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The LSU Tigers haven't had the best of seasons, something most of their fans aren't used to, but a bad season for the Tiger's is probably okay in most other team's books, it's just that the fans in Louisiana expect a trip to the World Series every year, and a win in most years.
Now the Tigers are preparing to host their 17th regional, and planning on erasing the memory of a rather poor year by their standards, by success in the regionals and beyond. Carrying the No. 1 Seed into the regionals, the Tigers will match up against Marist on Friday in the first game of the day. The second game is Northwestern State against the No. 2 seed Rice, with the losers scheduled to meet up on Saturday morning and the winners Saturday night.
Surprisingly to me, the Tigers are ranked No. 13 in the nation, a designation I think is heavily influenced by past performance, with LSU falling in the SEC Tournament after just a pair of games. The team from Baton Rouge has the mindset of forgetting recent history and concentrating on the next game, something they'll have to do if they want to end up playing in the Super Regionals. Should they advance that far, the chances are they'll be playing against their in state rival Tulane, a team that has lived up to it's billing as the No. 1 team in the nation pretty convincingly. The last time these two met in a Super Regional, Tulane came out on top and advanced to the World Series, which was in 2001.
The Marist Red Foxes are the top team in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this year, sporting a record of 33-19. They've had the pleasure of playing in Louisiana earlier this year, having made the trip down to Tulane, where they were swept in their series against the Green Wave. Laval said on Monday that he had no good information about the Red Foxes, knowing only that their top pitcher was a left hander. That lefty is Chris Tracz, who has been impressive all year, with a 9-3 record and not having given up a home run in 98 innings. He's backed by reliever Robert Ryan.