Tiger Baseball: A championship-studded past
The Skip Bertman years at LSU signified more than just wins and championships. Bertman, his staff and his players have established LSU as the nation’s top baseball program and have a new standard for excellence.
Before Bertman came to Baton Rouge to lead LSU to a promised land never before seen, the Tigers had never visited Omaha, Neb. for the College World Series. He changed the way baseball was viewed in the bayou, and players and fans responded.
Under Bertman, the Tigers won the CWS Championship five times and appeared in the tournament 11 times. Those five seasons —1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000 — were filled with wonderful memories for the players, coaches and fans that has created an atmosphere unmatched by any of its peers.
In 1991, LSU baseball finally reached the pinnacle of college baseball greatness as the Tigers dominated the entire season and rewrote the record books on their way to the first CWS Championship in LSU history.
The Tigers set the CWS record for most runs per game (12), highest fielding percentage (.993), highest slugging percentage (.603) and did not lose a game posting a 8.2-point margin of victory.
“I have so many memorable moments here at LSU,” said center fielder Armando Rios. “Being apart of that team in ‘91 was fun because we totally dominated every team.”
Success breeds success, and after tasting a national title in 1991, the Tigers added another in 1993.
After a semi-final thriller where LSU came from behind to beat Long Beach St. 6-5, the Tigers dominated Wichita St. by the score of 8-0 to capture its second national title in three years.
Rios, who scored the winning run in the semi-final game, said he misses the fun and brotherhood of the college game.
“I miss being [at LSU] and being young,” Rios said. “[At LSU], everybody gets loud and you really get dirty and everybody is together.
When the national championships began to roll into Tigertown, so did the fans. LSU has led the nation in attendance for six straight years starting in 1996, the year of the greatest finish in CWS history.
LSU was down 8-7 to Miami in the bottom of the ninth inning of the CWS Championship game. Second baseman Warren Morris stepped up to the plate with two outs and hit a shot over the right field fence, his first home run of the season, to add one more national title to the Tigers’ list.
Morris’ home run is one of the many examples of the Tigers’ distinct desire for success and tenacious attitude toward winning.
The Tigers opened up the 1997 baseball season with hopes of defending their title. By season’s end, the Tigers were labelled “Team of the ‘90s” by Baseball America and had a fourth national championship in the bag after beating Alabama 13-6 in the CWS Championship game.
In 1997, Bertman was named the National Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his storied career.
“It’s a lot of fun playing for a national championship,” said Eddy Furniss, member of the 1996 and 1997 championship teams and 1998 college baseball player of the year. “But the thing that was most fun about playing [at LSU] was getting a hit and hearing 7,000 people cheer. That’s something that I haven’t heard since leaving [LSU] and that’s something I miss too.”
After obtaining their fourth national championship in seven years, the Tigers went on a two-year drought before capturing their fifth CWS championship.
The 2000 national championship game had its own exciting finish, much like the 1996 game.
Trailing Stanford 5-2 with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Tigers’ dream of a fifth championship seemed bleak.
But just as they have done so often, the Tigers found a way to get within striking distance and eventually win the game.
Third baseman Blair Barbier got the rally started with a home run over the left field fence shortly after his inspirational speech where he asked his teammates, “Do you believe?”
If they did not believe at that point, they certainly did when Brad Cresse walked up to the plate and delivered with a game winning hit that secured the Tigers’ claim to their fifth national championship in school history.
“Winning the national championship in ‘97 and 2000 were my most memorable moments here at LSU,” Barbier said. “Probably more so in 2000, just because of the way it happened, it sticks out a little more.”
Barbier said the championships have helped create a special environment for the players at LSU.
“The thing I miss the most is just being around the guys,” Barbier said. “We were always together, even off the field.”
LSU baseball during the Bertman years will always be remembered for its heroics and of course, its championships.
A new era in Tiger baseball has begun, and LSU will attempt to recreate the glorious moments from its past and continue the legacy of the “Team of the ‘90s.”
Bryan Wideman