BATON ROUGE — For the first time in three years, Alex Box Stadium will play host to an NCAA super regional, as LSU and Baylor meet in a best-of-three series beginning on Friday.
Friday’s first game is set for 6:05 p.m., followed by games at 11:35 a.m. on Saturday and 1:35 p.m. on Sunday. Sunday’s game will be necessary if the teams split the first two games of the series.
Friday’s game will be syndicated by ESPN, but will not shown by the cable sports network, and instead will be carried in south Louisiana and other Gulf South markets by Cox Sports Television.
Saturday’s game will be televised nationally by ESPN2, with Sunday’s game televised nationally by ESPN if it is played.
All three games will be broadcast by the LSU Sports Network, with live audio of the broadcasts available at www.lsusports.net. Live statistics from all eight super regionals will be available at www.ncaasports.com.
Tickets for the super regional are available from the LSU ticket office. Season ticket holders have until 5 p.m. on Wednesday to renew their tickets for the series. Any remaining tickets that are available will be put on sale to the general public at 8 a.m. on Thursday. Tickets may be purchased in person at the LSU ticket office or by calling (225) 578-2184 or (800) 960-8587.
LSU (43-19-1), the No. 2 national seed and champions of the Southeastern Conference, reached the baseball’s round of 16 by sweeping its way through the Baton Rouge regional, defeating Northeastern (11-8), Tulane (13-5) and UNC Wilmington (9-8 in 11 innings). The Tigers last hosted a super regional series in 2000, taking both games from UCLA en route to their fifth national championship.
Last year, the Tigers were swept in the super regional by Rice in Houston, losing 6-0 and 3-0. LSU is 3-6 in super regional play, and is one of only four schools to reach the super regional rounds each of the five years that the format has been in place, along with Florida St., Miami and Stanford.
LSU was swept in the inaugural super regional round by Alabama in 1999 at Tuscaloosa, and lost 2 of 3 to Tulane at Zephyr Field in 2001.
Baylor (44-21) of the Big 12 Conference defeated Murray St. (7-6), Southern (10-3) and Southern Miss (3-2) in Hattiesburg to win its first regional championship since 1999. The Bears finished fifth in the Big 12 regular season standings, but finished as Big 12 tournament runners-up behind Texas.
Baylor’s only super regional appearance came in 1999, when the Bears lost 2 games to 1 to Big 12 rival Oklahoma St. in Waco.
The winner of the LSU-Baylor super regional will advance to the College World Series to face the winner of the Arizona St.-Cal St. Fullerton super regional on Friday, June 13.
In addition to the Arizona St.-Cal St. Fullerton series, other super regionals set to begin on Friday including Long Beach St. at Stanford and North Carolina at South Carolina. The Gamecocks, last year’s College World Series runners-up, are the only other SEC school beside LSU in the round of 16.
Super regional series set to start on Saturday and run through Monday are defending national champion Texas at Florida St., North Carolina St. at Miami (Fla.), Southwest Missouri St. at Ohio St., and Houston at Rice.
The eight super regional winners advance to the College World Series, set to run June 13-23 at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium.