BATON ROUGE — Coming off of a 44-22-1 season that saw them miss the College World Series for the second time in three years, the LSU Fighting Tigers open their 109th season of baseball Friday night at 6:30 p.m. by hosting 2001 NAIA national champion Birmingham-Southern in the first game of a three-game weekend series at Alex Box Stadium.
Game two of the series is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, with the finale at 1 p.m. Sunday. All games can be heard on the LSU Sports Network (WDGL-98.1 FM on Friday and Sunday, WJNH-107.3 FM on Saturday), as well as LSU’s official website, www.lsusports.net. Saturday’s game will also be televised on a tape-delay basis at 9 p.m. by the Pelican Sports Network and will be shown on WB-10 in Baton Rouge.
LSU enters the season ranked 5th by Collegiate Baseball, 6th by ESPN/USA Today Baseball Weekly, and 7th by Baseball America.
This weekend’s series marks the debut of Ray “Smoke” Laval as the Tigers 23rd baseball coach. The 46-year-old Laval, who served as LSU’s administrative assistant in 2001, was the top assistant to legendary coach Skip Bertman from 1984-93, helping the Tigers win two national championships in 1991 and 1993, five SEC championships and reach the College World Series five times. He was also a graduate assistant on Jack Lamabe’s staff in 1979.
Bertman retired following the 2001 season and is now the school’s Athletic Director. In 18 years (1984-2001) under Bertman, LSU won five national championships, reached the College World Series 11 times, played host to 13 NCAA Regionals and one super regional, and led the nation in attendance for six consecutive years.
Laval will send junior right-hander Bo Pettit to the mound for the season opener. A Houston native, Pettit was 4-0 with a 2.42 earned run average in 2001, but did not pitch the final month of the season due to continuing shoulder ailments.
The Tigers will send 2001 SEC and National Freshman of the Year Lane Mestepey to the hill Saturday. Mestepey, a sophomore left-hander from the Baton Rouge suburb of Zachary, went 11-3 with a 3.75 ERA as a freshman, leading the SEC in victories and ERA. Junior Jake Tompkins, a transfer from Sacramento City College in California, will make his first career start on Sunday. Tompkins worked two innings to pick up the win in LSU’s Alumni Game last Saturday.
Birmingham-Southern, a member of the Big South Conference and will be playing its first game as an NCAA Division I member. The Panthers compiled a 55-11 record in 2001 under the guidance of NAIA National Coach of the Year Brian Shoop.
BSC will send sophomore left-hander Derek Griffith (3-2, 4.19 in 2001) to the mound Friday and senior right-hander Jon Renfro (4-0, 3.23) on Saturday. The Panthers are undecided on a starter for Sunday.
This will mark the first intercollegiate athletic meeting between LSU and BSC. This will also be the Tigers’ first game against a team from the Big South Conference.
This weekend’s series is part of a seven-game homestand to open the 2002 season. LSU will host Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and welcomes Mercer Feb. 15-17 for a three-game series.