Win, lose or draw – LSU baseball exceeded expectations

Counselors say Thibodaux always a star at annual passing camp
June 28, 2017
Quarterback heaven: Counselors say they ‘soak it all in’ from the Mannings
June 28, 2017
Counselors say Thibodaux always a star at annual passing camp
June 28, 2017
Quarterback heaven: Counselors say they ‘soak it all in’ from the Mannings
June 28, 2017

We go to press every Monday afternoon here at The Times for each Wednesday issue.

So by doing the math, you guys can put the pieces together and figure out that the college baseball season was still very much going on when this column was written and this newspaper was sent to the press.


I don’t know if LSU beat Florida in the College World Series Championships. If the series went to three games, the final game may actually be today.

To me, it doesn’t matter. The topic of this column stays the same.

Regardless of a gold or silver medal, this LSU baseball season has been one to remember – one in which a lot of people (myself included) have been proven wrong.


I thought earlier in the season that this LSU baseball team was in the dumps.

Despite having pretty much the entire core of its roster back, LSU struggled mightily early in the season – both in SEC play but also in non-conference games.

The Tigers were 6-6 in SEC play in their first 12 games – a middle of the pack club that was struggling to even be in the discussion of earning a top 16 seed to host a Regional in the NCAA Tournament.


The team wasn’t dominant on the mound and couldn’t really seem to get enough clutch hits to win close, hard-fought games early in the year.

Add in multiple losses to both the University of New Orleans and Tulane and it surely looked like LSU was going to disappoint in the postseason again – much like the team has done multiple times in the past several seasons since winning the National Championship in 2009.

But then something clicked.


Somewhere in the final stages of the season, the Tigers got hot and started finding ways to win games.

A lot of national media analysts like to talk about the Alabama series being a starting point because LSU swept the series and never looked back since.

Of course, before that series, senior shortstop Kramer Robertson said during an interview that the team’s struggles were his fault because he was a senior leader who was not performing at a high level.


When things turned around (and Robertson started playing well during the surge), that day sort of became the moment where LSU baseball turned itself around.

But the Tide are absolutely awful in baseball – a historically bad club that the Tigers were going to sweep regardless.

I think the real starting point for LSU’s surge was a mid-week loss against South Alabama on May 9 at Alex Box Stadium – a week after that Alabama series.


After that loss, local media snapped and were highly critical of the Tigers for all of their mid-week shortcomings throughout the season.

LSU fans on social media also exploded in rage and seemed to panic for the first time all season.

But the Tigers’ clubhouse never caved.


After the South Alabama loss, LSU won-out to close the regular season – seven-straight wins. They then swept the SEC Tournament to earn a national seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The team’s shortcomings throughout the season were now suddenly past-tense. The pitching was superb with Alex Lange catching fire in the back-end of the season and freshman Eric Walker emerging as a threat. In the back-end of the game, LSU also found a gem in Zack Hess – a guy who, for my dollar, is the best college baseball player in the country.

Offensively, the Tigers inserted Zack Watson into the lineup as an every-day player, while also settling on Michael Papierski as the full-time starting catcher.


Both moves paid off, as both guys helped ignite an offense which also heavily reaped the benefits of smooth swings from Robertson, Cole Freeman, Greg Deichmann and others along the way.

Once in the NCAA Tournmaent, LSU rolled through both the Regional and Super Regional to make it to the College World Series – all without a loss.

Since getting there, the Tigers have been the darlings of the tournament, overcoming an embarrassing 13-1 loss against Oregon State to win three-straight games in four days to advance to the Championship Series against Florida.


What happened next wasn’t known at the time of our deadline.

The Tigers could be the National Champions already or they may be out of the tournament as the runners-up.

But to me, it matters not.


This LSU baseball team is a success story regardless of how the final games end up.

To go this far after such a rough start to the season is a sign of perseverance that not many teams around the country has.

To lose to a Herculean club like No. 1 Oregon State by a 13-1 score, then battle back and beat the same team two days in a row is impressive – as impressive an accomplishment as we’ve seen in a while in college baseball.


These Tigers are winners – with or without a national championship.

And I know I speak for literally thousands of fans in the Houma-Thibodaux area when I say that they’ve made a lot of folks proud – especially in these past few weeks.

LSU baseball


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