Tigers. Neither Čutura or Poche' faced their opponent during the regular season.

Andrew Stevenson (.328), Connor Hale (.314), Kade Scivicque (.310), Tyler Moore (.307) and Alex Bregman (.301) lead top-seeded LSU at the plate. Sean McMullen leads the team with 17 doubles, and his six home runs are tied with Bregman and Scivicque for the tops on the squad. Bregman owns a team-best 44 RBIs and 11 stolen bases.

The Tigers are hitting .286 as a team and have been successful on 45-of-67 stolen base attempts. LSU's pitching staff has compiled a 2.42 ERA, fanning 420 batters in 524.2 innings pitched.

Houston, the American Athletic Conference tournament champion, is led at the plate by Casey Grayson (.335), Kyle Survance (.315), Michael Pyeatt (.305) and Justin Montemayor (.304). Grayson leads the team in doubles (16), home runs (6) and RBIs (48). He's also walked 46 times while striking out 24 times. Survance owns a team-best 30 stolen bases.

The Cougars are hitting .281 as a team and have been successful on 81-of-107 stolen base attempts. Houston's pitching staff sports a 2.20 ERA, having fanned 390 batters in 524 innings of work.

Bryant, the Northeast Conference regular-season and tournament champion, is led offensively by Buck McCarthy (.353), Matt Albanese (.329), Tom Gavitt (.325) and Carl Anderson (.316). Albanese leads the squad with 16 doubles, and his 36 RBIs are tied for second on the club with Robby Rinn and John Mullen. Anderson leads the team with seven home runs, 40 RBIs and 29 stolen bases.

The Bulldogs are hitting .304 as a team, with 10 players hitting over the .300 threshold, and have stolen 96 bases in 115 attempts. Bryant's pitching staff has compiled a 2.93 ERA, fanning 391 batters in 472.1 innings of work.

Tailgate Party: Southeastern fans attending Friday's 2 p.m. contest against LSU are encouraged to stop by a tailgate party sponsored by the Lion Athletics Association and the Southeastern Alumni Association's Red Stick Chapter. The tailgate will last from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Friday across Nicholson Drive from Alex Box Stadium. Parking is available in the 403, Old Front Nine or Touchdown Village 1 lots.

First NCAA Tournament for Southeastern Louisiana in 20 Years: Southeastern Louisiana is making its third Division I postseason appearance and first since 1994. The last postseason appearance for the Lions came 20 years ago when they played in the South Regional in Baton Rouge, La. The last time out, the Lions went 0-2, losing to host LSU (10-6) and North Carolina-Greensboro (22-12). In 1992, Southeastern played in the West Regional in Tucson, Ariz., with future Major Leaguer Kirk Bullinger shutting out Hawaii, 8-0, in the opening round before falling to eventual national champ Pepperdine (8-5) and Hawaii (10-3).

Winner of Baton Rouge Regional Faces Winner of Houston Regional: The winner of the Baton Rouge Regional will face the winner of the Houston Regional which includes No. 1 seed Rice (41-18), No. 2 seed Texas (38-18), No. 3 seed Texas A&M (33-24) and No. 4 seed George Mason (34-20).

Multiple Southland Teams in Regional: Sam Houston State is heading to NCAA Regional play for a the third consecutive season as an at-large selection after winning the regular-season conference championship. The Bearkats open with Dallas Baptist, a team in which Sam Houston took two of three in a weekend series, Feb. 21-23. This is the third consecutive season for the Southland to place two teams in a regional. It is the 11th time the Southland has placed at least two teams in the tournament, previously sending multiple teams in 1987, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2013. The Southland sent a record three teams to the regional round in 2000. Last year, the league placed regular-season champion Sam Houston State and tournament champion Central Arkansas in regionals.

Baton Rouge Regional hosted by LSU
Friday
Game 1 - #1 LSU (44-14-1) vs. #4 Southeastern Louisiana (37-23), 2 p.m., ESPN3
Game 2 - #2 Houston (44-15) vs. #3 Bryant (42-14), 7 p.m., ESPN3

Saturday
Game 3 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 2 p.m., ESPN3
Game 4 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 2 p.m., ESPN3

Sunday
Game 5 – Loser Game 4 vs. Winner Game 3, 2 p.m., ESPN 3
Game 6 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4, 7 p.m., ESPN3

Monday
Game 7 – Loser Game 6 vs. Winner Game 6, 7 p.m., ESPN3 (if necessary)