On paper, the game between the top-ranked LSU baseball team (18-3) and Centenary (8-11) tonight at 7 in Shreveport at Fair Grounds Field makes David and Goliath look like even money.
Centenary is home to 997 students, while LSU boasts more than 30,000 students. The baseball teams show about the same differential, with the Tigers claiming five national championships, while the Gents just started playing in a conference again this year for the first time in five years. And LSU is No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball magazine, while Centenary is as close to the top spot as the Saints are to winning a Super Bowl.
Usually, the Gents would consider the annual LSU game to be their Super Bowl. But Centenary Coach Ed McCann said since the Gents are now a member of the Mid-Continent Conference, there are more goals and better things down the road to look forward to.
“Everybody in America wants to knock off LSU,” McCann said. “And we’re no different than anyone else. It’s not just another game. It’s just not very often that we’re going to get an opportunity to play the No. 1 team in the nation. But at the same time there’s life after LSU now for us because of the conference. Now we don’t get all wrapped up in just LSU where in the past we have.”
Centenary does not shy away from playing the big boys, as it has faced Arkansas, Alabama and Kansas State in the early going. McCann said he scheduled those teams for his team to grow.
“We played Alabama, we played Arkansas, and now we get to play the best,” McCann said. “Hopefully, at least those games have prepared us to be competitive where we’re not just Joe bag of donuts. After you’ve played Alabama, Arkansas and LSU, this is not a slap to our conference, but it’s not the same breath as LSU. That’s just respect. If you respect the game and your opponents, it prepares you later down the road.”
LSU coach Smoke Laval said scheduling in-state road games also benefits the LSU baseball program for a number of different reasons.
“They give us a pretty good guarantee to go up there,” Laval said. “It also helps our recruiting and there is a big fan base up there. I at least like to go there once a year, you know, to owe them, because we ask them to come down every weekend. That’s basically the three reasons [we go there.]”
Laval will also get a chance to continue to look at some relief pitchers who may be thrown into the Southeastern Conference fire sooner or later.
Laval said sophomore left-hander Jason Determann, who sports a 2-0 record with a 0.77 ERA, will start, while Collin Smith, Lane Mestepey and Michael Bonura are also scheduled to throw.
McCann said Centenary will send right-handed senior Kevin Cassidy to the hill to try to slow down the Tigers’ offensive attack, which is now hitting .345 as a team on the season. Cassidy is 2-3 on the season with a 6.21 ERA in 37.2 innings pitched.
McCann said the fact LSU travels to Centenary should be applauded by those who are fans of college baseball.
“To be honest with you, LSU has been very good ambassadors for the state,” McCann said. “They have allowed what I call the traveling circus to travel because they’re ambassadors for the university. They share. And by them sharing and letting people see the product that they have provided on the field, not in just baseball, but in all sports, I think it’s been good for the state and for the university.”