Former LSU players Brad Hawpe and Aaron Hill each found their experiences as Major League All-Stars to be rewarding. Hill, a second baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays, and Hawpe, an outfielder for the Colorado Rockies, made their All-Star Game debuts Tuesday night in St. Louis.With the game tied 3-3, Hawpe opened the bottom of the seventh for the National League with a drive to deep left field that would have landed in the bullpen. However, Tampa Bays Rays outfielder Carl Crawford leaped to rob the Rockies star.The American League took the lead in the top of the eighth and won, 4-3, so the Hawpe drive, against Red Sox right-hander Jonathan Papelbon, was pivotal. The catch earned Crawford the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award.”It was a good catch, obviously, especially a catch at the wall,” Hawpe told MLB.com. “For an outfielder to jump up there, what a catch. It was a fastball, a first-pitch fastball. I knew he had a good fastball, and I knew he was going to throw strikes. I just went up there looking for something in the middle of the plate.”Hawpe, who played at LSU from 1999-2000, viewed the experience as a way of making new acquaintances.”I’ve been with the Rockies my whole career, and that’s great,” he said. “But this gives me the opportunity to meet a lot of different people in both leagues.”Hill stepped in at second base for the American League’s elected starter, Dustin Pedroia, who had to forgo the All-Star Game for family reasons.Hill, who played at LSU from 2001-03, made three defensive plays, including a stop of a hard liner hit by NL leadoff batter Hanley Ramirez.Hill became the second Toronto player to start an All-Star Game at second base, joining Roberto Alomar (1991-94), and he said he was taken aback by the entire experience.”Where do you start? Look around this locker room and some of the name plates,” Hill told MLB.com. “I brought my camera and got a lot of good pictures. Everyone tells you to take it all in and enjoy the moment. That’s just what I’m trying to do.”—-Contact The Daily Reveille sports staff at [email protected]