BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU will play host to the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field beginning at 3 p.m. CT Friday when the No. 1 seed Tigers meet No. 4 seed Lehigh. No. 2 seed UNC Wilmington will face No. 3 seed Tulane at 7 p.m. CT Friday in the second game of the four-team regional.
The regional continues Saturday and Sunday and, if necessary, will finish on Monday. The winner of the Baton Rouge Regional will face the winner of the Houston Regional, hosted by the University of Houston, in an NCAA Super Regional next weekend.
LSU is playing host to a regional for the 23rd time in school history. All regional games involving LSU will be televised by the SEC Network, and all non-LSU games may be viewed at ESPN3.com. LSU was among 16 hosts announced late Sunday.
Tickets for the regional are available now to LSU baseball season ticket holders, who have until 5 p.m. CT on Monday to submit their reservations.
LSU Baseball season ticket holders may log-on to their online account at www.LSUTix.net, or call the LSU Ticket Office at (225)578-2184, or toll free at (800)960-8587 to reserve tickets.
Regional ticket books are $100 for Suites, Tiger Terrace, and Champion’s Club; $75 for Gold Field box, Gold Grandstand, and Grandstand seating; and $50 for bleachers and standing room only.
If available, Regional all-session books will go on sale to the general public on Thursday at 8 a.m. CT.
Super Regional ticket books, if LSU wins the Regional, will be $60 for Suites, Tiger Terrace, and Champion’s Club; $45 for Gold Field Box, Gold Grandstand, and Grandstand seating; and $30 for bleachers and standing room only.
The LSU Athletics Ticket Office is open this week from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.lsutix.net/ or call 225.578.2184.
Visit LSU’s NCAA Regional homepage for the regional teams, schedule, live video, audio and stats for all games.
NCAA Regional Schedule
Baton Rouge, La.
Alex Box Stadium
All times Central and subject to change
Friday, May 29
Game 1 – 3 p.m. – #4 seed Lehigh vs. #1 seed LSU (SEC Network)
Game 2 – 7 p.m. – #3 seed Tulane vs. #2 seed UNC Wilmington (ESPN3)
Saturday, May 30
Game 3 – 3 p.m. – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser (SEC Network or ESPN3)
Game 4 – 8 p.m. – Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner (SEC Network or ESPN 3)
Sunday, May 31
Game 5 – 3 p.m. – Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser (SEC Network or ESPN3)
Game 6 – 7 p.m. – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner (SEC Network or ESPN3)
Monday, June 1
Game 7 – 7 p.m. – Game 6 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser (if necessary – SEC Network or ESPN3)
LSU HEAD COACH PAUL MAINIERI
Opening Statement…
“This is an exciting day for the team, all the players and staff and for the school. You find out who you are going to play and what the first step along the way is. My reaction is about what I expected. I know a lot was being made about the No. 1 overall seed. Quite frankly deep down, I was hoping we would get it because it had never happened before in LSU baseball history. I thought we were probably deserving of it. You can’t argue with UCLA either. They’re a great program. For them to be the No. 1 overall seed is well deserved. I told our players whether we were No. 1 or No. 8 it really didn’t matter because all you have to do is be a national seed in order to have the advantages of a national seed, which specifically is if you are fortunate enough to win the regional tournament, then you are able to host a super regional. I really wasn’t concerned with what number we were. Our players aren’t concerned either because from this point forward everything you get you earn. There’s no more subjectivity. There are no more opinions. You just have to go out on the field, and you have to earn everything that you get. I don’t know anything about Lehigh, and I don’t know much about UNC Wilmington. I do know Tulane very well. I know our first game is against Lehigh, and that’s what we are going to focus on at this point.”
On hosting Tulane in the NCAA Regional…
“David Pierce is an excellent coach. He’s a coach I recommended to their athletic director. I’m very proud of the job he’s done there. He runs a program the right way. They’ve had a heck of a year. They deserve it, and I’m happy for them. With that said of course with them coming to the regional, we are going to do everything we can do if we happen to meet them in a game to be victorious. It will be a very spirited competition with great sportsmanship and great mutual respect.”
On the offense…
“I don’t think that you can win without pitching, quite frankly. We have a good offensive team, maybe the best in the country. Who knows? I’ve said it many times that you cannot win a national championship with hitting alone. You can’t put a lineup together good enough in today’s day and age where you can just out-slug the other team. It’s just impossible with the roster limits, the bat changes and so forth. We are going to have to pitch to win. There’s no question about that. Now, our offense will be an asset for us. If we have to win a 6-5 game or a 7-6 game or something like that, I think we have the offense to do it. Ultimately, we are going to have to get the other team out, especially at the end of the ballgame. That’s something that we are going to have to focus on as we move to this point in our season.”
LSU Player Quotes
SS Alex Bregman
On the Baton Rouge Regional…
“Every team in this tournament either won their conference tournament or got an at-large bid. They are all very good teams. We are really happy with where we are and we are going to take it one game at a time. We are going to have to come ready to play on Friday and take it one pitch at a time. We just have to try to win every pitch and be aggressive like we have been all year so we can be successful.”
On getting the No. 2 national seed…
“Getting a national seed is a big goal. It was one of our goals and we accomplished that, that’s awesome. Not having the number one seed does not put us at a disadvantage or an advantage. We are just going to go out there and take it one pitch at a time and play to the best of our ability.”
RHP Alex Lange
On the chance to pitch in LSU’s second game of the regional …
“It would be awesome. Playing in Alex Box under the lights on Saturday nights is a really great feeling. The fans here are awesome. I am really looking forward to that, but we have to finish it out on Friday first.”
On getting back to a regional…
“It definitely has been a long wait. I know for all of the guys that were on the team last year, losing in the regional leaves them with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. It was just a rough, abrupt, way to end the season. We are trying to make sure that does not happen this year. We have a good team and we want to keep playing.”
National Seeds
1. UCLA
2. LSU
3. Louisville
4. Florida
5. Miami (Fla.)
6. Illinois
7. TCU
8. Missouri St.
NCAA Tournament First-Round Matchups
Friday, May 28
at Los Angeles, Calif.
2 Ole Miss vs. 3 Maryland, 6 p.m. (ESPN3)
1 UCLA vs. 4 CSU Bakersfield, 10 p.m. (ESPNU)
at Lake Elsinore, Calif.
2 USC vs. 3 Virginia, 5 p.m. (ESPN3)
1 UC Santa Barbara vs. 4 Sam Diego St., 9 p.m. (ESPN3)
at Stillwater, Okla.
2 Arkansas vs. 3 Oral Roberts, noon (SEC Network)
1 Oklahoma St. vs. 4 St. John’s, 6 p.m. (ESPN3)
at Springfield, Mo.
2 Iowa vs. 3 Oregon, noon (ESPN3)
1 Missouri St. vs. 4 Canisius, 5 p.m. (ESPN3)
at Coral Gables, Fla.
2 East Carolina vs. 3 Columbia, noon (ESPN3)
1 Miami (Fla.) vs. 4 Florida International, 6 p.m. (ESPN3)
at Dallas, Texas
2 Oregon St. vs. 3 Texas, 1:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
1 Dallas Baptist vs. 4 Virginia Commonwealth, 6 p.m. (ESPN3)
at Tallahassee, Fla.
2 College of Charleston vs. 3 Auburn, 11 a.m. (ESPN3)
1 Florida St. vs. 4 Mercer, 5 p.m. (ESPN3)
at Gainesville, Fla.
2 Florida Atlantic vs. 3 South Florida, noon (ESPN3)
1 Florida vs. 4 Florida A&M, 6 p.m. (SEC Network)
at Baton Rouge, La.
2 UNC Wilmington vs. Tulane, 7 p.m. (ESPN3)
1 LSU vs. 4 Lehigh, 3 p.m. (SEC Network)
at Houston, Texas
2 Rice vs. 3 UL-Lafayette, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
1 Houston vs. 4 Houston Baptist, 7 p.m. (ESPN3)
at College Station, Texas
2 Coastal Carolina vs. 3 California, noon (ESPN3)
1 Texas A&M vs. 4 Texas Southern, 6 p.m. (ESPN3)
at Fort Worth, Texas
2 NC State vs. 3 Stony Brook, 1:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
1 TCU vs. 4 Sacred Heart, 6 p.m. (ESPN3)
at Champaign, Ill.
2 Notre Dame vs. 3 Wright St., noon (ESPN3)
1 Illinois vs. 4 Ohio, 7 p.m. (ESPN3)
at Nashville, Tenn.
2 Radford vs. 3 Indiana, 2 p.m. (ESPN3)
1 Vanderbilt vs. 4 Lipscomb, 7 p.m. (ESPN3)
at Fullerton, Calif.
2 Arizona St. vs. 3 Clemson, 5 p.m. (ESPN3)
1 Cal St. Fullerton vs. 4 Pepperdine, 9 p.m. (ESPN3)
at Louisville, Ky.
2 Bradley vs. 3 Michigan, 1 p.m. (ESPN3)
1 Louisville, vs. 4 Morehead St., 6 p.m. (ESPN3)