Since 1989 LSU has done little traveling around for the regional round of the college baseball postseason.
This season the Tigers, fresh off claiming the Southeastern Conference tournament title this past weekend, will travel more than 1, 800 miles as the No. 2 seed in the Los Angeles regional.
UCLA will be the host team as the top seed, while UC Irvine and Kent St. also punched their tickets to the regional in the City of Angels.
“This is going to be the most challenging route to get to Omaha since I’ve been here,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri.
LSU will face No. 3 seed UC Irvine (37-19) on Friday. The game is tentatively scheduled for noon.
The Tigers and Anteaters are familiar foes, meeting in the super regional two years ago in Baton Rouge.
LSU went on to take two of three from UC Irvine to advance to the College World Series.
“Irvine is a rock solid team,” Mainieri said. “California style baseball … it’s going to be a big adjustment for us.”
The reigning national champions earned the seed after winning four straight games in the conference tournament.
Florida, Vanderbilt and Ole Miss fell victim to the Tigers, and Alabama bowed after an 11th-inning RBI by sophomore second baseman Tyler Hanover in the championship game.
Mainieri said LSU regained its form in the postseason after finishing the season going 4-14 during the last few weeks of the season.
“We found out that winning college baseball games are not easy,” Mainieri said. “We’re going to have to do it the hard way.”
—-Contact Michael Lambert at [email protected].