BATON ROUGE – No. 1 seed LSU (38-20) will face No. 4 seed Marist (33-19) at 1 p.m. Friday in Alex Box Stadium as the Tigers open the 2005 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.

No. 2 seed Rice (41-17) will take on No. 3 seed Northwestern State (40-18) at 6 p.m. Friday in Game 2 of the regional.

“It’s not a surprise; it’s about how I thought it would unfold,” LSU Head Coach Smoke Laval said. “I’m glad Auburn got in and that nine SEC teams got in. That demonstrates how tough our conference is. Vanderbilt and Georgia could have been in as No. 2 or No. 3 seeds as well.

“We’ve got a task at hand, because we have a very tough regional. Our entire focus right now is on Friday at 1 o’clock against Marist. I know the No. 1 pitcher for Marist is a left-hander. I know they’re very good because they’ve been in regionals in the past. I know they played in the UL-Lafayette regional a few years ago, and they’ve won some games in other regionals. Rice is a young team, but they are veterans now after playing an entire season. They’re playing a freshman catcher and shortstop, if I’m not mistaken. When you can do that and be a No. 2 seed, it shows the kind of talent they have. Northwestern has had a great year, and they are a very talented ball club. We were fortunate to have some success against them this season, but they are an excellent team.”

The regional continues through Sunday, with a final game to be played Monday, if necessary.

The Baton Rouge Regional winner will face the winner of the New Orleans Regional in a Super Regional series next weekend. The Super Regional winner advances to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

The New Orleans Regional features No. 1 Tulane, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 UL-Lafayette and No. 4 Southern.

NCAA Baton Rouge Regional tickets are on sale now to LSU students and to fans that are on the LSU baseball season ticket waiting list. Tickets will go on sale at 8 a.m. Wednesday to the general public.

Regional ticket booklets are $75 (gold seats), $60 (grandstand seats) and $50 (bleacher seats). All orders will include a processing fee.

Ticket orders may be placed by phone at 225-578-2184 or 800-960-8587, or tickets may be purchased at www.LSUsports.net .

Orders may also be placed in person at the LSU ticket office weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. The ticket office is located on the first floor of the LSU athletic administration building.

Payments may be made by cash, check, VISA, MasterCard or American Express.