On Monday, the NCAA announced the 64 collegiate baseball teams to earn the honor to be a part of the Division I national tournament, which will begin Friday at noon when the Missouri Tigers take on the Ole Miss Rebels. In preview of the regional tournaments that will be held this weekend, throughout the week our resident college baseball fanatic Rosenblogger will examine each individual regional:

Baton Rouge Regional

1. LSU Tigers (43-16) vs 4. Texas Southern Tigers (16-32)
2. Southern Miss Golden Eagles (40-20) vs 3. New Orleans Privateers (42-19)

**Winner to take on champion of Lincoln Regional.**

LSU comes rolling into the NCAA Tournament having swept through the SEC Tournament last week and currently riding a 20 game winning streak - the longest in the history of the storied Tigers’ baseball program. There will be a lot of excitement and emotion in Baton Rouge as it could possibly be the last weekend of baseball at historic Alex Box Stadium with the Tigers set to move into a new facility next season.

Blake Dean (.346, 16 HR, 57 RBI) and Matt Clark (.328, 22 HR, 52 RBI) lead a Tiger offense that has been tough to stop over the past month. Louisiana State has a solid group of pitchers, but they lack a dominant starting pitcher, which could hurt them in matchups later down the road. Most likely, Ryan Verdugo (8-2, 3.61 ERA) will take the bump for LSU in the opening game.

The role of Cinderella in this year’s tournament will be played by SWAC champion Texas Southern. The Other Tigers, as they’ll be referred to often this weekend, are sporting a 16-32 record and currently have an atrocious staff ERA of 8.93 (Rashad Ford’s 5.21 ERA is the best on the team). As SWAC Tournament champions, they earned their place in the regional, but they will be vastly overmatched.

Southern Miss features one of the nation’s best closers in Tyler Conn, who has 18 saves and an ERA of 1.02. If they are able to get Conn the ball with the lead, it could be lights out for their opponents. They will need solid outings from the starting pitchers, including senior right-hander Barry Bowden (8-3, 1.62 ERA, .190 opponent’s AVG, 75 K in 66.2 IP).

Southern Miss will face the Privateers of New Orleans in the opening game. New Orleans has an explosive offensive ball club that is averaging 9.1 runs per game, with six hitters having double digit home runs. Jeff Lanning (.382, 13 HR, 50 RBI) and Josh Vander Hey (.357, 12 HR, 71 RBI) lead the way for the UNO balanced attack.

On the mound, New Orleans has little depth, but they do feature Bryan Cryer (12-1, 3.00 ERA, 96 K in 96 IP) and Ryan O’Shea (3-2, 3.69 ERA 13 SV in 30 appearances), a solid starter and reliable reliever. If they want to advance deep in the postseason, they will need big contributions from a thin pitching staff.

Even though tickets are sold out for this weekends regional, fans shouldn’t expect this to be the last weekend of baseball played at Alex Box Stadium. The Tigers are playing some of the best baseball in the nation coming into the regional and will be the most talented team in Baton Rouge. LSU will advance to host the Super Regional.

Rosenblogger

Also, check out our other regional previews: Ann Arbor, Athens, Cary, College Station, Conway, Coral Gables, Fullerton, Houston, Lincoln, Long Beach, Palo Alto, Raleigh, Stillwater, Tallahassee, Tempe

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