BATON ROUGE — Former LSU all-American Brad Hawpe helped lead Colorado to the National League pennant as the Rockies completed a four-game NLCS sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks Monday night in Denver.
The Rockies advance to play in the World Series beginning October 24 against either the Boston Red Sox or the Cleveland Indians.
Hawpe, the starting right fielder for the Rockies, batted .333 in the NLCS . During the regular season, he batted .291 with 33 doubles, four triples, 29 homers, 80 runs and 116 RBI.
The Fort Worth, Texas native lettered as an outfielder for LSU in 1999 and was the starting first baseman on the Tigers’ 2000 College World Series championship team.
“It’s been unbelievable, the way we’ve pushed through and battled and played,” Hawpe said after the Rockies’ 6-4 series-clinching win over Arizona. “This has been a heck of a ride. When we won it at LSU, it almost felt like it went too fast. It’s sort of like that today; the last three or four weeks have been so fast for us, it’s hard to realize what’s going on.”
Hawpe batted .362 for LSU in 2000 – leading the nation with an NCAA-record 36 doubles ? and he recorded 12 homers, 84 RBI and 71 runs.
Hawpe hit three homers and drove in nine runs in the 2000 College World Series, and he was named to the CWS all-tournament team. He was selected by the Rockies in the 11th round of the 2000 MLB draft.
Another former LSU player, Indians pitcher Paul Byrd, has an opportunity to join Hawpe in the World Series. Byrd, who helped lead LSU to the 1991 national championship, will start in Cleveland tonight in Game 4 of the ALCS against the Red Sox.