games on ESPN3.com Friday, May 31 Game 1 - 2 p.m. -- (4) Jackson St. Tigers vs. (1) LSU Tigers Game 2 - 7 p.m. -- (3) Sam Houston St. Bearkats vs. (2) ULL Ragin' Cajuns Saturday, June 1 Game 3 - 2 p.m. -- Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser Game 4 - 7 p.m. -- Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner Sunday, June 2 Game 5 – 2 p.m. -- Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser Game 6 – 7 p.m. -- Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner Monday, June 3 Game 7 – 7 p.m. -- Game 6 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser (if necessary) Bregman: "This regional is tough but I know we are going to be ready.” Mainieri: We are five wins away from getting to Omaha. You have to take them one at a time. There are no cupcakes. You just have to play and play as well as you can each day Eades: "Anyone can be beaten on any given day.” Rhymes: "The thing about the postseason is you throw all the records out the window...You can’t overlook any opponent"
WAFB (CBS), Baton Rouge: Managers of many local restaurants and bars are disappointed as most of them will not able to broadcast the games for their customers. LSU sporting events are generally a huge draw for them. Managers at Pastime Restaurant say they don't currently have the capability to put a live Internet stream onto their televisions. The same is true at Buffalo Wild Wings locations on Bluebonnet Boulevard and on Highland Road, VooDoo barbeque on Nicholson, and Walk-On's on Burbank, managers at those locations said. Managers at Plucker's on Bluebonnet and on Nicholson Drive say they do have the capability to put an Internet signal on their televisions and plan to show the tournament at both locations this weekend
LSU Athletic Dept: The games will not be available on over-the-air or via cable television...LSU played no role in the decision not to provide an over-the-air broadcast. ESPN has the right to carry all NCAA baseball regional tournament games in 2013, and it determines on what platform the games will be televised. All NCAA regional tournament games across the country will be carried on an ESPN platform and it was determined that the Baton Rouge regional would be made available only on espn3.com.
one of the nation's leading college baseball gurus, Kendall Rogers of Perfect Game, is coming to Baton Rouge... 3h Pretty excited to see tomorrow night's matchup between #SHSU LHP Cody Dickson and #ULL's offense. Big-time arm vs. Big-time offense. 27 May My plan this week is to head to the Baton Rouge Regional. Will hit the road on Thursday. Interested to see #SHSU's arms, #LSU, #ULL's bats. 27 May Keep an eye on #SHSU with pitchers Cody Dickson, Caleb Smith and Tyler Eppler. 27 May Va Tech or Oklahoma vs. #LSU would be absolutely fantastic. Both of those teams present some intriguing/stiff challenges.
Kendall Rogers of Perfect Game: Sam Houston State Sam Houston State has a legitimate chance to make some noise in the Baton Rouge Regional this weekend.The Bearkats possess a very solid weekend rotation that includes left-handed pitchers Cody Dickson and Caleb Smith, as well as Tyler Eppler...Eppler has been outstanding this season...Dickson has a 90-plus fastball with good overall stuff (with 87 strikeouts in 89.2 IP)...Bullpen-wise, Jason Simms is a very quality arm to watch. ... Offensively, keep an eye on Kevin Miller, Carter Burgess and Anthony Azar. Miller is hitting a team-best .338 with two homers and 37 RBIs, Burgess is hitting .318 with 27 RBIs and Azar packs some serious power with five homers and 45 RBIs. Also from a power surge standpoint, keep an eye on Luke Plucheck, who has smacked eight homers and knocked in 40 runs. David Pierce's club has a chance to surprise this weekend. Louisiana-Lafayette Think Louisiana-Lafayette would love nothing more than to derail LSU's possible magical season? ... this team certainly has the bats to make things interesting in Baton Rouge this weekend. ULL is hitting .323 as a club entering the weekend with Dex Kjerstad leading the way, hitting .398 with 13 doubles, 12 homers and 43 RBIs. Also keep an eye on Tyler Girouard and Caleb Adams. Girouard has been an interesting story this season, as he's hitting .372 with seven homers and 37 RBIs, while Adams is hitting .341 with nine doubles, 14 homers and 51 RBIs. Seth Harrison, who has nine homers and 45 RBIs is another guy to watch, while the Cajuns as a whole have 72 homers. Jackson State it'll be interesting to see how its offense matches up with the rest of the field...they do hit .285 as a squad and have a ton of speed. For instance, the Tigers have six starters with more than 10 stolen bases this season. Additionally, Charles Tilery, who leads the team with a .344 average, a home run and 33 RBIs, is 25-for-30 in stolen bases this season. Also, Aneko Knowles...is 26-for-33 in stolen bases. Look for JSU to put LSU catcher Ty Ross to work in the opener on Friday. Pitching-wise...Alexander Juday lead(s) the way. Juday has appeared in 21 games and made nine starts, and has a 3.14 ERA in 111 2/3 innings LHP Caleb Smith of Huntsville, Texas (70 miles north of Houston) LHP Cody Dickson of Mansfield, Texas (DFW area) from a piece Kendall Rogers did on April 09, 2013: (SHSU has two) outstanding junior left-handed pitchers, Cody Dickson and Caleb Smith. Both Dickson and Smith entered the 2013 college baseball season as rising and heralded MLB draft prospects. As a result of those two being stalwarts in the SHSU starting rotation, the Bearkats, rightfully so, were expected to do big things from the get-go this season. --Dickson has consistently been 90-94 with his fastball, along with a good added changeup, a sometimes plus curveball and a good breaking ball that he throws 78-79. --Smith has been 88-92 with his fastball, with a plus changeup that serves as a wipeout pitch. I really thought our two left-handers [Dickson and Smith] were really trying too much," Sam Houston State coach David Pierce said. "They wanted to go out there and give us a complete game and strike everyone out each time out. "They eventually figured out they need to pitch the way it gives this team the best chance to win. Since that point, our starting pitching has been pretty good." "Dickson is our most consistent guy right now. I'm really excited about him because he's just going out there and pounding the strike zone," Pierce said. Despite the glitz and glamour surrounding the big arms of Dickson and Smith, one could accurately describe 6-foot-5, 215-pound, sophomore, right-handed pitcher Tyler Eppler as the club's overall most consistent pitcher "He's just been terrific since the first day of the season," Pierce said of Eppler. note: SHSU's coach David Pierce was an assistant coach at Rice for 9 years from 2003-2011 (hitting coach: 2003-2005, pitching coach: 2006-2011), during which time they went to four CWS: 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008 and won a National Title in 2003 RHP Tyler Eppler of Navasota, Texas (24 miles from Texas A&M)
Mainieri on May 27: “I don’t know much about Jackson State and Sam Houston State. But we have played ULL. It was one of those nights that everything went well for us. But I can tell you I have the utmost respect for them. When we walked into the stadium and I watched them take batting practice, I was in awe. They must have lost 100 balls during batting practice. They have a lot of big, strong kids that can really swing the bat well. We didn’t face their frontline pitching obviously in a mid-week game. As it turned out we pitched a guy (Cody Glenn) that turned into one of our frontline guys. We had an advantage that night even though we were playing on the road. It is going to be a great weekend. We don’t even know if we are going to play ULL. But if we get a chance to, it will be a very exciting moment for both programs and the best team that day will win. We will spend the rest of the day gathering information on Sam Houston State and Jackson State. Hopefully we can win Friday and take care of business Saturday and advance to a championship game on Sunday and do it then. You have to go out and play. You can’t just talk about it. Nothing happens on paper. We just have to go out and play and play well.” ULL's bats #1 in NCAA -- home runs (72) #1 in NCAA -- home runs per game (1.22) #1 in NCAA -- slugging pct (.513) #3 in NCAA -- batting avg (.323) #3 in NCAA -- hits (666) #4 in NCAA -- doubles (137) #4 in NCAA -- runs (453) #6 in NCAA -- scoring (7.7 runs per game) #15 in NCAA -- on base pct (.402) #26 in NCAA -- sac flies (32) #32 in NCAA -- triples (19) HOW THEY GOT HERE The Ragin’ Cajuns posted the first 40-win season since 2007 and recorded a 19-11 record in the fifth-rated conference in the nation (Sun Belt Conference). Louisiana posted five different win streaks of four games or more and did not suffer a losing streak longer than two games. Overall, the club won a series in 11 of 14 weekends during the season. A RUN-PRODUCING FACTORY All nine starters in the lineup have tallied at least 20 RBI. Ryan Leonards is just one RBI shy from giving UL all nine starters with 30-plus RBI. EVERYONE CONTRIBUTES Ryan Leonards needs one more RBI to give UL 10 different players with at least 30 RBI. POWERFUL BATS A season removed from hitting just 18 home runs in 53 games, Louisiana has launched 72 through 59 games in 2013. LOCKED IN FOR POSTSEASON Dex Kjerstad is coming off an 11-for-16 performance (.688) during the Sun Belt Tournament, collecting 22 total bases in 16 at bats for a 1.375 slugging percentage. RECORDS WATCH Dex Kjerstad is seven hits shy of the single-season record (101 by Nathan Nelson, 2000) and Michael Strentz is two doubles shy of the record 25 set by Kevin Meyers in 1989. THIS ‘N THAT --In addition to home run power, the Cajuns play small ball well. Louisiana has executed 34 bunt singles. Seth Harrison (9) and Ryan Leonards (8) have combined for 17 bunt singles --Ten (10) saves for Matt Hicks is a new school single-season record and ranks Top 50 nationally Dex Kjerstad of Amarillo, Texas is batting .398 (#1 on team) with 12 HRs (#2 on team) Tyler Girouard of Lafayette is batting .372 (#2 on team) with a .616 slugging pct (#3 on team) and 7 HRs (#5 on team) Caleb Adams of Texarkana, Texas is #1 on the team with 14 HRs and #3 with a .341 batting avg Seth Harrison of Cypress, Texas is #3 on the team with 9 HRs and #4 with a .340 batting avg
as for Jackson State's offense, they are: #7 in NCAA -- stolen bases per game #9 in NCAA -- stolen bases (125) #7 in NCAA -- hit by pitch (99) #17 in NCAA -- sac bunts (67) #23 in NCAA -- on base pct (.393) #26 in NCAA -- scoring (6.7 runs per game) #31 in NCAA -- doubles per game #31 in NCAA -- sac flies (31) #45 in NCAA -- doubles (108) #45 in NCAA -- runs (362) #48 in NCAA -- walks (238) JSU catcher Jose Cruz: “At the end of the day, it’s baseball,” Cruz said. “LSU has to come and play us, too. We’re going to play hard enough that we can give them some competition. ... They’re one of the best teams in the country. They have a big advantage because they have all those fans. But to be the best you’ve got to beat the best.” Seventh-year JSU coach Omar Johnson: “The environment shouldn’t affect us very much,” Johnson said. “We’ve played big schools before. We’ve just got to play well — that’s the bottom line. If we can pitch well and play some defense then we’ll have a chance.” Rhymes: “I know they like to run – they are a running team. It puts pressure on the defense any time a team likes to steal or run a lot. I know they are going to come in here and battle. The thing about the postseason is you throw all the records out the window. ... I look for a very competitive game and we are going to be ready.” Rhymes on whether JSU will try to stretch some plays and try to test his arm... “Absolutely. Any time a team likes to run, they are going to try to take an extra base any way they can. Dirt balls, balls in the outfield, any way they can advance a base they are going to try to do that.” Jackson St produced Walter Payton
The game is on ESPN3. If bars can't figure out how to connect a laptop to their TV they don't deserve a crowd. hint: HDMI cable
