After covering 55 innings of postseason baseball last week, I couldn’t help but think of the stories this stadium could tell. Here are my top five postseason moments in Alex Box Stadium history.
5. The Inning to End all Innings – May 26, 1996 Gorilla ball reached record heights during the six-team 1996 Baton Rouge Regional. In a time before super regionals, Georgia Tech was the only team standing in the way of another trip to Omaha for the Tigers. Leading 10-7 in the seventh, the Tigers exploded for an NCAA-record 18 runs in the inning to annihilate the Yellow Jackets, 29-13. LSU hit an NCAA record eight doubles, and Georgia Tech used six pitchers, four of whom couldn’t record an out.
“Honestly, the way we played today it felt like we could have been playing the Yankees,” said second baseman Warren Morris.
4. Brad Cresse’s Monster Game – May 27, 2000 Before he had a dream about hitting the single that brought Ryan Theriot to win the College World Series, Brad Cresse had to get LSU to Omaha first. The senior catcher belted three home runs against UL-Monroe in the second game of the 2000 Baton Rouge Regional, and the Tigers drubbed the Warhawks, 21-0. LSU scored 14 runs in the third inning, highlighted by Brad Hawpe’s bases-clearing double. The Tigers would go on to beat Stanford, 6-5, in the national title game, as Cresse’s dream became reality.
3. “Alex Box Magic” Debuts at the New Alex Box – June 3, 2012 It’s been a fixture in Paul Mainieri’s vernacular since he arrived on campus. “Alex Box magic” was never more evident than last Sunday, when Ty Ross and Alex Edward resurrected the LSU offense to give the Tigers an improbable 6-5 win in 10 innings. I, along with other writers, had begun writing the recap for a loss and were looking forward to a free Champion’s Club meal ticket for Monday night’s game. After Scott Schultz left the mound, the Oregon State bullpen imploded in the 10th, loading the bases with no outs, and Austin Nola scored on a wild pitch for the winning run. Nick Goody struck out the side to quiet his critics and send the Tigers into the super regionals.
2. Seahawks at the Box – June 1, 2003 In their first NCAA tournament appearance in school history, the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks won the affection of the home crowd when they defeated the hated Tulane Green Wave to set up a regional championship matchup with LSU. Leading 5-2 early against LSU, the Seahawks pushed the Tigers to the brink as the game went into extra innings. Jon Zeringue’s home run in the bottom of the eleventh ended the Seahawks’ Cinderella run and spurred the Tigers, seeded No. 2 nationally, to a CWS appearance. At the urging of the Alex Box crowd, the Seahawks took a victory lap around the stadium to the delight of the Tiger faithful, giving the most passionate Tiger fans goosebumps and prompting Seahawk first baseman Matt Wright to say, “I’m going to start pulling for LSU from here on out.”
1. Going out with a Bang – June 8-9, 2008 College baseball’s first Southern temple was closing its doors. As Jim Hawthorne would say, “my oh my,” what a way to go out. After visiting UC Irvine stopped the Tigers’ 23-game winning streak in the super regional opener, the Anteaters practically had a sweep in hand after a controversial hidden ball trick sucked the life out of a Tiger rally. Trailing 7-2 in the 8th inning, the Tigers mounted one final furious comeback, highlighted by a Ryan Schimpf RBI double in the ninth for a dramatic 9-7 win that Paul Mainieri claimed he “will always remember no matter what happens in the future.”
The Tigers closed the stadium the following day, June 9, with a 21-7 romp and 24 hits, sending LSU to Omaha and giving me one hell of a birthday present.