By Ryan Rogers
LSUsports.net
It’s that time of year again for baseball fans. The Tigers will begin another run at the college world series in Omaha, Neb., starting this weekend when they host the NCAA Subregional. This weekend Alex Box Stadium will open it’s gates to another post season baseball tournament.
Yogi Berra once said, “If people don’t want to come the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.”
What he might have meant by that is that once you’ve been fascinated by baseball’s tranquillity, you always want to return that haven of glory. Baseball has been around for over a century. And like it was over a hundred years ago, a baseball game is still one of the best places to spend an afternoon.
Fans will flock to the ballpark and enjoy the game of baseball at its best. Yes indeed, America’s pastime has taken well in Baton Rouge. LSU leads the nation in attendance once again this year. LSU has enhanced that experience for Tiger fans with the immense success the program has had. Just as the saying goes, “If you build it, they will come.”
LSU is the No. 1 seed in the regional and the No. 2 seed in the overall 64-team field. The University of New Orleans is the No. 2 seed in the Baton Rouge regional, followed by No. 3 seed University of Louisiana at Monroe and No. 4 seed Jackson St.
The Tigers head into the tournament with a 43-17 record. It is the 11th straight year that LSU will host a regional. The Tigers have had extreme success in these regionals winning them nine out of 11 times with a 42-8 record in over those 11 years.
LSU is hot off their recent SEC tournament championship, the school’s first since 1994. The Tigers answered a lot of questions about being able to play well consistently by winning four straight games in the SEC tournament.
“If you can when this tournament, you can win any tournament,” commented Skip Bertman after his team’s championship victory over Florida in the SEC tournament. The SEC is arguably the nations premier baseball
conference. Winning against top-notch competition will boost the Tigers confidence as they prepare for postseason battle.
LSU is hitting the ball very well. Brad Cresse (.393 25 HR), Blair Barbier (.346), Ryan Theriot (.288), Jeremy Witten (.344) and Brad Hawpe (.357) continue to hit well as they have all season. Cedrick Harris (.401) is still on fire after coming back from his injury. The two youngsters Mike Fontenot (.341 15 HR) and Wally Pontiff (.344) are hitting well also.
Pontiff received SEC tournament MVP for his efforts at Hoover last weekend. LSU has found production from back of the lineup by shuffling players. Ryan Jorgenson (.304), Johnnie Thibodeaux (.282), Ray Wright (.314) and
Jeff Lipari (.338) have all done well filling thier roles for LSU.
More importantly the pitching staff is on top of their game. Hunter Gomez and Brian Tallet have established themselves as exemplary pitchers on LSU’s staff. The two will lead the Tigers on their quest to Omaha. Ben Saxon gave an inspiring performance against Alabama in the SEC tournament. His teammate Trey Hodges did the same in the first game against Alabama. He pitched five scoreless innings after Alabama pounded out 12 runs in the first four innings of the game. LSU held on to win 18-12.
Other relievers such as Weylin Guidry, Shane Youman, Heath McMurray and Billy Brian appear to be ready if called upon. The Tigers may get some help from Jason Scobie who could see his first action this weekend since his injury.
The Tigers are in a good position to advance to the Super Regional. LSU has defeated UNO twice (17-2, 10-2) and UL-Monroe once (12-5).
“Anybody can win this regional,” said Bertman. “We need to play our best to win.”
The Tigers are aware the lower seeds at the tournament are seeking upsets. The UNO Privateers are shooting for that upset. They are a very hot team. They have won eight of their last 11 games including a three-game sweep of nationally ranked UL-Lafayette. UNO won the Sunbelt Conference regular season title with a 37-23 (20-9) record.
This is the 12th regional appearance for UNO. The Privateers are led by Seniors Matt Matejcek and John Ballon. Both were all-Sunbelt conference selections. Ballon LF, is a .344 hitter with 13 round trippers. Matejcek, the starting catcher, is batting .338 with 17 Hr’s. The two have propelled UNO all season.
UNO has a solid corps of starting pitchers. Scott Trachina (4.46 ERA), Jason Waddell (3.91 ERA) and Shaylar Hatch (4.66 ERA) have been solid for UNO all season. If UNO is going to win the regional, they will need great performances from their pitching.
UNO head coach Randy Bush is hoping his team is ready to step up to the challenge but he feels they are prepared.
“We’ve been playing great baseball lately,” said Bush. “I think with the tough schedule we’ve played we’re prepared to face post season competition.”
UL-Monroe is the third Louisiana school playing in Baton Rouge this weekend. The Indians are the Southland Conference regular season champions with a 39-20 (20-7) record.
The Indians are led by pitcher/designated hitter Mike Wombacher. He is batting .350 and was named Southland Conference player of the year. He is also a starting pitcher for the Indians with a 2.50 ERA. Other players Todd Self RF (.341), Willie Core 3B (.399), and Ted White (.307) have all added pop to the Indian lineup. Kenny Holubec (3.19 ERA), Kevin Orga (3.44 ERA) and Michael Durham (3.23 ERA) round out the starting pitching staff for UL-Monroe. UL-Monroe is coached by Ray “Smoke” Laval.
Jackson State enters the subregional fresh off a SWAC conference title. These Tigers have some postseason experience in the past. In fact they’ve played LSU in Baton Rouge before in a regional, with LSU taking a 14-11 decision in 1990.
Jackson St. head Coach Robert Braddy is excited about being in Baton Rouge.
“Anyone who follows college baseball knows about LSU and what they’ve accomplished,” said Braddy. He feels his team can be successful if they focus.
“We need to play against ourselves and not LSU, UNO and UL-Lafayette. What I mean by that is putting yourself in the backyard and make all the routine plays and just relax and play well. We can’t focus on how many homeruns LSU hits or what the other teams are doing. We just need to focus on what we do,” said Braddy.
This weekend should be an exciting weekend for baseball at Alex Box. The games start Friday with a 2 p.m. start for game 1 matching LSU against Jackson St. Game 2 Friday starts at 7 p.m. matching UL-Monroe and New Orleans.