Tigers getting ready for visit to Pacific Northwest

The Tigers have played host to regional tournaments in all but three of those 27 NCAA tournament appearances. So, it will be a pretty rare occurrence when LSU visits Corvallis (Ore.) for a regional tournament hosted by No. 3 national seed Oregon State this week.

Current Tigers players can consult with two members of the baseball staff when it comes to playing in a regional tournament on the road. Director of Player Development Micah Gibbs and student assistant coach Leon Landry were starters on the 2010 LSU squad which participated in a regional at UCLA.

The Tigers won a first-round game in extra innings against Cal Irvine before dropping a winners’ bracket game to the Bruins. LSU was eliminated in its next game by Cal Irvine. That tournament was held in Los Angeles at a small Jackie Robinson Stadium on the UCLA campus.

It will be another Pac-12 Conference venue for the Tigers this weekend – 3,000-seat Goss Stadium in Corvallis. Oregon State has some tradition with two national championships in the early 2000s. Last season, a favored Beavers team dropped two of three games to LSU at the College World Series.

LSU also beat Oregon State in the 2012 regional held at The Box. This time, the Tigers will be on the road in a place where the weather will be totally different from what they are accustomed to in early June. The high temperatures will be in the upper 60s and the low temperatures will be in the middle 40s.

“It’s definitely different when you get out there,” Gibbs said. “UCLA had a stadium with not as many seats as The Box. You try to learn from SEC road series. You are going there for the first time as an underdog. The biggest difference is going West and dealing with the time change.

“We tried to approach it just like a SEC weekend on the road. We took a charter flight and practiced the day before the regional started. It is a different opportunity for you since you are in the NCAA tournament. There is a lot more leading up to the tournament.”

The 2010 season when LSU was last on the road for a regional tournament was similar to the current campaign. The Tigers entered the 2010 SEC tournament as the No. 8 seed and on the NCAA tournament bubble in 2010. All that LSU team did was get the automatic bid by winning the SEC tourney.

The Tigers were again a No. 8 seed last week in the SEC tournament. LSU didn’t win the conference tourney, but it did reach the finals to get on the good side of the NCAA tournament bubble.

“We had a lot of ups and downs this year,” sophomore pitcher Todd Peterson said. “This was not your typical LSU team with 40 wins in (regular) season. We were fighting to win every game. Going into the SEC tournament, we didn’t even know if we were going to be in the NCAA tournament.

“We had to take it one game at a time. But, the Tigers played great in Hoover. We played with fire. We had our backs to the wall and we came back to play with heart.”

Many people consider one of the turning points in the success of the LSU baseball program happening in a road regional tournament. The Tigers were placed in a six-team regional at highly-regarded Texas A&M in 1989.

After losing its second game of the tournament to South Alabama, LSU roared back to win four straight games. The Tigers swept a doubleheader against the Aggies on the final day of the tournament. Two years later, LSU won its first national title under coach Skip Bertman.

“It’s going to be very exciting to play on the road,” sophomore centerfielder Zach Watson said. “It will be something different – something the Tigers haven’t done in eight years. The team is excited. We just have to play our best baseball.”

Here is the schedule for the Corvallis regional tournament. All times are Central.

Friday

Game 1: San Diego State vs. LSU, 3 p.m.

Game 2: Northwestern State vs. Oregon State, 9:30 p.m.

Saturday

Game 3: San Diego State-LSU loser vs. Northwestern State-Oregon State loser, 3 p.m.

Game 4: San Diego State-LSU winner vs. Northwestern State-Oregon State winner, 10 p.m.

Sunday

Game 5: Winner game 3 vs. loser game 4, 2 p.m.

Game 6: Winner game 5 vs. winner game 4, 8 p.m.

Monday

Game 7: Same teams as game 6, 9 p.m. (if necessary)

Here is a breakdown of the teams in the Corvallis regional tournament.

OREGON STATE

Seed: No. 1

Head coach: Pat Casey

Current record: 44-10-1, overall; 20-9-1, Pac-12

Results against teams in NCAA tournament: 4-0 against Hartford, 2-0 against Missouri State, 2-0 against Ohio State, 1-0 against Gonzaga, 2-1 against Fullerton, 2-1 against Stanford, 2-1 against UCLA, 2-1 against Washington

Team Statistics

Batting average: .318

ERA: 3.43

Fielding percentage: .979

Top Hitters

C Adley Rutschman, So. -- .391 BA, 6 HR, 63 RBI

OF Steven Kwan, Jr. -- .353 BA, 1 HR, 34 RBI

SS Cadyn Grenier, Jr. -- .335 BA, 4 HR, 42 RBI

OF Trevor Larnach, Jr. -- .324 BA, 17 HR, 64 RBI

Top Pitchers

Luke Heimlich, Sr. – 105 IP, 14-1, 2.49 ERA

Bryce Fehmel, Jr. – 90 IP, 9-1, 2.81 ERA

Brandon Eisert, So. – 42 IP, 4-3, 5 saves, 2.81 ERA

Jake Mulholland, So. – 36 IP, 1-2, 14 saves, 2.50 ERA

LSU

Seed: No. 2

Head coach: Paul Mainieri

Current record: 37-25, overall; 15-15, SEC

Results against team in NCAA tournament: 1-0 against Northwestern State, 3-1 against Arkansas, 3-1 against Mississippi State, 2-1 against Texas, 1-1 against Florida, 1-2 against Auburn, 1-2 against Texas A&M, 1-2 against Vanderbilt, 1-3 against Ole Miss, 1-3 against South Carolina

Team Statistics

Batting average: .285

ERA: 4.68

Fielding percentage: .980

Top Hitters

OF Antoine Duplantis, Jr. -- .337 BA, 2 HR, 47 RBI

OF Daniel Cabrera, Fr. -- .330 BA, 8 HR, 52 RBI

1B Austin Bain, Sr. -- .307 BA, 3 HR, 42 RBI

OF Zach Watson, So. -- .304 BA, 6 HR, 32 RBI

Top Pitchers

Ma’Khail Hilliard, Fr. – 76 IP, 9-5, 3.79 ERA

Zack Hess, So. – 89 IP, 7-5, 4.43 ERA

Nick Bush, So. – 43 IP, 1-1, 2 saves, 3.16 ERA

Todd Peterson, So. – 45 IP, 1-3, 5 saves, 4.60 ERA

SAN DIEGO STATE

Seed: No. 3

Head coach: Mark Martinez

Current record: 39-19, overall; 18-12, Mountain West

Results against team in NCAA tournament: 1-0 against Washington, 2-1 against Fullerton, 0-1 against Arkansas

Team Statistics

Batting average: .305

ERA: 3.90

Fielding percentage: .973

Top Hitters

OF Chase Calabuig, Sr. -- .359 BA, 5 HR, 46 RBI

1B Jordan Verdon, Jr. -- .341 BA, 12 HR, 65 RBI

DH Chad Bible, Jr. -- .333 BA, 9 HR, 42 RBI

SS David Hensley, Sr. -- .316 BA, 3 HR, 34 RBI

Top Pitchers

Garrett Hill, Jr. – 75 IP, 7-2, 3.58 ERA

Harrison Pyatt, Jr. – 71 IP, 4-4, 4.44 ERA

Jorge Fernandez, Sr. – 60 IP, 6-3, 6 saves, 4.65 ERA

Casey Schmitt, Fr. – 32 IP, 1-1, 9 saves, 0.28 ERA

NORTHWESTERN STATE

Seed: No. 4

Head coach: Bobby Barbier

Current record: 37-22, overall; 18-12, Southland

Results against teams in NCAA tournament: 0-1 against LSU, 0-2 against Texas A&M

Team Statistics

Batting average: .271

ERA: 3.33

Fielding percentage: .970

Top Hitters

1B David Fry, Sr. -- .336 BA, 12 HR, 55 RBI

OF Kwon Adkins, Sr. -- .323 BA, 2 HR, 24 RBI

DH J.P. Lagreco, Jr. -- .289 BA, 4 HR, 35 RBI

OF Tyler Smith, So. -- .235 BA, 5 HR, 38 RBI

Top Pitchers

Ridge Heisler, Jr. – 90 IP, 7-2, 3.01 ERA

Jerry Maddox, Jr. – 80 IP, 7-2, 2.03 ERA

Dan Hlad, Sr. – 56 IP, 3-2, 3 saves, 2.73 ERA

Jose Vasquez, Jr. – 37 IP, 6-1, 4 saves, 2.17 ERA