BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU is among the teams predicted to reach the 2017 College World Series by Baseball America in its annual “Eight for Omaha” projection released this week.
The Tigers are joined by East Carolina, Florida, Florida State, Long Beach State, Oregon State, South Carolina and TCU as Baseball America’s favorites to play in next year’s CWS.
Vanderbilt, Clemson, Louisville, Nebraska, Texas Tech, UC Santa Barbara, Virginia and Washington are listed in the “Eight More for Super Regionals” category.
Baseball America’s Teddy Cahill writes of LSU: “The Tigers this season had to replace eight regulars from their 2015 CWS team. After some growing pains, LSU got its offense on track and reached super regionals. The vast majority of that team will be back for 2017, including ace righthander Alex Lange, a potential top-10 pick. LSU would receive a boost if lefthander Jared Poche’ decides to return to school after being drafted in the 14th round by the Padres. But pitching coach Alan Dunn will have good arms at his disposal regardless.
“The bulk of the lineup will return, including outfielder Antoine Duplantis (.327/.404/.419) and first baseman Greg Deichmann (team-best 11 homers). With another year of growth from the hitters under assistant coach Andy Cannizaro, Lange at the front of the rotation and Hunter Newman at the back of the bullpen, LSU has the pieces in place for another Omaha run.”
For the entire “Eight for Omaha” story, visit the link below:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/eight-omaha-2017/#C6g47xB1k2Q83l5L.97