After two losses to the No. 3 team in the nation the LSU baseball team still has reaching Omaha at the top of their goals.
After three consecutive series losses to Southeastern Conference opponents and a loss to Tulane, the Tigers still see themselves as National Champions at the end of the year.
“It’s part of baseball,” junior ��rst baseman Will Harris said. “We didn’t play our best, but you can’t look at it like that. This team is full of winners. Give us a bid in any tournament, and we are going to play our hearts out and we’re going to win it. We’re still con��dent. We still know that we’re going to be there in Omaha.”
The 12,069 fans in attendance had a different attitude. Chants of “Long Way Home” rang from Tulane’s side, while yells of “We want Turtle [Thomas],” calling for the Tigers’ assistant coach, were hurled at LSU coach Smoke Laval from a small section of fans as he conducted post-game interviews.
“Smoke is an awesome coach and he knows more about the game than I’ve ever seen,” senior ��rst baseman Clay Harris said. “A coach is in a bad situation when his players don’t play. He gets some false blame. In my mind, it’s not his fault. It’s the players, and they have to get things done. He’s the best coach I’ve ever played for.”
Harris, who along with the other seniors set a goal at the beginning of the season to be national champions, intended to duplicate the success of so many players before them. But they have been cut short each season since joining the Tigers.
This season has been ��lled with ups and downs for the seniors, but they remain adamant of their goals.
“In baseball anything can happen,” Harris said. “They’ve got a good team — might even be better than ours, but anything can happen in regional play. A bad hop one way or a blown call for your team and anything can happen. We do not take anything from this game except it is a loss. We’re not down at all.”
Tuesday night’s senior starter Brandon Nall felt irritated after the loss against Tulane and said he sees the team’s expectations more clearly than others outside the team.
Every year that’s what we’re supposed to do — a national championship is a tough thing,” Nall said. “Sometimes around here people think it’s a guarantee, and it’s not. Right now we’re struggling a little bit and we’re trying to get back on track.”
The team will attempt such a feat this weekend against the University of Arkansas. Players said they will face their SEC opponent with just the Razorbacks in mind — not others’ expectations.
“We come out here, and we play hard. We play our type of baseball,” Will Harris said. “We are not one to care about what newspapers or anyone else thinks. That’s not us at all. All we care about is the guys in our locker room and our coaches — that’s all that matters to us.”