Dirtbags
vs. LSU Tigers
By Michael Bower
On-line Forty-Niner
Never
in the 110-year history of the Louisiana
State Tigers’ baseball team have they traveled
to California. History will be changed this
weekend when the five-time national champions
take on the ninth ranked Dirtbags (8-4)
at Blair Field Friday night.
To say Tiger baseball is huge in Baton Rouge,
La. is an understatement. The Tigers (6-4)
had the nations best attendance in 2002
for the seventh straight season drawing
271,179 fans to their games at Alex Box
Stadium. This year the team has already
drawn 66,356 fans in nine games at home.
Many alumni will make the cross-country
trip in their RVs to watch the three-game
series this weekend.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see 500 to 600
LSU fans,” Assistant Marketing Director
Bobby Jezyk said. “The presale for the LSU
games has been the most impressive since
being at Blair Field.”
LSU is a national powerhouse known for their
11 College World Series appearances in the
last 17 years under previous head coach
Skip Bertman.
According to Baseball America magazine the
Tigers were the team of the 90s having won
the College World Series in ‘91, ‘93, ‘96
and ‘97.
It is not the ‘90s anymore and LSU, just
like the Dirtbags, are in their second season
under a new head coach. Smoke Laval has
been in the LSU program for 13 years and
his Tigers, ranked 13th in the country,
slipped in the rankings after being swept
by the Kansas Jayhawks at home two weekends
ago.
Laval said the Tigers are playing below
average baseball right now and he is trying
to get them on track.
Abe Alvarez and company will try to continue
their dominating performances on the mound
against the LSU offense. The Tigers will
come into Blair Field with a .299 team batting
average and a slugging percentage of .460.
The team has already bashed eight homers
on the year.
Ryan Patterson and Quinn Stewart lead the
way for the Tigers. Patterson has a .348
batting average and a .565 slugging percentage.
Stewart is hitting .316 and has two home
runs on the year to lead the team in that
category.
The Dirtbags’ pitching staff has held opponents
to a .231 batting average and a slugging
percentage of .304 this year.
The Dirtbags’ offense has shown signs of
life after its six run outburst against
the California Bears last Sunday. Tim Hutting
has been a bright spot for the Dirtbags
as he picked up another hit on Sunday to
improve his hitting streak to 12 games.
Hutting is hitting .340 at the plate and
has 11 RBIs to lead the team.
Laval said his pitching staff is the strength
of his team. The Tigers are without their
ace Lane Mestepey who had off-season shoulder
surgery and are looking for Brian Wilson,
Saturday’s starter, to pick up the slack.
Wilson is 2-2 with a 4.08 earned run average
on the year. Justin Meier and Billy Sadler
have also pitched well for the Tigers who
have a team ERA of 3.44.
LSU holds a 6-2 advantage over the Dirtbags.
The Dirtbags split two games with LSU last
year before losing the series finale 5-4
in 11 innings.
The last time these two teams met in the
post season was in 1997 at the Southern
Regionals in Baton Rouge, La. The Dirtbags
lost an 11-inning affair 14-7 as LSU went
on to win the CWS.
Head coach Mike Weathers said that his team
tries to win every series regardless of
their opponent. He said the mystic and the
history of LSU is a lot that people hear
about and that it will be good for people
to get to see them play.
“I think it’s [the series is] more hyped
up because they are coming so far west for
the first time to play a weekend series,”
Weathers said. “As far as the series itself,
it’s probably no bigger than any other series
we have played this year.”
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