MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / May 30, 2000

It used to be said that there was two sports seasons in Louisiana – football and spring football.

In the late 1960s and 70s, Pete Maravich and Dale Brown helped put basketball in the picture. And in the 1980s, Ron Maestri and Skip Bertmanelevated baseball to another level in the state.

Now as the 2000s begin, that influence that Maestri and Bertman started has spread across the state like the nutria. It reached its height this seasonas six Pelican State teams – LSU, UNO, Tulane, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe and McNeese State – advanced to the NCAAs Regionals.

Two – LSU and ULL – are heading to the Super Regionals.

LSU steamrolled through the first two games, outscoring Jackson State and ULM by a combined 40-1.

ULM came back to advance to face LSU again Sunday, this time holding the Tigers scoreless through the first five innings. LSU broke through for threeruns in the top of the sixth before ULM answered with three of its own in the bottom of the inning.

A Brad Hawpe home run regained the lead for LSU in the seventh and Hahnville graduate Weylin Guidry came in to shut ULM down in the ninth.

That game showed the difference between this year’s Tigers team and the teams of the past two years. This team is more than just “Gorilla Ball.” It isone of the most solid teams over the past decade and this is a program that has won four national championships since 1991.

The Tigers have gotten solid pitching performances in the postseason since its second SEC Tournament game against Alabama. It is one of the bestbaserunning teams in the Bertman era and one of its best fielding ones as well.

The teams of Todd Walker-Russ Johnson and Eddie Furniss-Blair Barbier were good hitting teams but few LSU squads have been this deep. Hawpe homeredtwice Sunday and was the tournament MVP. Brad Cresse went deep threetimes Saturday.

Wally Pontiff and Mike Fontenot may be the team’s best freshmen duo since Walker-Johnson. Cedric Harris and Jeremy Witten give the Tigers the speeddimension they have not had in recent years.

LSU now hosts UCLA in the Super Regionals. Don’t count the Bruins out. In athree-game series, anything can happen. But with the games at Alex Boxwhere the Tigers have not lost a regional since 1995, the Tigers could be Omaha-bound for the fourth time in the past five years.

Louisiana-Lafayette’s road to Omaha is a little tougher. It goes throughSouth Carolina, the top-seeded team in the country. The Ragin Cajuns havebounced back from a season-ending sweep at the hands of UNO that gave the Privateers the Sun Belt Conference title and an early dismissal from the conference tournament to win their regional. Along the way, ULL had to getthrough another Louisiana school, McNeese State.

Like ULL, South Carolina has been streaky this season and the Ragin Cajuns’ solid pitching staff could give the Gamecocks a lot of trouble.

Tulane, making its third straight regional appearance, stayed alive Saturday with a win over South Alabama and led Notre Dame late before the Irish rallied. It wouldhave been interested to see if things would have been different if there had not been a rain delay.

UNO lost twice to ULM in the Baton Rouge regional but that should not take away from a memorable first season under Randy Bush. Few would haveexpected the Privateers to finish in the first division let alone win a conference championship and advance to a regional. Another local product,Riverside’s Ryan Lousteau, played a big part, leading the Privateers in saves.

Yes, football still reigns supreme in Louisiana. But for this season at least,the state’s baseball teams stepped up to show that in this Sportsman’s Paradise, there can be room for more than one sport, especially one that has seen so much success.

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