Look Out, America:* Here Come the Fighting Baseball Tigers

*"America" in this case should be interpreted to mean "the 5% of America that cares about college baseball"

While the Longhorns will always be our first and foremost college athletics concern, we each had a first love that has been referred to frequently around here. For one of us, the first love was/is LSU sports and every time we think one of their teams is going to suck long enough for us to let go for good, they haul us back in. The College Baseball Team of the '90s had fallen on very, very rough times over the last few years under coach Smoke Laval, but Paul Mainieri seems to have his guys putting it all together here in the closing weeks of 2008.

In the final regular-season series ever at college baseball landmark Alex Box Stadium, LSU completed a sweep of Mississippi State last weekend. It marked the first time the Tigers had strung together 3 straight SEC sweeps since their first National Championship in 1991. That's pretty remarkable. Making Sunday's game that much more emotional was that it came against traditional rival Mississippi State and longtime coach Ron Polk, who unfortunately is retiring after State's worst season in a long, long time.

For several weeks it has been assumed that Mother's Day would mark the last time anyone would ever play "Baseball at the Box," but after a 12-game winning streak the Tigers are actually in position to vie for a hosting spot in a sub-regional of the NCAA Tournament. They currently sit atop the SEC West and sport a 35-16-1 overall record. If LSU can keep this train rolling through UNO in a mid-week game and follow it up with a series win at Auburn (11-16, 27-25) they will have an excellent case for a 1-seed and a hosting position.

If you're in any way interested, you can watch the Final Game Ceremony here.