As LSU celebrates its sesquicentennial, it’s a time for those affiliated with the University to reflect on different aspects of the institution. “[LSU] is something that people around the state should be very, very proud of,” said LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri. “My responsibility is to give this University a baseball program they can be proud of, and maybe that can be something that rallies the community and the region.”For most of its 112 seasons of existence, the LSU baseball team has certainly given fans enough from which to derive pride.The program has won six national titles in 15 College World Series appearances, made 23 NCAA Regional appearances and has won the Southeastern Conference 14 times. LSU played its first baseball game in 1893 and picked up a 10-8 win against Tulane. Since then, the program has seen varying degrees of success. From 1893-1926 the Tigers had 16 different head coaches, and only one — Doc Stroud — lasted for more than two seasons. Stroud coached from 1914-21 and amassed a .563 winning percentage. LSU would not taste championship success under Stroud, however.Its first Southeastern Conference championship would come under Harry Rabenhorst in 1939. Rabenhorst coached the Tigers for 27 years, and during his tenure won two SEC championships. The Tigers won two more titles in the ’60s and ’70s under coaches Ray Didier and Jim Smith but didn’t seem to hit their stride as a perennial powerhouse until they were coached by Skip Bertman. Bertman assumed the role in 1984 and yielded results almost instantly. In his second season LSU finished first in the SEC West, and in his third the Tigers finished first in the conference and would eventually go to the College World Series. It was just the beginning of Bertman’s Hall of Fame career at LSU. Bertman coached at LSU for 18 seasons, went to 11 College World Series, earned 16 NCAA tournament berths, seven SEC championships, nine 50-win seasons and five of the school’s six College World Series Championships. He retired from coaching in 2001 as — far and away — LSU’s most successful baseball coach. His No. 15 jersey has been retired by the school, and in 2006, he was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame. Following Bertman’s tenure, LSU hired Smoke Laval as coach. In his five seasons, Laval was not able to duplicate the success of his predecessor and missed making an NCAA regional in his final season. Laval won the SEC only once and in his two College World      Series appearances finished in seventh place. Laval’s successor, Mainieri, righted the ship once more. After finishing barely above .500 in his first season, Mainieri-led teams made back-to-back College World Series appearances in the following years — winning the tournament in 2009. He was named National Coach of the Year in those two seasons. Currently, Mainieri’s team sits at 32-6 and is No. 2 in the SEC West. “I’m proud to be here not just because of the baseball program, but just because this wonderful University gave me an opportunity to go to college,” Mainieri said. “I met my wife here.”—-Johanathan Brooks at [email protected].