Notes on the Tigers
LSU secured the No. 8 NCAA Tournament National Seed on Monday, marking the fifth straight year in which the Tigers have been named a National Seed by the NCAA Baseball Committee … LSU is the only school in the country to receive the National Seed designation in each of the past five seasons … LSU is also only the second school to earn five straight National Seeds since the current NCAA format began in 1999 — the only other school to earn five in a row is Stanford, which received six consecutive National Seeds from 1999-2004 … the Tigers will play host to the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional beginning on Friday; LSU is serving as a regional host site for the 24th time overall and for the 23rd time in the past 27 seasons … LSU has an 88-21 (.807) all-time record in NCAA Regional games, including a 77-16 (.828) mark in regional games at home … the Tigers have won 19 of the previous 23 regionals that have been held in Alex Box Stadium … coach Paul Mainieri has an 18-4 mark in regional games during his LSU tenure, including a 17-2 record in regional games in Alex Box Stadium … the 2016 LSU squad has won 14 of its last 16 games – including 11 of its last 13 games against SEC opponents … the Tigers posted a 3-1 mark in last week’s SEC Tournament, defeating Tennessee, Florida and Mississippi State before dropping a 1-0 decision to Florida in the tournament semifinal round … junior leftfielder Beau Jordan led LSU in hitting during the SEC Tournament, batting .462 (6-for-13) in four games with one run scored … freshman rightfielder Antoine Duplantis hit .400 (8-for-20) in the tournament with one double, one RBI and one run scored … sophomore right-hander Alex Lange delivered an excellent effort in LSU’s extra-inning win over Florida last Wednesday, limiting the Gators to two runs on five hits in seven innings with three walks and 11 strikeouts … sophomore right-hander Jesse Stallings earned the win in relief on Wednesday against Florida, working the final five innings of the 14-inning contest and allowing no runs on just two hits … the five-inning outing was the longest of Stallings’ career … junior left-hander Jared Poche’ defeated Mississippi State last Thursday, allowing just one earned run in 6.2 innings with two walks and three strikeouts … the victory was the 25th of Poche’s LSU career, as he improved his record to 25-9 in his three seasons as a member of the Tigers’ starting rotation.
Baseball America Top 25
Rank, Team, W-L, Previous
1, Texas A&M, 45-14, 1
2, Florida, 47-13, 4
3, Miami (Fla.), 45-11, 3
4, Mississippi State, 41-16, 2
5, LSU, 42-18, 7
6, Ole Miss, 43-17, 10
7, Louisville, 47-12, 6
8, Texas Tech, 41-16, 5
9, Clemson, 42-18, 15
10, TCU, 42-15, 14
11, Virginia, 37-20, 8
12, Vanderbilt, 43-17, 12
13, Florida State, 37-20, 18
14, South Carolina, 42-15, 9
15, Coastal Carolina, 44-15, 19
16, Tulane, 39-19, 11
17, Florida Atlantic, 38-17, 13
18, Southern Miss, 40-18, 20
19, UL-Lafayette, 41-19, 24
20, Bryant, 47-10, 21
21, Cal State Fullerton, 35-21, 23
22, NC State, 35-20, 16
23, Ohio State, 43-18, NR
24, Oklahoma State, 36-20, 17
25, Dallas Baptist, 41-17, NR
Dropped out: (22) Long Beach State, (25) Rice