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LSU #4 National Seed, Baton Rouge Regional Details

Tigers draw familiar foes in their regional and regional pairings.

By Adam Henderson
Adam Henderson

For the sixth year in a row, LSU will receive a national seed and host a regional in the NCAA Tournament.

The 2017 LSU Tigers (43-17) are the number four national seed and will host Southeastern Louisiana (36-2), Rice (31-29), and Texas Southern (20-32) in the Baton Rouge Regional. LSU’s opponents are very familiar both in and out of a postseason setting, as Rice and Southeastern have both been in the Baton Rouge Regional several times in recent history.

Regional play will begin Friday at 3:30 when LSU and Texas Southern start the regional on the SEC Network. LSU and head coach Paul Mainieri prefer to play the day game on the opening day of the regional to give players extra rest and possibly avoid any storms. The Rice and Southeastern game will start at 7:00. Every game on the docket is slated to begin no earlier than 2:00, giving ample time for a rain suspended game to be moved to a morning or noon slot. The rest of the games in the regional following the LSU-Texas State games are tentatively scheduled to be broadcast online on ESPN3 via the WatchESPN app.

The Baton Rouge Regional is paired with the Hattiesburg Regional hosted by Southern Miss, which also features some familiar faces. The Golden Eagles will be hosting rivals Mississippi State and former LSU assistant coach Andy Cannizaro and South Alabama, who beat LSU in comeback fashion in the Tigers’ penultimate midweek game. Should LSU advance out of their regional, they will play the winner of that regional.

Coming into May, LSU’s dream for a national seed was not looking good, but in the final weeks of the regular season and the SEC Tournament, LSU went on a tear winning 13 of 15 games in the month. During that stretch the Tigers had a run of five games where they scored 10 runs or more, resulting in back to back mercy run rules in the SEC Tournament.

That double digit runs streak ended Sunday, but LSU still claimed the SEC Championship with their 4-2 win over Arkansas, their league-leading 12th title and the sixth under head coach Paul Mainieri.