BATON ROUGE — LSU (0-0) begins the 2004 season with a three-game series at the University of Central Florida (2-0) Friday, Feb. 13 through Sunday, Feb. 15. The games will be played on the UCF campus at Jay Bergman Field (cap. 2,230), which opened during the 2001 season. The series marks LSU’s fourth trip to Orlando to face UCF in the past 20 seasons.
The Tigers, ranked No. 2 by Baseball America magazine, will play their season opener away from Alex Box Stadium for the first time since 1995, when the Tigers opened versus Lamar in the Winn-Dixie Showdown in the Louisiana Superdome.
Third-year coach Smoke Laval, the 2003 SEC Coach of the Year, hopes his club can feed off of the momentum created by LSU’s 2003 football national championship.
“This big wave that (LSU football coach) Nick Saban has brought in, our plan is to see if we can somehow ride that wave,” said Laval, who directed LSU to the 2003 SEC title and a berth in the College World Series. “We tell our kids a story about surfers and how to win. Those guys are always in the water, which is what we want our guys to do, is to spend more time on the field. When those surfers catch the wave, and ride it all the way in, they are teed off at themselves for not doing enough tricks. They get back out there to catch the wave and they fall off, then they are mad for falling off.
“In other words, surfers are never satisfied. The surfers start paddling a little bit ahead of the wave, that way when they do catch it, it works out. That is what our guys are trying to do. We had shirts made that say ‘Believe the Hype,’ but our hype is how you prepare every day. This weekend will provide an excellent challenge to see where we are.”
The Knights opened their 2004 season last weekend with a two-game sweep at Florida International (6-2, 8-6). UCF is a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, which also includes Belmont, Campbell, Florida Atlantic, Gardner-Webb, Georgia State, Jacksonville, Lipscomb, Mercer, Stetson and Troy State.
UCF competes under the direction of coach Jay Bergman, who is in his 22nd season at the school and his 28th year as a college head coach. Last season, the Knights posted a 31-25 record and a 14-16 mark (ninth place) in Atlantic Sun games. UCF’s last appearance in the NCAA Tournament came in 2002, when the Knights posted a 1-2 mark in the Tallahassee Regional.
LSU leads the overall series between the clubs, 9-2. The Tigers hold a 5-2 advantage in Orlando and a 4-0 edge in Alex Box Stadium. The Tigers swept the Knights in two-game series in Baton Rouge in 1993 and again in1999.
The last time LSU opened a season at an opponent’s home field was in 1985 at UCF, and the Tigers took two of three games from the Knights (7-0, 4-5, 9-8). The Tigers returned to UCF on March 24, 1992, defeating the Knights in the first game of a scheduled two-game series by a final score of 5-2; the second game was canceled due to inclement weather, including severe hail.
LSU journeyed back to Orlando on March 3-5, 2000, and the Tigers won two of three games against UCF, as the series was contested at Tinker Field in downtown Orlando, adjacent to the Citrus Bowl football stadium. The Knights captured a wild, extra-inning affair, 14-13, in Game 1, before the Tigers rebounded to sweep the remaining two games by scores of 11-4 and 4-1.
The Tigers play their home opener at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday against Louisiana-Monroe in Alex Box Stadium.
#2 LSU (0-0) at UCF (2-0)
DATES/TIMES:
Feb. 13 (5 p.m. CST)
Feb. 14 (Noon CST)
Feb. 15 (Noon CST)
STADIUM:
Jay Bergman Field (2,230)
RADIO:
2/13 & 2/15 (LSU Sports Network)
2/14 (WJNH-FM 107.3 in Baton Rouge only)
TV:
2/13 (None)
2/14 & 2/15 (Jumbo Sports Network)
PITCHING MATCHUPS
Game 1
LSU – So. RHP Justin Meier (8-3, 2.83 ERA, 95.1 IP, 62 SO in 2003)
UCF – Jr. RHP Matt Fox (1-0, 3.60 ERA, 5 IP, 0 BB, 10 SO)
Game 2
LSU – Jr. LHP Lane Mestepey (medical redshirt in 2003 – shoulder surgery)
UCF – Jr. LHP Jaime Douglas (0-0, 15.00 ERA, 3 IP, 3 BB, 3 SO)
Game 3
LSU – Fr. LHP Clay Dirks (first career collegiate appearance – medical redshirt in 2003)
UCF – So. RHP Kyle Bono (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 IP, 0 BB, 3 SO)