HOUSTON — LSU returns to Houston for the second time this season, but this time, the stakes are very much higher as the Fighting Tigers (44-20) take on the Rice Owls (50-12) in an NCAA Super Regional series this weekend at Reckling Park.
The best-of-three series gets started Friday night at 7 p.m., with the second game at 2 p.m. Saturday. A third and decisive game, if necessary, would take place at 1 p.m. Sunday.
All games will be broadcast live throughout Louisiana on the full LSU Sports Network (WDGL-98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and can also be heard worldwide on the Internet at www.lsusports.net. The games will also be televised in Louisiana on the Jumbo Sports Network (WGMB-Fox 44 in Baton Rouge on Friday and Saturday, WB-10 on Sunday) and throughout the Southeast on Comcast Sports Southeast.
The winner of the super regional advances to the College World Series in Omaha and will take on the winner of the Houston-Texas super regional in Austin in a first-round game on June 14 or 15.
The Tigers return to Space City after being the only regional champion to come out of the loser’s bracket, defeating Tulane (4-2) and Louisiana-Lafayette twice (12-2, 12-2) after losing to the Ragin Cajuns 5-0 in their second regional game. It marked the fifth time LSU has won twice on the final day to advance, joining 1989, 1990, 1997 and 1999.
LSU enters the super regional with a 94-32 all-time NCAA tournament record, giving the Tigers the best winning percentage (.746) in the 55-year history of the tournament. The Tigers are 54-10 all-time in NCAA games at Alex Box Stadium.
Seven Tigers were named to the all-tournament team at the regional, led by Most Outstanding Player Jake Tompkins, who won two games on the mound in the regional and did not allow an earned run in Sunday’s first game versus UL-Lafayette. Tompkins, a junior right-hander from Auburn, Calf., earned second team All-SEC honors during the season and enters this weekend at 7-1 with a 2.71 ERA.
The Tigers’ pitching rotation is unclear at press time, but it is certain that sophomore left-hander Lane Mestepey (11-4, 2.66) a third team All-American and a first team All-SEC choice, will start on Friday.
The Tigers’ other starters will be sophomore right-hander Brian Wilson (10-4, 3.56) and junior right-hander Bo Pettit (9-7, 3.35), although the order of their starting assignments is not set.
Pettit and Wilson both pitched complete game victories in the regional, with Pettit shutting down Tulane on seven hits and Wilson scattering eight hits to clinch the regional against UL-Lafayette.
At the plate, the Tigers’ best hitter in the regional was second baseman J.C. Holt, a true freshman who batted an even .500 in the tournament and two four-hit games. Holt is batting .358 on the season, second on the team behind Sean Barker (.383-7 HR-62 RBI).
Rice, who is the national number four seed in the NCAA tournament, won the Western Athletic Conference championship with a 28-2 league mark, then beat Harvard, Texas Tech and Washington in winning the Houston regional. The Owls needed two games to oust the Huskies, losing 7-6 in the bottom of the ninth of the first game before winning in a 14-2 rout in the finale.
The Owls feature two of three players named National Freshmen of the Year by Collegiate Baseball in first baseman Vincent Sinisi (.438-11-78) and right-handed pitcher Philiip Humber (11-1, 2.67). Sinisi was also named the WAC Player of the Year, while Humber took Pitcher of the Year honors.
Humber is slated to start Sunday’s if necessary game, with junior right-hander Stephen Herce (12-2, 3.07) scheduled to go on Friday and senior left-hander Justin Crowder (9-2, 2.04) to start Saturday. The Owls come in with a 2.86 team ERA, dwarfing LSU’s still-respectable ERA of 3.46, the best in the SEC.
The Tigers hold a 10-6 series edge over the Owls, with the last meeting being a 5-4 LSU victory in the first round of the 1997 College World Series. In that game, LSU All-America shortstop Brandon Larson hit a mammoth home urn off of Rice All-American Matt Anderson to tie the game.
Rice and LSU also met twice in the 1995 South Regional in Baton Rouge, with the Owls crushing the Tigers 15-7 and 16-9 to knock LSU out of the tournament. Current major leaguers Matt Anderson and Lance Berkman were on both the 1995 and 1997 teams, while Jose Cruz Jr. and Mark Quinn were also part of the ’95 club, the first Rice squad to make an NCAA regional.
The Tigers were in Houston in February when they lost two of three to the University of Houston, losing the opener 11-3, winning the middle game 8-4, then losing the rubber match 12-11. LSU is 6-6 this year versus teams in the super regional, going 2-4 vs. South Carolina and sweeping Arkansas in a three-game series.
In addition to LSU-Rice and Houston-Texas, other super regional matchups include Notre Dame at Florida State, Southern California at Stanford, Arkansas at Clemson, Richmond at Nebraska, Miami (Fla.) at South Carolina, and Florida Atlantic at Georgia Tech.
The 56th NCAA College World Series is scheduled for June 14-22 at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium.