Just when most people had counted
out Smoke Laval and his Tigers, LSU came roaring back with the most dominating
performance of the season sweeping the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville, then
following up with two wins at Vanderbilt.
After taking two of three wins from
Ole Miss three weekends ago, fans thought the Tigers had righted the ship. But
coming out on the short end of an 11-8 decision against arch rival Tulane, the
boo-bears were out in force once again. However things seem to be back on track
with three decisive victories over the Hawgs then an impressive showing in
Nashville, a
particularly difficult place to play and win.
While Laval and these Tigers still have their critics, credit
must be given where credit is due and all the credit in the world to Laval and
his LSU club after marching into Fayetteville and dominating defending SEC
Co-Champion Arkansas. A year ago, Dave Van Horn’s club came into Baton Rouge and
swept the Tigers en route to the SEC Western Division title and a piece of the
league crown.
Laval and Co. repaid the favor over
the weekend behind a pair of the most dominating pitching performances in recent
years. Clay Dirks pitched a three-hit, complete game shutout and Greg Smith held
the Hawgs off the scoreboard on Sunday going the distance. LSU pitching held
Arkansas
scoreless the final five innings of Friday’s victory and the rest of the weekend
to produce 23 straight run-free frames of baseball.
Wow.
It was the first time two Tiger
pitchers combined for back-to-back complete game shutouts since Lane Mestepey
and Brian Wilson did so on consecutive Friday and Saturday starts in the 2002
season at Alex Box Stadium against who else – Arkansas.
The series versus the Commodores
was almost equally as impressive with Dirks and Smith doing their deal again,
with Smith getting his fourth straight shutout victory.
With three SEC series remaining
including a pair of home weekends against Kentucky and Tennessee, the LSU baseball team is in pretty
good shape. While it looked a few weeks back as if the Tigers could possibly
miss the SEC Tournament, a strong showing at Vanderbilt has Laval’s crew possibly in
the mix for the league title – but let’s not get too far ahead of
ourselves.
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If you want to know about Les
Miles’ football Tigers, our most recent is the issue for you.
We break down the Tigers position
by position and give you the inside scoop as to who we think is going here and
there. In our opinion, it is going to JaMarcus Russell under center and Evangel
Christian product Chase Pittman is likely going to fill the vacated spot at
defensive left empty by Marcus Spears.
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Speaking of Spears, the Baton Rouge native was
taken in the first round by the Dallas Cowboys in last weekend’s NFL Draft.
Several Tigers got tabbed in the draft, including Travis Daniels, who is going
to play for former coach Nick Saban down in Miami.
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Be looking in next week’s issue for
our special Spring Recruiting Preview. Recruiting Editor Sonny Shipp breaks down the hottest prospects for
next season in our exclusive spring recruiting edition. Get all the names,
heights and weights, along with Sonny’s take on who’s hot and who’s not with the
extended Tiger Rag Spring Top 30.
Matt Deville is the editor of Tiger
Rag Magazine. He can be reached by e-mail at matt@tigerrag.com.