May 22, 2008
 |
|
| (Photo by Neil Brake) |
Classic matchup goes awry
Postgame Column by Rod Williamson
CLICK FOR MORE COVERAGE: LSU 8 Vanderbilt 2
HOOVER, Ala. — It appeared to have the makings of a classic matchup. There was the traditional power pitted against the frisky upstart. One team used to winning, the other tickled with a new experience.
The stage was the SEC Tournament’s winner’s bracket game on Thursday with Vanderbilt squaring off against LSU.
Ironically, it was defending SEC champion Vanderbilt hoping to cool off a surprising Tiger team that had not lost a game since April 19 – a streak of 17 games.
The irony lies, of course, in the fact that LSU might have the finest heritage in all of college baseball. Of the six College World Series titles that the SEC proudly claims, five belong to the Tigers.
But that was then and this is now. The Tigers had fallen on relative hard times since the early 2000’s and Paul Mainieri was brought in from Notre Dame in 2007 to right their listing ship.
In the meantime, Vanderbilt became a powerful program under Tim Corbin and has had particular success in this event, twice finishing second and winning it last year.
When gray haired fans think of tradition, they hark back decades and remember winning trophies that now collect dust on a forgotten shelf or players whose photographs were taken with black and white film.
C.M. Newton once said that to a high school junior, tradition went back about two years. In the “what have you done for me lately?” sports world, there is a fine line between tradition and the present.
Even the LSU faithful, well known for their fanatical support of their beloved Tigers, were far more noisy than in recent appearances. The famous, leather-lunged LSU fan, who leads cheers with a fervor that can make Vandy Lance appear shy, had his gang hopping. Funny what winning every game for over a month does for one’s willingness to participate.
This one appeared to be living up to its potential through the first four innings.
Commodore freshman Caleb Cotham was sharp and had not been threatened while Parker Hanks, just inserted as the designated hitter against the left-handed Tiger hurler, crushed a ball into the left-center atmosphere for a 1-0 lead.
The trouble began when LSU’s lead-off hitter in the fifth, Derek Helenihi, was hit by a pitch, one which appeared to have barely grazed his left sleeve. Television replays showed that didn’t really happen but he was on first base anyway and the flood-gates were slowly opened. Both coaches would later credit the hit and run perfectly executed by D.J. LeMahieu one batter later as a momentum builder.
Two Commodore throwing errors – their fourth in this tournament with yet another to come – within minutes of each other aided the potent Tiger offense and suddenly it was 4-1. A three-run homer in the sixth blew it open.
Cotham explained he started leaving some pitches up in the strike zone and the torrid Tigers took full advantage.
It was one of those twilights where most of the breaks wore LSU gold. To Commodore fans, every Tiger line drive seemed to find daylight and every Commodore Texas Leaguer resulted in a spectacular defensive play.
Corbin was asked if he had ever been a part of something like this 18-game streak. Turns out he was with Clemson when it won 24 straight.
“When you get on a roll, you start wearing the same shirt, the food tastes good and it’s nice waking up in the morning.”
So it is with this streaking LSU team, one that has Regions Park pundits expecting to see it in the championship game.