Since last fall when the LSU baseball team began preparing for the 2005 season, the ultimate goal was obvious — reach the College World Series. But when the Rice Owls defeated the Tigers in the NCAA Regionals two weekends ago, all hopes for reaching the Series were dashed.”You can’t take away from the effort that was made all year because of this game,” said coach Smoke Laval. “This team is going to be able to take the effort and competition they put forth this season with them.”That effort and competition was enough to defeat Marist and Northwestern State, the other two teams in the tournament. Although the Tigers initially fell behind in each game of the Regional, the team fought back over the weekend to seal two victories.The first task of the weekend was the Marist College Red Foxes. LSU’s postseason slump seemed to continue when starter Justin Meier faced eight batters and gave up four runs on four hits.Saturday LSU held its stance in the winners’ bracket and moved on to face Rice for the first time since mid-March at the Wally Pontiff Memorial game in Metairie, where they defeated the Owls, 8-2. The streak of domincance was nowhere to be found in the Regional competition when the Tigers found themselves in a 9-1 deficit.Junior left-hander Greg Smith took the mound for LSU with a 10-2 record on the year — his last loss dating back to mid-April. In six innings of work, the left-hander doubled that number — giving up eight runs to the Owls.”Obviously, it could have been better,” Smith said. “I had a little problem going in on some guys, but the bottom line was I thought I could beat them. I threw a lot of competitive pitches, and Rice just made some good swings on me and put the ball in play. But I thought I could have done a little better.”The Tigers put up a fight in the eighth inning, putting seven runs on the board with two three-run homers by Ryan Patterson and Blake Gill.The Owls slowed the momentum in the top of the ninth when they put away the Tigers in three batters to give them the victory. LSU was then placed in a very unusual position — the losers’ bracket to face Northwestern State.Two rain delays and 24 hours later, the Tigers were finally able to put away the Northwestern State Demons, 12-4.After several struggling starts throughout the season, senior left-hander Lane Mestepey (7-8) lasted six innings, giving up only four runs on 10 hits. The LSU offense took advantage of the solid pitching and a few mistakes by the Demon defense.”When you make six errors and walk eight batters in a game, you are not going to beat anybody,” said Northwestern State coach Mitch Gaspard. “You can’t beat anybody — especially LSU.”The officials called the game in the seventh due to thunderstorms in the area and put off the remainder of the game until the next day.Both teams returned to the field for an 11 a.m. start. The Tigers finished the seventh to seal a victory, 12-4. The last two innings were scorless, giving Mestepey the win and improving his record to 7-8.”If I had known the outcome, we would have been better off finishing the game yesterday,” said Northwestern State third baseman Hunter Thoms. “The rain was not a factor. We just wanted to play, and this is not the way to end a season.”The win gave the Tigers a rematch with Rice.They had to win two games to advance to the Super Regionals that took place this past weekend. The Owls only needed one game to end LSU’s season.Laval called on Determann to make his first start of the season.The left-hander was untouchable through an inning and a half until left fielder Jordan Dodson took a fast ball over the fence for a two-run homer.The bottom of the third began with a single by Matt Liuzza who ushered in a four-run attack on Rice to put the Tigers up, 4-2. The third inning would prove to be the only time LSU would get on the board for a few innings. It seemed to be enough as Determann held the Owls scoreless.The left-hander could not hang on to his good fortune and gave up two solo home runs in the sixth and seventh inning to tie the game at four. With no breathing room, Laval called sophomore Clay Dirks in for relief in the bottom half of the eighth.The Owls were not done though. In the ninth, leadoff batter Tyler Henley used his last opportunity at the plate to triple to right center field. Second baseman Greg Buchanan followed with a single to break the tie and resulted in the game-winning hit as the Tigers remained scoreless in their last at bat.”They are a good hitting ball club, no doubt,” Determann said. “The Box is not exactly a pitcher’s best friend. If you put it up, the wind is going to carry it.”While the College World Series is out of the picture, the Tigers had seven players named to the All-Regional team, including Outstanding Player of the Regional right fielder Nick Stavinoha.