LSU Tigers Baseball

2008 LSU TIGERS BASEBALL

Congrats to LSU. The Tigers won the 2008 SEC Baseball Tournament!!

They then won the Baton Rouge NCAA Regional and got their 23rd straight win. However, in the Super Regional's, LSU faced a tough UC-Irvine team. In the best of 3 series, the Tigers lost the first game and were down by 3 runs going into the 9th inning in the second game. So, LSU was 3 outs from elimination.

But, they pulled out a comeback for the ages scoring 5 runs in the 9th inning; winning the game and tying up the series. Then, LSU went on to pummel UC-Irvine in the deciding 3rd game by a 21-7 score. So, they got into the 2008 College World Series.

In the first game of the CWS, LSU lost to UNC. They faced elimination in a second round game against Rice and were down 5-2 in the ninth. Amazingly the Tigers did it again scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth to win the game and stay alive in the CWS. The game winning hit was a 3 run double off the left field wall by Blake Dean. Amazing.

But, bummer -- they lost to UNC again 7-3 (in a game halted by rain and finished the next day) to knock them out of the CWS.

But, what a run! An amazing season. LSU baseball is what college baseball is all about!

Go Tigers!!
Prior Discussion:
The LSU Tigers baseball team was first formed in 1893 and has enjoyed season after season of continuous game play since 1905. Records indicate that there were baseball games played, with an undefeated record, for LSU before 1893 but all of the games were played only with local competition and there were no tournaments or other contests.

In the early 1900s the Tigers had many memorable seasons, coaches and players, including the first SEC title in 1939 and conference titles in 1939 and 1943. The first conference title they won was in 1946, and then another in 1965. Though it was 10 years later before the team would win another conference. It was also in 1975, under the coaching of Jim Smith, the LSU Tigers became the first of the University to participate in the NCAA Tournament.

LSU Baseball Hit

LSU Baseball Hit Thanks to bjmillican at flickr.com for the picture .

The baseball years of 1984 to 2001 are known as the Bertman Years due to the team coach being Skip Bertman. Bertman spent 18 years coaching for the LSU Tigers baseball team and before that he had tenure at Baton Rogue, was an associate head coach at UM for 8 years, and 11 years at the Miami Beach High School.

During Bertman’s 18 years with the LSU Tigers baseball team he led the team to a record of 870-330-3 that awarded him the highest percentage of wins of any SEC coach. The reign of Bertman was one of the most impressive for the Louisiana State University baseball program. The team won five national championships, 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, and 200, claimed seven SEC championships, 6 SEC Tournament Championships, 11 College World Series berths, nine 50-win seasons.

We rank Berman as the #1 all-time SEC baseball coach. See Best All-Time SEC Baseball Coach. You can also find out why we say the '96 LSU Tigers were the Best All-Time SEC Baseball Team.

LSU Baseball Pitch

LSU Baseball Pitch Thanks to bjmillican at flickr.com for the picture .

The team coach has been Raymond Laval since Bertman stepped down in 2001, until 2007. Laval is also known as “Smoke”. Since taking over the team Laval has lead the Tigers to two Top 10 finishes, one Southeastern Conference title, three NCAA Regional championships, two NCAA Super Regional titles, two College World Series berths, and two SEC division championships. In 2005 there were six LSU Tigers baseball players who were selected for the Major League Draft, which was the highest since 2001.

Last year, LSU was second only to Arkansas in fan attendance -- for all of college baseball. All-in-all, LSU's baseball history makes them the top all-time SEC baseball team. You can read more about that at Best All-Time SEC Baseball Program.

LSU Baseball Pitcher

LSU Baseball Pitcher Thanks to bjmillican at flickr.com for the picture .

For the 2007-2008 season the Tigers' coach is Paul Mainieri who was an outfielder for the team for his freshman year, where he lettered and met his wife. While Mainieri was coaching for Notre Dame that team maintained 11 40-win seasons, and nine 2002 College World Series conference titles and one berth. Mainieri has a coaching record of 864-492-4 for the span of his 24-year career as a head coach.

It is Mainieri’s hope to return the team to its full formidable glory. The record Mainieri maintains for all the teams he has coached in his career can give real promise to the fans. Even former coach Bertman sings the praises of Mainieri promising that if nothing else, the fans will be proud of the way the LSU Tigers baseball team plays under Mainieri’s coaching.

We think LSU will be strong again. Probably finish second in the SEC West. And, the future continues to look bright as Collegiate Baseball named LSU as the top college baseball recruiting school this past offseason. This is the 2d time in 4 years LSU baseball has won that award.

Make sure you don't miss out, get your Tickets, Merchandise and Apparel and Baseball Caps now.

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