LSU Tigers

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Who would have thought the Cape Cod League would prove to be a preview for the LSU-Stony Brook Super Regional?

When the third and deciding game between LSU and Stony Brook starts 12:05 p.m. Sunday at LSU's Alex Box Stadium, the 2011 Cape Cod League Pitcher of the Year, LSU right-hander Ryan Eades, will toe the rubber against the reigning Cape Cod League Player of the Year, Stony Brook leadoff hitter Travis Jankowski, who was drafted in the supplemental first round by the San Diego Padres in the MLB draft on Monday.

Eades (5-2, 3.55 ERA), a sophomore, has been a mainstay in the LSU weekend rotation, making his turn in all 16 Tiger weekends this season. His 17th start will be to continue the season, and the Tigers are hoping for some of the magic that made him so good at the Cape as opposed to being the LSU pitcher that gets batted around the most.

Opponents hit .287 against the sophomore from Slidell, La., and he has made a habit of working his way out of trouble and "hanging in" his starts. Stony Brook, which has 20 hits in the first two games of the super regional, hasn't been a team that allows pitchers who flirt with trouble to get off the hook.

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BATON ROUGE -- There are five giant letters staring players in the face when they do their "postgame" press conferences at LSU's Alex Box Stadium.

Hung on the wall across from the microphones in big, bold font, the letters spell out "Omaha" for all to see. It's quite a mental image considering the two teams answering the questions, Stony Brook (50-12) and No. 7 LSU (46-16), are two wins away from Omaha, Neb., and a trip to the College World Series.

That pressure is more than enough for all 16 teams in this Super Regional round of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. But it will be a bit more for the Tigers and Seawolves on Saturday after one of the most surreal afternoons in LSU baseball history.

The Tigers opened their Super Regional against the Seawolves on Friday morning, as they have many times in the past.

Unlike past years though, Friday's game did not end. Instead, a titanic extra-inning battle between the two teams was suspended until Saturday morning by apocalyptic rainfall and nearby lightning. Game 1 will resume in the top of the 12th inning Saturday morning at 10:05 a.m., with Stony Brook coming to the plate in a 4-4 tie.

"It's a unique situation -- we'll both wake up tomorrow and come out here early in the morning, and who knows how long the first game is going to last," LSU coach Paul Mainieri said.

Game 2 will begin just 50 minutes after the deadlock is decided, meaning that Saturday morning's loser will have less than an hour to digest its fortunes before appearing in an elimination game with Omaha at stake.

"It's a funny situation, because not many chances is it a 0-0 (series) with Omaha on the line in one day," center fielder Mason Katz said. "But we still have to finish this first game. We're not talking about the second game, because we've got to do our job in the first game."

As strange as the situation seems, it might be the only fitting conclusion for a game as absurd as Friday's. Playing in front of an impressive weekday-morning crowd of 9,222, the Tigers seemed certain to drop the opener in an abysmal offensive performance that saw them knock just three hits in seven innings.

Stony Brook stranded 12 runners, but needed just a two-run shot from left fielder Sal Intagliata to hold a 2-1 advantage as the game wound toward what seemed to be the end.

Then came the game-saving rallies -- yes, there were multiple -- when the LSU offense rose from the dead to tie the Seawolves on three separate occasions. It began innocently enough, when LSU second baseman JaCoby Jones smacked a leadoff home run into left field to open the ninth inning, tying the score, 2-2. In a venue as renowned for late-game heroics as LSU, this part was almost expected.

"I asked (Mainieri) if he wanted me to take the first pitch or swing away, and he said to hit it out," Jones said.

What wasn't expected was the Seawolves' counter punch at the start of extra innings, when left fielder Steven Goldstein crushed a solo homer of his own to retake the lead, 3-2.

The Alex Box crowd had the relief of Jones' shot coming with no outs, but things weren't so easy the second time around. Two quick outs sent pitch-hitting first baseman Tyler Moore to the plate with his prospects looking bleak. The freshman battled to a full count and, on the Tigers last strike of the afternoon, he delivered more magic -- another game-tying homer.

"I was just trying to stay alive and hit something hard in play," Moore said.

Enough is enough. Two separate home runs to save the game for an LSU squad at the end of its rope. Surely the drama was over, and that certainly seemed to be the case when the Seawolves took the lead in the 11th inning on a sacrifice fly.

Of course, on the third pitch of the bottom of the 11th frame, Katz proved that line of logic wrong with another game-tying solo shot -- the Tigers' third in three straight innings. Even in the magical Alex Box, the euphoria was tinged with a hint of the surreal.

"We heard a lot about the eighth-inning magic and ninth-inning magic, and we've been a very resilient team," Katz said. "We have a good group of guys that, in any situation, no one gives up."

With so much drama on display, the eventual downpour seemed destined to happen -- a bizarre finish to a bizarre day. And if the two teams can dodge the rain drops Saturday, someone just might punch a ticket to Omaha in one afternoon.

BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU wouldn't die and the game wouldn't end.

So they'll finish it Saturday.

The Tigers hit tying home runs in three straight innings where they were facing defeat and fought their way to a 4-4 tie with Stony Brook through 11 innings in the first game of their super regional Friday at Alex Box Stadium. Heavy rain fell before the start of the 12th inning, so the game will be resumed Saturday morning at 10:05 a.m. CDT. Game two, originally set for 11 a.m., will start 50 minutes after the completion of the first game.

JaCoby Jones, Tyler Moore and Mason Katz all hit game-tying solo home runs in the bottom of the ninth, 10th and 11th innings, respectively, to tie the game after Stony Brook built one-run leads in the top of each inning. The rain delay started at 3:08 p.m. and the game was called 2 1/2 hours later.

BATON ROUGE – It's odd that on a weekend when LSU will play the role of the college baseball version of the New York Yankees, the underdog in the story will come from the Empire State.

While LSU (46-16), the six-time national champion and No. 7 national seed, will be the heavy favorite for its Super Regional matchup against upstart Stony Brook at Alex Box Stadium, the Tigers are hardly thinking of the America East Conference champion as the No. 4 seed that caught lightning in a bottle to win the Coral Gables, Fla., regional last week.

"I wouldn't even call them an underdog or a four seed," LSU shortstop Austin Nola said. "I look at them as a No. 1 seed, like us. They are just as good as us. They have great players on their side and they have a lot of talent."

While LSU fans who are considering making it out to the ballpark for the 11 a.m., made-for-TV start times for the first two games of the Super Regional might never have heard of Stony Brook, baseball people certainly have. The Seawolves (50-12) have the most victories of any team in college baseball and the most in the nation in the last two seasons (92).

LSU coach Paul Mainieri pointed out that seven Stony Brook players were drafted in the MLB First-Year Player Draft earlier this week, two more than those drafted from LSU.

Mainieri said Tigers fans might not fully appreciate it. He said the media will play up the underdog storyline. His team, however, has the proper respect.

"If they beat us, it will be because they outplayed us," Mainieri said, "and not because we take them lightly."

Nola played in the Cape Cod League last summer, playing with and against six Seawolves, including three Cape Cod League all-stars. Not only did Stony Brook's players impress Nola and other Tigers on the Cape, it gave Seawolves players confidence that they could compete with big-name, Sun Belt programs. In Coral Cables, Stony Brook beat Miami, Missouri State and Central Florida.

"With a half dozen of our guys playing in the cape last year, I think they've gotten into a comfort zone that 'these guys are very much like ourselves,' " Stony Brook coach Matt Senk said. "With a half dozen guys there, three making the all-star team and one being asked to be in the home run derby, they became very comfortable with their level of play and their abilities."

It's translated into a season in which the Seawolves have hit .336 as a team, and they haven't just been piling on against weak competition. Stony Brook scored 50 runs in the Coral Gables Regional. The Seawolves have eight regulars hitting better than .300, led by center fielder Travis Jankowski (.417), a supplemental first-round draft pick of the San Diego Padres this week.

They'll face LSU's outstanding pitching staff. Tigers ace Kevin Gausman (11-1, 272 ERA), the No. 4 overall pick in the draft by Baltimore, will get the Saturday start against Stony Brook's No. 1, right-hander Tyler Johnson (11-1, 2.13). Both aces had their starts pushed back a day after extensive regional work. Johnson started twice in Coral Gables, the second on two days' rest. Gausman threw a season-high 129 pitches in his win Saturday over Oregon State.

On Friday, LSU will start freshman right-hander Aaron Nola (7-4, 3.66) against Stony Brook sophomore Brandon McNitt (8-3, 2.69).

For a program that churns out talent at the rate of LSU, sitting at No. 13 in the first ESPN team football recruiting rankings for 2013 is probably a little low for most Tigers fans' tastes.

But it's a bit crazy to think back to where this ranking would stand a month ago. In April and the beginning of May, there was legitimate concern among LSU fans that the Tigers' recruiting efforts were going slowly. Much-needed quarterback prospects were slipping off the board, and most of the big names were staying mum on their decisions. In that time span, things have warmed up.

The Tigers have landed seven commitments since the beginning of May, a hot streak that has seen them add ESPN 150 offensive tackle Ethan Pocic, ESPN 300 quarterback Hayden Rettig and ESPN 300 defensive end Frank Herron, among others. The bevy of commitments have seen LSU address several of its big question marks for this class -- most notably defensive end and quarterback.

It's a good lesson to keep in mind: national signing day is still far off. With a huge summer camp looming in July, not to mention the festivities of official visits during the season and the inevitable surge of activity next January, a lot can change in a short amount of time. Last month the Tigers had nine commits; now, the class is starting to look a bit crowded with 16 members.

LSU has paid a surprising amount of attention to offense in the early going. Pocic and Rettig carry the day as the two biggest offensive stars, and they both come not only at positions of need but positions of importance -- quarterback and offensive tackle are two of the three most important positions in football, according to the adage.

Following that logic, the third important position is defensive end, and the Tigers are addressing that need as well with two so far in this class. Herron's status as a ESPN 300 member jumps out immediately, but he is joined by Winnfield, La., product Michael Patterson, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound three-star in his own right.

Given the type of all-world classes being assembled at places like Florida, Georgia and Alabama, it's easy to understand the middling No. 13 ranking in Baton Rouge -- for the time being. But a quick glance through the class shows that the Tigers are assembling much better talent than one would expect from the 13th team.

An eye-opening 10 of LSU's commitments to this point are rated as four-star prospects -- which is more than the Tigers picked up in their entire 2012 class. There is quality talent across the board -- be it the Tigers' five potential wide receiver commitments, highlighted by four-star receiver Chuck Baker and four-star athlete John Diarse, who could line up at either receiver or safety.

Even the Tigers' unrated prospects offer some intrigue. At 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, junior college commitment Quantavius Leslie offers the possibility of a big, college-ready deep threat who could complement LSU's current batch of smaller receivers like Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry. LSU's other junior college commitment, tight end Logan Stokes, is interesting in that he has just 58 career receiving yards to his name -- but the coaches are excited by the mismatch opportunities to be caused by a 6-foot-4, 240-pound target with sure hands.

With all of that in mind, No. 13 isn't where any LSU fan wants to see the Tigers end up. But considering how things have changed in just a month, it's a strong start.

BATON ROUGE, La. – There's nothing like sipping your morning coffee around the batting cage.

That's what LSU and Stony Brook will be doing this weekend for their Super Regional series at Alex Box Stadium. The series has drawn the early start for ESPN2 with Friday and Saturday games starting at 11 a.m. and the if-necessary game on Sunday scheduled for noon.

For the players, the early start matters little.

"We played at 9:30 in the morning (at the SEC tournament), but once we toed it up, you forget what time of day it is," shortstop Austin Nola said. "Our mentality was, we're going to beat these guys no matter what. That's the mentality. Once you get on the field, you're ready to go."

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