With the Ole Miss baseball team visiting Alex Box Stadium to face LSU — arguably the hottest team in the Southeastern Conference, the following must be stated immediately: The Rebels are in big trouble. And I mean BIG trouble.
Not because LSU is off to a blazing 9-2-1 start in conference play. It’s also not because tonight’s crowd may be the largest of the season at the Box with a good majority of the Spring Game crowd trekking across the street. Hell, it doesn’t even have to do with wins, losses or how each team is playing right now.
It all has to do with one specific person who will be attending games Friday and Saturday … my father. Honest.
Now before you assume I’ve lost my mind and move on to the exciting Spring Game coverage throughout The Reveille sports pages, just hear me out.
If there was ever a good luck charm for the LSU baseball team, I truly believe it is my dad.
Dating back to April 23, 1999, at Mississippi State — where both my dad and I attended our first LSU baseball game — to March 15 in Baton Rouge this season when Bo Pettit pitched the Tigers to a 3-2 win against Florida, my dad has attended a total of 14 LSU baseball games, and LSU has won every one of them.
Normally, he would tell you that he is the bad luck charm, since most of the sporting events he has ever been to (mainly Atlanta Braves baseball), the team he pulled for fell in defeat. This is not the case when it comes to the Tigers. So I decided to do some research and see just how well the Tigers have played with my dad in attendance, and some of the numbers are staggering.
In 14 games, LSU has outscored its opponents 134-55, which is an average of almost 10 runs a game, while LSU pitchers have held the opposition to almost 4 runs a game.
The late, great Wally Pontiff always seemed to shine with my dad in the ballpark. In 11 games, Wally hit safely in 10 and compiled a .372 batting average with nine runs scored and eight RBIs.
Aaron Hill also has hit the ball well. Hill sports a .395 batting average with 11 runs scored, seven RBIs and two home runs.
One of my favorite statistics though is that of former Tigers Matt Heath and Brad David.
Heath, a fair hitter in his stint at LSU with .293 batting average, hit .424 with nine runs and 12 RBIs in 11 games that my dad was in the ballpark for.
Then there’s David, who over the course of his LSU career carried a 4.82 ERA and struggled in his final season in an LSU uniform with a 5.40 ERA.
Of course when my dad has seen David pitch, he has dazzled with no runs in 4 2/3 innings.
It’s probably a good thing for the Rebels they will not see injured pitchers Brian Wilson or Lane Mestepey this weekend.
Dad has seen Mestepey start for the Tigers five times, and he has also seen him win five times, with a 2.33 ERA to go with the 5-0 record in 42 1/3 innings.
It’s been two seasons since my dad has seen Brian Wilson give up an earned run. In 2001, Wilson pitched an inning against Duquesne and gave up a run in his only inning of work. Since then dad has seen him pitch four times through 26 innings, and Wilson has yet to give up an earned run going 3-0 with one save and a microscopic 0.33 ERA. His last two starts have been complete game shutouts against Florida this season and Arkansas last year.
It’s been a fun ride, to say the least.
There have also been some interesting baseball moments with dad in attendance.
In his very first game at Alex Box, he witnessed former first baseman Zeph Zinsman launch three home runs in one game, leading LSU to a 13-9 win over Duquesne. In his second game at the Box, LSU scored 24 runs.
Another memorable moment happened last season at Ole Miss when Wally Pontiff successfully executed the hidden-ball trick and helped LSU beat the Rebels 6-5.
So the streak is on the line this weekend. I have already decided if the Tigers win tonight and Saturday — the games that my dad will attend, I am going to ask Smoke Laval if he can travel with the team in hopes of moving LSU to the College World Series.
Since he is a minister, maybe he could serve as the team chaplain along with being the good luck charm. Anything to get to Omaha, right Smoke?