FOR MY 10,000th POST:

BASEBALL AT THE BOX IS BACK!!!!!!!!

LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri enters his eighth season in Baton Rouge with a highly optimistic outlook as he seeks to lead the Tigers to their second straight College World Series appearance in Omaha, Neb.

The Tigers open the 2014 season at 7 p.m. Friday in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field as they play host to the University of New Orleans. The game is part of the weekend’s Major League Baseball Urban Invitational, an event designed to promote the sport of baseball among inner-city youth.

LSU, the 2013 SEC Western Division and SEC Tournament champion, was the NCAA Tournament No. 4 National Seed last season. LSU played host to and won both the NCAA Regional and Super Regional and earned the 16th CWS berth in school history. The Tigers’ 57 victories last season matched the SEC record, and LSU posted the nation’s best winning percentage (57-11, .838). “We’re heading into the season with a lot of new players and some outstanding returning veterans that will form the core of our team,” Mainieri said. “We think we’ve assembled an excellent group of players that are willing to work extremely hard. We created a highly competitive atmosphere during fall practice, and the players responded very well. As a staff, we need to continue to figure out how the pieces of the puzzle will fit together to give us another ball club that will challenge for a berth in Omaha.” To read more, go to lsusports.net

Inning summaries and game stats are brought to you once again by Astro

LSU Pitching:
W- Aaron Nola 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 HBP, 6 K
Joe Broussard 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
S- Kurt McCune 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
TEAM: 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 HBP, 10 K

UNO Pitching:
L- Ray Winter 5.0+ IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 2 K
Darren McKigney 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K
Seth Laigast 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
TEAM: 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 3 K

UNO Lineup:
1) Dane Landry 0 for 3, HBP, 2 K
2) Mitchell Alexander 0 for 4, K
3) Reese Kanter 1 for 4, 2B, K
4) Cameron Hoffman 1 for 4, 2 K
5) Zach Liberto 1 for 4, K
6) Jonathan Coco 0 for 3
--Hezekiah Randolph 0 for 1, K
7) Sammy Capielano 0 for 2, BB, HBP, K
8) Brian Dixon 1 for 3
9) Chaz Boyer 0 for 2, HBP, K, CS
TEAM: 4 for 30 (.133), 2B, 2 BB, 3 HBP, 10 K

LSU Lineup:
1) Sean McMullen 0 for 3, BB, 2 K
2) Mark Laird 1 for 3, 2B, BB
3) Alex Bregman 2 for 3, BB, RBI
4) Jared Foster 0 for 4
5) Chris Chinea 0 for 4
6) Christian Ibarra 1 for 4, 2B, R
7) Tyler Moore 1 for 4, K
8) Kade Scivicque 0 for 2, HBP, SF, RBI
9) Conner Hale 2 for 4, R
TEAM: 7 for 31 (.226), 2B, 3 BB, 1 HBP, SF, 2 RBI, 2 R

Top 1
Landry hit by the pitch
Alexander grounded out to 1st, Landry to 2nd (1 out)
Kanter flied out to center (2 outs)
Hoffman struck out swinging (3 outs)
0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB; After a half inning, it's UNO 0, LSU coming to bat

Bot 1
McMullen struck out swinging (1 out)
Laird popped out to 3rd (2 outs)
Bregman walked
Foster popped out to 1st (3 outs)
0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB; 0-0 after 1

Top 2
Liberto grounded out to 2nd (1 out)
Coco flied out to center (2 outs)
Capielano struck out looking (3 outs)
0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB; 0-0 after 1.5

Bot 2
Chinea flied out to right (1 out)
Ibarra flied out to left (2 outs)
Moore grounded to 1st and reached on an error by the pitcher
Scivicque popped out to short (3 outs)
0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB; 0-0 after 2

Top 3
Dixon grounded out to 2nd (1 out)
Boyer hit by the pitch
On the 0-0 strike, Boyer caught stealing 2-6 (2 outs)
Landry struck out swinging (3 outs)
0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB; 0-0 after 2.5

Bot 3
Hale singled to right center
McMullen struck out swinging (1 out)
Laird doubled to left on a hit and run, Hale to 3rd
Bregman RBI singled to right, Hale scored, Laird to 3rd, Bregman to 2nd on the throw; 1-0 Tigers
Foster grounded to 3rd, Laird thrown out at home, Bregman to 3rd, Foster holds 1st (2 outs)
Chinea flied out to left (3 outs)
1 R, 3 H, 0 E, 2 LOB; 1-0 LSU after 3

Top 4
Alexander struck out swinging (1 out)
Kanter doubled to right center
Hoffman grounded out to short, Kanter to 3rd (2 outs)
Liberto flied out to left (3 outs)
0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB; 1-0 LSU after 3.5

Bot 4
Ibarra flied out to right (1 out)
Moore flied out to left (2 outs)
Scivicque hit by the pitch
Hale singled up the middle, Scivicque thrown out at 3rd (3 outs)
0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB; 1-0 LSU after 4

Top 5
Coco grounded out to the pitcher (1 out)
Capielano hit by the pitch
Dixon singled to center, Capielano to 2nd
Boyer struck out swinging, runners hold (2 outs)
Landry flied out to right (3 outs)
0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 2 LOB; Halfway home at SBF-ABS, the Tigers lead 1-0

Bot 5
McMullen grounded out 1st to the pitcher (1 out)
Laird reached on a fielding error by the 2nd baseman
On a 1-0 count, balk is called advancing Laird to 2nd
Bregman hard grounder off the 3rd baseman, Laird advanced to 3rd
Foster popped out foul to 1st, runners hold (2 outs)
Chinea flied out to center (3 outs)
0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 2 LOB; 1-0 LSU after 5

Top 6
Alexander flied out to left (1 out)
Kanter struck out looking (2 outs)
Hoffman singled through the right side
Liberto singled on a bloop on the infield to 3rd, Hoffman to 2nd
Coco popped out to 3rd on the infield (3 outs)
0 R, 2 H, 0 E, 2 LOB; 1-0 LSU after 5.5

Bot 6
Ibarra doubled down the left field line
Moore bunted down the 3rd base line, throw to 1st is not in time for a single, Ibarra to 3rd
UNO pitching change from Ray Winter to Darren McKigney
Scivicque sacrifice fly to deep center, Ibarra scored, Moore tagged to 2nd; 2-0 LSU (1 out)
Hale popped out to the shortstop in shallow left, Moore holds 2nd (2 outs)
McMullen walked, Moore holds 2nd
Laird walked, Moore to 3rd, McMullen to 2nd
Bregman flied out to right (3 outs)
1 R, 2 H, 0 E, 3 LOB; 2-0 LSU after 6

Top 7
LSU pitching change from Aaron Nola to Joe Broussard
Capielano walked
Dixon grounded out to short, Capielano to 2nd (1 out)
Boyer flied out to left, Capielano holds 2nd (2 outs)
Landry struck out swinging (3 outs)
0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB; 2-0 LSU at the stretch

Bot 7
Foster popped out foul to 1st (1 out)
Chinea flied out to right (2 outs)
Ibarra flied out to left (3 outs)
0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB; 2-0 LSU after 7

Top 8
Alexander flied out to left (1 out)
Kanter grounded out back to the mound (2 outs)
Hoffman struck out swinging (3 outs)
0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB; 2-0 LSU after 7.5

Bot 8
Moore struck out swinging (1 out)
Scivicque flied out to center (2 outs)
UNO pitching change from Darren McKigney to
Hale grounded out to short (3 outs)
0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB; 2-0 LSU after 8

Top 9
LSU pitching change from Joe Broussard to Kurt McCune
Liberto struck out looking (1 out)
Hezekiah Randolph pinch hit for Coco
Randolph struck out swinging, w/ throw to 1st (2 outs)
Capielano grounded out to 2nd (3 outs)
0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB; 2-0 Final - TIGERS WIN!!!

PANTS ON [OFF]

This post was edited on 2/14/14 at 9:59 pm