BATON ROUGE — The 2004 LSU baseball squad started pre-season drills Tuesday afternoon in Alex Box Stadium, as the Tigers begin preparing for their opener at UCF in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Feb. 13.
“The players have come back in tremendous condition,” said Smoke Laval, entering his third season as LSU’s head coach. “It’s a sign to the coaching staff that they’re ready to go, and we can move a little faster than we normally do at this time of the year.”
Laval directed LSU to last season to the Southeastern Conference championship and a berth in the College World Series. Nine position players and seven pitchers with significant experience return from the 2003 club, raising expectations for the ’04 squad.
LSU is ranked No. 2 by Baseball America magazine, No. 3 by ESPN/Sports Weekly and No. 3 by Collegiate Baseball magazine.
Laval, the 2003 SEC Coach of the Year, said the pre-season polls acknowledge the achievements of the Tigers’ returning players.
“The rankings actually belong to this club, and that’s something a little different for us. In recent years, our pre-season rankings may have been attributed more to what past LSU teams accomplished. But, the ranking this year is due to what the players on this team have done.
“The question is, now that we’re supposed to do it, can we do it? Last year, we were young and inexperienced, so if something didn’t go well, we kind of had an excuse. This year, we have no excuses – we have talent and experience, and we’re healthy right now. These players have been through an SEC schedule and won the conference, they have won regionals and gone to Omaha, so they are expected to perform at a high level this year.”
Pre-season workouts, which are open to the public, will feature several intra-squad games leading up to the Feb. 13 opener.
The Tigers will also play their annual Alumni Game on Friday, Jan. 30, at 6:30 p.m. in Alex Box Stadium, as the ’04 team will face a squad of former LSU players who are active in professional baseball. Tickets to the Alumni Game are available by contacting the LSU ticket office at 225.578.2184 or 800.960.8587.