Regular Season
LSU entered the regular season ranked #30 in the Collegiate Baseball poll and #34 in the NCBWA poll. They dropped from the ranking after the first weekend of play which saw the team win 2 out of 3 games against Indiana. The Tigers then rebounded and went on a 9 game winning streak before losing the last two games before Southeastern Conference play began.
In its first conference series of the year, LSU traveled to Knoxville, TN to face the Tennessee Volunteers. The Tigers were swept 3 games to none but were competitive in all games. LSU then defeated their rival Tulane in a midweek game at home before playing host to the Arkansas Razorbacks in another conference series. The Tigers won the series 2 games to 1.
After splitting two midweek games, including a tough loss to the University of New Orleans, LSU headed to Gainesville, FL for a conference series again Florida. The Tigers lost the first two games of the series but salvaged the last one and rode a 4 game winning streak until finally losing to Alabama in game two of their series. But the Tigers won the third game of the series and improved to a 5-7 record in SEC games.
Next on the schedule was rival Ole Miss. The Tigers lost the first game 2-1 in a close matchup and then proceeded to lose the next game as well. LSU managed an 8-2 win on Sunday to avoid the sweep.
After a midweek game against Nicholls State, the Tigers traveled to Maestri Field for their second of three games again the University of New Orleans. New Orleans again pulled away late and won the game by a score of 6-5.
Georgia then came into Alex Box Stadium for a conference series. At the time Georgia led the SEC and would eventually go on to be the SEC champions. The Tigers played the Bulldogs tough but Georgia managed to win the first two games. In the Sunday game, LSU blew a lead and allowed Georgia to tie the game and send it into extra innings. After 12 innings of play the travel curfew rule came into effect and a tie was declared.
After the Georgia debacle the Tigers had a 6-11-1 conference record and looked to be on the outside looking in for the SEC Baseball Tournament.
The Tigers were able to turn things around, however, as they began a winning streak that they rode all the way to the end of the regular season and into the postseason.
They started the streak in New Orleans against bitter rival Tulane. They then continued it into their conference series again South Carolina, who was at that time a top-10 team. LSU managed an improbable sweep against the Gamecocks and then moved on to a series against Kentucky in Cliff Hagan Stadium. At that time the Wildcats had only lost 2 games all season in their home stadium. The Tigers again pulled off the improbably sweep and they were now sitting at 12-11-1 in conference, the first time all season that they had been over .500 in conference games.
Mississippi State came into Alex Box Stadium for the final 3 regular season games ever to be held in that stadium. The fans showed up in droves to see the Tigers sweep their third straight conference foe and send "the Box" out in style.
Next up for the Tigers was their final regular season game against the University of New Orleans in the annual Wally Pontiff Jr. Classic at Zephyr Field in Metairie, LA. New Orleans had already won the previous two meeting and they were riding a 13 game win streak coming in to this one. It was the longest winning streak in college baseball. LSU's streak was in second place at 12 games. It looked like New Orleans might extend their winning streak but the Tigers pulled ahead late in the game and won it.
Their final 3 regular season games came against a slumping Auburn team in Auburn, AL. LSU swept their 4th straight conference series and finished the regular season with a 39-16-1 record and a 18-11-1 conference record. Georgia won the outright SEC title but LSU was able to win the SEC West division title. The Tigers headed into the SEC Baseball Tournament as the #2 seed in to tournament.
Read more about this topic: 2008 LSU Tigers Baseball Team
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