FW

If we don't host, that is probably why (midweek losses), but if we win the first 2 (3) games of the AAC Tournament and ULL doesn't do well in the Sun Belt, I think we host. Our RPI is 27 and went from 35 or 36 to 27 after beating Houston twice, and UH's RPI was in the 60s. At 39 or 40-17, RPI between 22-25, ranked 11-14, with our overall resume, I think we have a very good shot.

Duester has been the midweek guy for most of the season, but he's also been one of our most consistent pitchers, and when "on," he has the best stuff on the staff. Merrill has been the Friday night starter, but I wouldn't say he's the "ace," and he has struggled with his control his last couple of starts. Also, everyone keeps saying they weren't impressed with Duester, and that's fine, but in the game in Baton Rouge he held LSU to 1 earned run in 5 innings on 4 hits with 3 Ks and 0 BBs. The bullpen imploded when he left the game. And, the real reason he's starting is because Wilmington's lineup is full of lefties, and Duester has the best stuff against lefties.

Lastly, for those saying we're going to go 2 and bbq or 1-2, we might, but I (and a lot of Tulane fans) love what Coach Pierce is doing, and has done all year. He's playing to win the regional, not to win the game. This is completely different than what Rick Jones did. Rick Jones did wonderful things for Tulane baseball, but he often managed scared in big situations (see our performances in Omaha). We're probably not going to do a lot in this regional, but we have a young team, made up of all of Jones' players. We're rebuilding. We haven't been to the postseason since 2008 after going 9 straight years from '98-06 (and again in '08) which included 2 trips to Omaha. Pierce has been to 15 straight postseasons as an assistant and head coach. I'm not sure if we'll get back to where we were in the early 2000s, but we're not going to be where we were from 2007-2014.

Now, back to the game, who is LSU starting?

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FW, you may want to correct this post. This is not correct.

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I did. LSU acutally has in the past (not sure if they still do) listed both paid and actual. It would look something like this

Attendance: 7,500 (4,827)

LSU has better support than Tulane in baseball, but LSU often has a "sellout" and the actual attendance is in the 3,000s. At least this was true in the "Old Box." Not sure how LSU is "actually" drawing now.

Either way, I think most knowledgeable LSU fans know this isn't 1995. Tulane does not treat LSU the same way it did 15 years ago. Whether LSU fans want to believe it or not, Tulane views this as a big mid-week game for RPI purposes, but the players and coaches don't see this is as any bigger of a game than if we were playing a similar type opponent (RPI, Ranking, Record, etc.). Sure we have fans who want to beat LSU more than anything, but don't kid yourselves into thinking you don't have fans who still value a win over Tulane more than a win over Nicholls or another mid-week in-state opponent. And lastly, if you asked every single player on Tulane I can guarantee they'd trade a C-USA win for a midweek win over LSU.

The 17-12 record means it's not an aberration when we beat you and therefore our team was not celebrating like that because they beat LSU and that made the season, but because it was a dramatic win against the #2 team in the nation at a much needed time in a season where we've lost most of our close games. But continue to think we would rather go 2-54 with those 2 wins being against LSU than 54-2 with 2 losses to LSU.

He's started 12 of 19 games this year and is hitting .256 with 1 HR and 9 RBI. His HR was a big three run bomb at UC-Irvine.