Review: The 2002 UL Baseball Post Season

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA BR - Louisiana hurler Justin Gabriel threw a 109-pitch, complete game effort and the Ragin Cajuns gave the Green Wave a heavy dose of small ball as the Tulane University baseball team dropped a hard-fought 6-3 decision in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional opener Friday evening at Alex Box Stadium.

Third baseman Anthony Giarratano, rightfielder Bryan Stelmack, second baseman Turner Brumby and shortstop Tommy Manzella each had two hits, and Manzella and Stelmack each hit home runs to lead the Green Wave offense, but it was not enough to overcome Gabriel's (10-4) performance from the mound, rightfiedler Corey Coles 3-for-4 showing at the plate and four bunt singles by the Cajuns.

With the loss, Tulane falls to 36-25 on the year and will have to fight through the loser's bracket to advance in the NCAA Tournament. The Green Wave will battle Southern on Saturday morning at 11, as the Jaguars dropped the day's first game to top-seeded LSU 5-4. The winner of the Tulane/Southern game will take on the loser of the 3 p.m. game which features LSU and UL-Lafayette at 7:30 p.m with the victor of that contest advancing to the championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The rest of the story

05-31-2002

[NewsCopy]

Cajuns play small ball to top Green Wave
Brady Aymond
Posted on June 1, 2002
BATON ROUGE - "How does a team that hits only .265 win 37 games?"

That question came up more than once going into this weekend's NCAA sub-regional tournament at Alex Box Stadium. Friday night, Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns supplied the answer - small ball.

The Cajuns used four bunt singles, three stolen bases, two sacrifice bunts and a whole bunch of aggressive base-running in moving to 38-21 on the year and into the winner's bracket of the sub-regional with a 6-3 win over Tulane Friday night.

"That's their game and they played it perfect tonight," Tulane coach Rick Jones said. "They put pressure on you and they do a pretty good job of forcing you into mistakes. We've played them a lot in my nine years here, so it's not a surprise. That's just what they do and they do it well."

The Cajuns entered the NCAA baseball tournament with the third worst hitting team among the field of 64. The only two below the Cajuns were Harvard (20-25) and Navy (22-24), the only two teams in the field with losing records.

"We are not a big power hitting club," UL Lafayette coach Tony Robicheaux said. "We like to try to put the ball in play and put the pressure on the defense. I notice that a lot of teams don't bunt anymore, therefore not a lot of teams don't defense the bunt very well. We try to do anything we can to get the runner to second or third. When you get them to third and you can score a run on an out, that's great. We aren't going to get a ton of hits, so we'll take them any way we can."

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[NewsCopy]

Cajuns go back to basics to defeat Green Wave
06/01/02

By Fred Robinson
Staff writer/The Times-Picayune

BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana, doing whatever it needed to score runs Friday night, knocked Tulane into the losers bracket of the NCAA regional with a 6-3 win over the Green Wave at Alex Box Stadium.

While Tulane was using the long ball to stay in the game early, the Ragin' Cajuns were manufacturing runs with singles and stolen bases and moving runners into scoring position with bunts. They kept the pressure on the Wave by executing the basics.

"That's the way they play the game, and they do a good job at it," Wave coach Rick Jones said. "We just came up short. We swung the bats well enough to win, we played defense well enough to win. We just had those in-between balls."

The Cajuns (38-21) had 13 hits, 11 off Tulane starter Nick Bourgeois (10-3). Four of ULL's hits were bunt singles. A bunt or a stolen base played a part in ULL's first four runs.

Bourgeois left after giving up a leadoff single to Brad Saloom in the eighth. He allowed five runs, four earned.

Tulane's offense consisted of two home runs, a solo shot by shortstop Tommy Manzella and a two-run blast by Bryan Stelmack. Other than that, only three Tulane runners reached second base, and one, Anthony Giarratano, was picked off.

The Green Wave (35-26) meets Southern (45-9) at 11 a.m. today. Southern lost to LSU 5-4 in the day's first game.

The Wave scored its runs in the first four innings off ULL's Justin Gabriel, then he buckled down and held the Wave scoreless the rest of the way. Tulane's No. 1 through No. 4 hitters were 1-for-16 against Gabriel (10-4).

"We just couldn't get anything to fall against their ace," Jones said.

Gabriel, who had one strikeout, gave the Cajuns exactly what they were looking for.

"We were playing a good ballclub, and we needed Gabriel to step up and pitch big," ULL coach Tony Robichaux said. "Gabe gave us an opportunity where we didn't have to score a lot of runs."

The victory was ULL's third this season against Tulane.

The Cajuns ended their scoring in the eighth with a pair of runs, the last of which scored on one of the Wave's three errors.

ULL got a homer from Dallas Morris in the third, then took the lead for good in the fifth on four consecutive singles. Justin Bourque's leadoff single was followed by a bunt single by Jason Wilson, the Cajuns' second of the game.

But with no outs, the Cajuns nearly ran themselves out of the inning. Corey Coles' bouncer to the right side of second base hit Wilson. The interference kept the runners from advancing, and Bourque was later thrown out trying to steal third. But with two outs, Saloom singled to right to drive home Coles.

Tulane tied the score at 1 in the second on Manzella's homer and at 3 in the third on Stelmack's homer to left.

First baseman James Jurries started the fourth inning with a single to left. A balk by Gabriel and a groundout to second by Michael Aubrey advanced Jurries to third. With two outs, Stelmack hit a 2-0 pitch from Gabriel off the light pole in left field for a two-run homer.

Stelmack, Giarratano, Turner Brumby and Manzella had eight of the Wave's nine hits.

[NewsCopy]

June 01, 2002

BATON ROUGE, La. - Louisiana’s Andy Gros fired his second complete game shutout against LSU this season, scattering seven hits as the Ragin Cajuns advanced to the championship round of the Baton Rouge regional with a 5-0 victory in front of a stunned crowd at Alex Box Stadium.

LSU (41-20) must regroup immediately to play an elimination game against archrival Tulane (36-26), who eliminated Southern 10-2 earlier on Saturday. The winner of the night game must defeat the Cajuns (39-21) twice to advance to the super regional.

The championship round is slated for 1 p.m. Sunday, with a second game if necessary scheduled for 5 p.m.

The shutout was just the third suffered by LSU in 203 post-season games, with the other two coming on consecutive days in the 1992 South I Regional to Ohio State (5-0) and Cal State Fullerton (11-0).

Gros also allowed the Tigers just seven hits in his shutout win on March 19 in Lafayette, as Louisiana has allowed LSU just one run in winning all three meetings between the clubs in 2002. The Cajuns are the first team to shut out LSU twice in the same season since Ole Miss blanked the Tigers in the final two games of 1982.

LSU’s only real threats of the game came in the fifth and sixth, when the Tigers advanced runners to third base each time, only to have the rallies end, first on a Wally Pontiff fly ball in the fifth and on J.C. Holt’s line drive in the sixth.

The early innings shaped up as the expected pitching duel between Gros and LSU ace Lane Mestepey, who entered this game with a streak of 23 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings at home and had allowed just five runs in his previous 42 innings, retired the first 10 batters he faced until he yielded a one-out home run in the fourth to Justin Bourque to break the scoreless tie.

The Cajuns would strand a runner at third in the fifth, but in the sixth, they would score another run with the help of a Pontiff error, as he misplayed Dallas Morris’ ground ball. Morris would eventually score on Corey Coles’ two-out bunt single that neither Pontiff nor Mestepey could field.

A one-out home run by Bryan Sneed put the game out of reach for the Cajuns, but Louisiana would add runs in the eighth and ninth, scoring in the eighth on an RBI single by Coles that plated Bourque, who doubled two batters earlier, and in the ninth, the Cajuns got an unearned run when Rocky Scelfo misplayed Phillip Hawke’s ground ball, scoring Chase Lambin from second.

Mestepey took his first loss since May 4 at Tennessee to drop to 11-4 on the year despite walking none and striking out sixth in his eighth complete game of the year.

The rest of the story

[Turbine]

Both LSU and Tulane need three straight wins to advance to a Super Regional.

Andy Gros was MASTERFUL.

[Cajun97]

Great game from all but especially Andy Gros and Corey Coles. Way to go guys, keep it up. I hope we still have some pitching left.

GEAUX CAJUNS!!!!

[NewsCopy]

Morgan City native shuts out LSU

Advertiser-Dan McDonald

BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun baseball team counted on - and expected - a big performance from Andy Gros.

They might not have expected left-handed hitters Justin Bourque and Bryan Sneed to come up with key offensive plays, especially against LSU southpaw ace Lane Mestepey.

But, after all, this is a team that makes a living with the unexpected.

The efforts of that trio have now put the Cajuns into the driver's seat in the NCAA Regional tournament at LSU's Alex Box Stadium.

Gros twirled yet another soft-toss masterpiece at the Tigers, posting his second shutout over LSU this year, and Bourque and Sneed had home runs that helped power a 5-0 victory over the top-seeded Tigers Saturday afternoon.

That win puts UL (39-21) one win away from its third regional championship in three tries. The survivor of Saturday evening's LSU-Tulane elimination game has to beat the Cajuns twice today to claim the crown and a Super Regional berth.

"We haven't won anything yet,' said UL head coach Tony Robichaux. "Neither of those teams are going to just go away. Our work is a long way from being done.'

rest of story deleted

[NewsCopy]

UL becomes first state school to win at LSU in NCAA baseball postseason UL 5, LSU 0

BATON ROUGE -- The scene was so foreign, so strange, that it didn't seem real.

After the game, Louisiana huddled calmly as the LSU Tigers and their fans looked on in amazement.

The Ragin' Cajuns, behind the taunting changeup of starter Andy Gros, had just beaten the Tigers 5-0 Saturday afternoon, which earned them a trip to the championship game of the regional today at 1 p.m. With a win today, Louisiana Là will advance to a super regional.

Saturday's victory marked the first time an LSU team was defeated at home by a Louisiana school in the postseason, and it extends the growing rivalry between the two teams.

"We don't get along because we have to play them all the time," said Justin Gabriel, who got the win for UL against Tulane on Friday night. "We aren't going to let them push us around."

Gabriel acknowledged that LSU has seemed to one-up the Cajuns in the past. It has seemed that if UL makes a regional, LSU hosts it. And in 2000 when UL finally made the College World Series, "they (the Tigers) win it," Gabriel said.

ULL is also in search of respect -- it wants to call itself the University of Louisiana, and it wants to be a school on even footing with Louisiana State University. For the Ragin' Cajuns, Saturday's win is an important step in that direction.

The game was emotional from the start. When LSU third baseman Wally Pontiff batted in the first, he was hit by Gros' pitch. Pontiff took several steps toward the mound before jogging to first.

That sent UL coach Tony Robichaux out of the dugout, furious at Pontiff and the umpires. The Alex Box crowd took exception to Robichaux's actions, which prompted them to roar loudly. The umpires conferred with LSU coach Smoke Laval, and six minutes after Pontiff was hit, play resumed.

The rest of the story

By Wright Thompson
Staff writer/The Times-Picayune

June 2nd, 2002, 04:48 pm #9

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UL Lafayette doubles up Tulane, one game away from Super Regional

Cajuns play small ball to beat Green Wave

BATON ROUGE - It was a textbook example of playing the "small game,' and Justin Gabriel made it stand up for Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns here Friday night.

The Cajuns stole early and bunted late, generally bedeviling Tulane's Green Wave with both, and Gabriel shut down the Wave offense over the final five innings as UL posted a 6-3 victory in the NCAA Regional baseball tournament Friday at LSU's Alex Box Stadium.

UL (38-21), improving to 7-0 in regional play since the NCAA went to the four-team regional format, advances to today's winners' bracket finals today at 3 p.m. against LSU's Tigers, who took a 5-4 win over Southern in Friday's opening game.

Gabriel (10-4) won a battle with Tulane's Nick Bourgeois (10-3) in a matchup of two pitchers with College World Series experience. He allowed three runs on a pair of homers in the third and fourth innings, but gave up only one hit over the next four frames.

Meanwhile, the Cajuns stole three bases in the first three innings, every one of them contributing to runs, and then got four bunt singles in the last five innings along with a squeeze bunt that provided one of two insurance runs in the eighth inning.

"We did a great job of trying to stay aggressive and getting the bunting game in,' said Cajun head coach Tony Robichaux. "And Gabriel gave us the opportunity to do that. We thought he would step up and pitch a great game.'

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June 3rd, 2002, 04:28 am #10

Turbine

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What a season! Thanks

Well it's over. I just want to say thanks, team, it has been a fantastic bounce back season.

Louisiana accomplished what no other team in the country could accomplish after losing two pitchers Martinez and Ramon in the starting rotation.

We got a brief reminder in body if not in style of what we lost when Templet made an appearance against LSU in the rubber match.

I can say with confidence that this coaching staff did their best work ever, and it sure is nice to see a coach stand up for his players the way Robe did to close out the season.

2002 What a season !

Now LSU better show this was no fluke and get to Eaux Mah Haux or I will be upset.

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June 3rd, 2002, 04:28 am #11

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The venerable park turned into Alex "Tinder" Box Stadium

By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
jschiefelbein@theadvocate.com
Advocate sportswriter

The ninth inning of the first game between LSU and the University of Louisiana had three ejections, with the repercussions spilling over to the second game. And all that happened after the two teams converged for a shouting match near home plate after an LSU home run in the seventh inning.

UL coach Tony Robichaux and relief pitcher Donnie Bair and LSU shortstop Aaron Hill were all ejected in the ninth.

Robichaux, who declined comment after the game, and Hill were suspended for the second game, with LSU winning the NCAA Regional championship 12-2. Bair, a junior, is out four games, a suspension which carries over to next season's first three games.

Assistant coach Wade Simoneaux took control of the Cajuns for the second game, while Rocky Scelfo made his sixth start at shortstop.

Matt Heath's two-run homer over the center-field fence in the seventh inning began the brouhaha Sunday.

As Heath rounded the bases, he stared down the UL dugout. That brought the Cajuns to the edge of their dugout in force, with Tigers already out at home plate to celebrate with Heath.

"I didn't say a word to them," Heath said. "I just looked at them. They were trash-talking to us, so I wanted to send a message that we were for real. I just looked into their eyes.

"They saw we weren't here just to whip them, we were here to show them this was our house."

Umpires kept the two teams at bay and issued warnings to both coaches.

Robichaux, who argued with home-plate umpire Randy Wetzel at that point, said on his postgame radio interview he lobbied for Heath's ejection.

"We were well aware before game one started if anything happened, there'd be suspensions," Simoneaux said.

"He fronted our dugout. It's hard to accept when somebody fronts your dugout and looks at your dugout from third base to home plate. And we're not going to let that happen."

When Heath came up to bat in the ninth, Bair plunked him with the first pitch and was immediately ejected.

Before Bair threw the pitch that hit Heath, most of the seated Cajuns players had worked their way to the top step of the dugout.

"Too bad, that didn't even hurt me," said Heath, who said the ball hit his belt buckle. "I figured it was coming."

Six batters later, Hill, batting from in the left batter's box, swung wildly at the first pitch, with the bat sailing over his head into the Louisiana dugout. Hill was ejected as Wetzel ruled he intentionally flung the bat in an act construed as fighting in the NCAA baseball rulebook.

A statement about the incidents from umpire crew chief Ken Eldridge said:

"After the home run by the LSU player (Matt Heath), when he looked into the Lafayette dugout and both benches emptied, a warning was issued to both coaches about throwing at people, which is covered in rule 5-16-d-(1). When (Heath) came back up to hit, he was hit, and because of the prior warnings by Randy Wetzel, the plate umpire, the pitcher (Donnie Bair) was ejected and coach Robichaux was ejected.

"The suspension that comes with the pitcher being ejected after the warnings is for four games. The suspension of Coach Robichaux after the warnings came is one game. The suspension of the player who threw the bat in the dugout (Aaron Hill) is covered under the fight rule, which is 5-16-a, which says any kind of abuse, which is equipment or anything else, is construed as fighting, and his suspension is for one game. It was ruled in Randy Wetzel's judgment that it was intentional."

Rule 5-16-a defines fighting as "any physical abuse of an opposing player, including attempting to strike with the arms, hands, legs, feet or equipment in a combative manner, or intentionally spitting at an opponent."

Hill said the bat slipped out of his gloves, which were soaked with sweat(water).

"(The umpire) said, 'Sorry, but I had to do it."' Hill said. "I said, 'Sir, feel my gloves.' They were soaked. But it turned out all right."

The umpires and tournament officials took steps to control the second game.

When Heath hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning of the second game, first-base umpire Robert Hefner dashed along the first-base line and pointed to the LSU dugout, making sure the Tigers did not come out to celebrate.

"We were told no one could put their foot on the top steps, nobody could leave the dugout at all or they'd be thrown out of the game without any questions asked," Simoneaux said.

Tensions had been brewing since Thursday when all four regional teams practiced. LSU players said UL pitcher Justin Gabriel bumped into Wally Pontiff outside the batting cages. Gabriel was unavailable for comment.

"Gabriel came in and bumped into me," Pontiff said. "I can't use the expletives he did. He told me I was going to get mine. I didn't take it too lightly."

That dispute bubbled over in the first inning Saturday when Pontiff got plunked by a pitch with two outs and a 2-1 count. Pontiff stepped toward the mound and pitcher Andy Gros and made some comments. That exchange brought UL players out of their dugout onto the apron, with Wetzel, then the first-base umpire, warning the Cajuns to step back.

Robichaux came out of the dugout to discuss the situation with Eldridge, then the home-plate umpire. After the game, when asked about the situation by the media, Robichaux brushed it off as the intensity of the moment and did not discuss any particulars.

Story LINK Broken

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June 3rd, 2002, 04:28 am #12

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Tigers sweep past Cajuns, will face Rice

Forget the summer of love, that memorable 2000 College World Series in which the LSU Tigers won their fifth national championship and University of Louisiana at Lafayette fans were also LSU fans -- and vice versa.

The 2002 NCAA Division I Baseball Baton Rouge Regional ended peacefully on this hot, muggy Sunday, but not before it seemed on the verge of becoming a loser-leaves-town steel-cage match.

Long before LSU won the championship with a 12-2 victory over the Ragin' Cajuns -- in the second game of a doubleheader made necessary by LSU's 12-2 victory over the same team earlier in the afternoon -- the regional ran out of sportsmanship before it ran out of pitching.

Until it ended, it seemed the Tigers might never run out of timely hits, knockout home runs and quality pitching. They settled on 30 hits and 24 runs against a UL team that had limited LSU to 21 hits -- and one run -- in three previous games this season.

When the second game ended, nearly seven hours after the first began, the Tigers celebrated with their trademark conga line, a five-minute victory lap around their home park. In some years, the trek around Alex Box Stadium was a send-off to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., but this one propelled LSU into next weekend's Super Regional at Houston against Rice.

LSU's Brian Wilson threw a complete game in clinching the regional championship in the second game Sunday against University of Louisiana.
Senior center fielder David Raymer, one of seven LSU players on the all-regional team, was beaming.

"I really wish we didn't have to go to Houston to play," Raymer said, "because this is the best place to play in the country. Coming from North Carolina, I never even dreamed of something like this.

"When I see 'Field of Dreams' now, that movie, this is what I think about now. This is like heaven to me when it comes to baseball."

LSU (44-20) will play Rice (50-12) in a best-of-three series beginning Friday at Rice's Reckling Park. Game times and other details will be announced today.

Rice, the No. 4 seed overall in the NCAA Tournament, won its regional with a 14-2 victory over Washington in the second game of a similar doubleheader in Houston.

LSU third baseman Wally Pontiff, the team captain and a pivotal player in much of the controversy during the regional, looked weary but happy.

"We have guys beaten and bruised up," Pontiff said. "Raymer's hip is bruised black and blue. We are the epitome of a team that is beaten down right now. But our guys have had a dream from the beginning, since they set foot at 6 a.m. (in the fall) to lift weights, and that is to go to Omaha."

After losing to UL 5-0 Saturday, the Tigers needed two wins over the Cajuns to advance to the super regional, but Pontiff said he never doubted.

"I don't think a little fatigue was going to stop us," he said. "I just tried to do my best and realize that UL was just a stepping stone to go to Omaha. I think we can go to Omaha now."

Against a UL team that was pitching by committee -- and perhaps a prayer or two -- the Tigers reasserted the program's ability to play with its back against the wall. For the sixth time in 14 years, LSU won two games in the championship round to claim a regional, the fifth time in Baton Rouge.

Tigers closer Jake Tompkins, who'd pitched five innings Friday in relief, started the first game and allowed only an unearned run on seven hits in 61/3 innings.

The media voted Tompkins the Most Outstanding Player of the regional.

Relievers Clay Harris and Lukas Guidroz closed the door, and LSU got off to its hot start with two home runs in the first inning.

The Tigers added two more home runs, including a two-run shot by Matt Heath in the seventh inning that set in motion a series of events that nearly turned the day on its side. Louisiana Là freshman pitcher Donnie Bair beaned Heath in the ninth inning, leading to three ejections from the game -- Bair, Cajuns coach Tony Robichaux and, later, LSU shortstop Aaron Hill.

Hill swung at a pitch in the ninth inning, and the bat slipped from his hands and flew into the UL dugout. Hill later said his batting gloves were drenched with (water), but umpires ejected him, ruling the incident an intentional use of equipment "in a combative manner."

The Tigers played the second game without him, and they duplicated their 12-2 pasting of the Cajuns.

"I told the guys we didn't have Aaron Hill for 12 games and won eight of them, so why not this one?" LSU coach Smoke Laval said. "This was competitiveness coming out. I told them to play with emotion but don't get caught up in it.

"They did an outstanding job of refocusing, and it was great."

Brian Wilson, pitching on one day of rest as well, pitched a complete game in the second game, limiting the Cajuns to two runs on eight hits and three walks. He struck out seven.

Heath hit his second home run of the day in a four-run fourth inning, and J.C. Holt went 4-for-6 with three runs batted in and three runs scored. Raymer and senior catcher Chris Phillips each went 3-for-5, and when they came to the plate in the eighth inning for their final at-bats at Alex Box, the crowd chanted their names -- before and after each lined a run-scoring single for good measure.

In the end, LSU battered 10 pitchers, burying the Cajuns after being handcuffed a day earlier by UL pitcher Jason Gros. He and teammate Justin Gabriel combined to limit the Tigers to one run in three earlier games this season, but the Cajuns pitching staff was running on fumes by Sunday.

"We've thrown well, two arms deep, all year, so we knew any third game was going to give us some trouble," Robichaux said. "We knew we'd have to hit for more than two games."

They didn't. LSU held the Cajuns to nine hits in the first game, eight in the second.

"They were better than us two times," Robichaux said.

"LSU came out swinging," said UL freshman Kevin Ardoin, who started the second game. "They swung the bats today. Their players were picked up by the momentum from the crowd."

LSU's fourth straight trip to a super regional denied the Cajuns their third trip in four years.

"Our team battled all year long to come down to the championship," Ardoin said. "It's tough to see us go down this way, but we will be back."

Heath tipped his hat to the Cajuns, with a footnote.

"They're a good team," Heath said. "I just knew today was our day."

All-tournament team
2002 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional All-Tournament Team:
C -- Chris Phillips, LSU
1B -- Rocky Scelfo, LSU
2B -- J.C. Holt, LSU
3B -- Anthony Giarratano, Tulane
SS -- Fernando Puebla, Southern;
SS -- Chase Lambin, University of Louisiana
OF -- Sean Barker, LSU
OF -- Bryan Sneed, LSU
OF -- Matt Heath, LSU
DH -- David Raymer, LSU
P -- Andy Gros, University of Louisiana
P -- Jake Tompkins, LSU
Most Outstanding Player -- Jake Tompkins, LSU

Story Link broken

By CARL DUBOIS
cdubois@theadvocate.com
Advocate sportswriter

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[NewsCopy]

Cajuns play small ball to beat Green Wave

BATON ROUGE - It was a textbook example of playing the "small game,' and Justin Gabriel made it stand up for Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns here Friday night.

The Cajuns stole early and bunted late, generally bedeviling Tulane's Green Wave with both, and Gabriel shut down the Wave offense over the final five innings as UL posted a 6-3 victory in the NCAA Regional baseball tournament Friday at LSU's Alex Box Stadium.

UL (38-21), improving to 7-0 in regional play since the NCAA went to the four-team regional format, advances to today's winners' bracket finals today at 3 p.m. against LSU's Tigers, who took a 5-4 win over Southern in Friday's opening game.

Gabriel (10-4) won a battle with Tulane's Nick Bourgeois (10-3) in a matchup of two pitchers with College World Series experience. He allowed three runs on a pair of homers in the third and fourth innings, but gave up only one hit over the next four frames.

Meanwhile, the Cajuns stole three bases in the first three innings, every one of them contributing to runs, and then got four bunt singles in the last five innings along with a squeeze bunt that provided one of two insurance runs in the eighth inning.

"We did a great job of trying to stay aggressive and getting the bunting game in,' said Cajun head coach Tony Robichaux. "And Gabriel gave us the opportunity to do that. We thought he would step up and pitch a great game.'

The rest of the story

[Turbine]

Well it's over. I just want to say thanks, team, it has been a fantastic bounce back season.

Louisiana accomplished what no other team in the country could accomplish after losing two pitchers Martinez and Ramon in the starting rotation.

We got a brief reminder in body if not in style of what we lost when Templet made an appearance against LSU in the rubber match.

I can say with confidence that this coaching staff did their best work ever, and it sure is nice to see a coach stand up for his players the way Robe did to close out the season.

2002 What a season !

Now LSU better show this was no fluke and get to Eaux Mah Haux or I will be upset.

[NewsCopy]

By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
jschiefelbein@theadvocate.com
Advocate sportswriter

The ninth inning of the first game between LSU and the University of Louisiana had three ejections, with the repercussions spilling over to the second game. And all that happened after the two teams converged for a shouting match near home plate after an LSU home run in the seventh inning.

UL coach Tony Robichaux and relief pitcher Donnie Bair and LSU shortstop Aaron Hill were all ejected in the ninth.

Robichaux, who declined comment after the game, and Hill were suspended for the second game, with LSU winning the NCAA Regional championship 12-2. Bair, a junior, is out four games, a suspension which carries over to next season's first three games.

Assistant coach Wade Simoneaux took control of the Cajuns for the second game, while Rocky Scelfo made his sixth start at shortstop.

Matt Heath's two-run homer over the center-field fence in the seventh inning began the brouhaha Sunday.

As Heath rounded the bases, he stared down the UL dugout. That brought the Cajuns to the edge of their dugout in force, with Tigers already out at home plate to celebrate with Heath.

"I didn't say a word to them," Heath said. "I just looked at them. They were trash-talking to us, so I wanted to send a message that we were for real. I just looked into their eyes.

"They saw we weren't here just to whip them, we were here to show them this was our house."

Umpires kept the two teams at bay and issued warnings to both coaches.

Robichaux, who argued with home-plate umpire Randy Wetzel at that point, said on his postgame radio interview he lobbied for Heath's ejection.

"We were well aware before game one started if anything happened, there'd be suspensions," Simoneaux said.

"He fronted our dugout. It's hard to accept when somebody fronts your dugout and looks at your dugout from third base to home plate. And we're not going to let that happen."

When Heath came up to bat in the ninth, Bair plunked him with the first pitch and was immediately ejected.

Before Bair threw the pitch that hit Heath, most of the seated Cajuns players had worked their way to the top step of the dugout.

"Too bad, that didn't even hurt me," said Heath, who said the ball hit his belt buckle. "I figured it was coming."

Six batters later, Hill, batting from in the left batter's box, swung wildly at the first pitch, with the bat sailing over his head into the Louisiana dugout. Hill was ejected as Wetzel ruled he intentionally flung the bat in an act construed as fighting in the NCAA baseball rulebook.

A statement about the incidents from umpire crew chief Ken Eldridge said:

"After the home run by the LSU player (Matt Heath), when he looked into the Lafayette dugout and both benches emptied, a warning was issued to both coaches about throwing at people, which is covered in rule 5-16-d-(1). When (Heath) came back up to hit, he was hit, and because of the prior warnings by Randy Wetzel, the plate umpire, the pitcher (Donnie Bair) was ejected and coach Robichaux was ejected.

"The suspension that comes with the pitcher being ejected after the warnings is for four games. The suspension of Coach Robichaux after the warnings came is one game. The suspension of the player who threw the bat in the dugout (Aaron Hill) is covered under the fight rule, which is 5-16-a, which says any kind of abuse, which is equipment or anything else, is construed as fighting, and his suspension is for one game. It was ruled in Randy Wetzel's judgment that it was intentional."

Rule 5-16-a defines fighting as "any physical abuse of an opposing player, including attempting to strike with the arms, hands, legs, feet or equipment in a combative manner, or intentionally spitting at an opponent."

Hill said the bat slipped out of his gloves, which were soaked with sweat(water).

"(The umpire) said, 'Sorry, but I had to do it."' Hill said. "I said, 'Sir, feel my gloves.' They were soaked. But it turned out all right."

The umpires and tournament officials took steps to control the second game.

When Heath hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning of the second game, first-base umpire Robert Hefner dashed along the first-base line and pointed to the LSU dugout, making sure the Tigers did not come out to celebrate.

"We were told no one could put their foot on the top steps, nobody could leave the dugout at all or they'd be thrown out of the game without any questions asked," Simoneaux said.

Tensions had been brewing since Thursday when all four regional teams practiced. LSU players said UL pitcher Justin Gabriel bumped into Wally Pontiff outside the batting cages. Gabriel was unavailable for comment.

"Gabriel came in and bumped into me," Pontiff said. "I can't use the expletives he did. He told me I was going to get mine. I didn't take it too lightly."

That dispute bubbled over in the first inning Saturday when Pontiff got plunked by a pitch with two outs and a 2-1 count. Pontiff stepped toward the mound and pitcher Andy Gros and made some comments. That exchange brought UL players out of their dugout onto the apron, with Wetzel, then the first-base umpire, warning the Cajuns to step back.

Robichaux came out of the dugout to discuss the situation with Eldridge, then the home-plate umpire. After the game, when asked about the situation by the media, Robichaux brushed it off as the intensity of the moment and did not discuss any particulars.

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Forget the summer of love, that memorable 2000 College World Series in which the LSU Tigers won their fifth national championship and University of Louisiana at Lafayette fans were also LSU fans -- and vice versa.

The 2002 NCAA Division I Baseball Baton Rouge Regional ended peacefully on this hot, muggy Sunday, but not before it seemed on the verge of becoming a loser-leaves-town steel-cage match.

Long before LSU won the championship with a 12-2 victory over the Ragin' Cajuns -- in the second game of a doubleheader made necessary by LSU's 12-2 victory over the same team earlier in the afternoon -- the regional ran out of sportsmanship before it ran out of pitching.

Until it ended, it seemed the Tigers might never run out of timely hits, knockout home runs and quality pitching. They settled on 30 hits and 24 runs against a UL team that had limited LSU to 21 hits -- and one run -- in three previous games this season.

When the second game ended, nearly seven hours after the first began, the Tigers celebrated with their trademark conga line, a five-minute victory lap around their home park. In some years, the trek around Alex Box Stadium was a send-off to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., but this one propelled LSU into next weekend's Super Regional at Houston against Rice.

LSU's Brian Wilson threw a complete game in clinching the regional championship in the second game Sunday against University of Louisiana.
Senior center fielder David Raymer, one of seven LSU players on the all-regional team, was beaming.

"I really wish we didn't have to go to Houston to play," Raymer said, "because this is the best place to play in the country. Coming from North Carolina, I never even dreamed of something like this.

"When I see 'Field of Dreams' now, that movie, this is what I think about now. This is like heaven to me when it comes to baseball."

LSU (44-20) will play Rice (50-12) in a best-of-three series beginning Friday at Rice's Reckling Park. Game times and other details will be announced today.

Rice, the No. 4 seed overall in the NCAA Tournament, won its regional with a 14-2 victory over Washington in the second game of a similar doubleheader in Houston.

LSU third baseman Wally Pontiff, the team captain and a pivotal player in much of the controversy during the regional, looked weary but happy.

"We have guys beaten and bruised up," Pontiff said. "Raymer's hip is bruised black and blue. We are the epitome of a team that is beaten down right now. But our guys have had a dream from the beginning, since they set foot at 6 a.m. (in the fall) to lift weights, and that is to go to Omaha."

After losing to UL 5-0 Saturday, the Tigers needed two wins over the Cajuns to advance to the super regional, but Pontiff said he never doubted.

"I don't think a little fatigue was going to stop us," he said. "I just tried to do my best and realize that UL was just a stepping stone to go to Omaha. I think we can go to Omaha now."

Against a UL team that was pitching by committee -- and perhaps a prayer or two -- the Tigers reasserted the program's ability to play with its back against the wall. For the sixth time in 14 years, LSU won two games in the championship round to claim a regional, the fifth time in Baton Rouge.

Tigers closer Jake Tompkins, who'd pitched five innings Friday in relief, started the first game and allowed only an unearned run on seven hits in 61/3 innings.

The media voted Tompkins the Most Outstanding Player of the regional.

Relievers Clay Harris and Lukas Guidroz closed the door, and LSU got off to its hot start with two home runs in the first inning.

The Tigers added two more home runs, including a two-run shot by Matt Heath in the seventh inning that set in motion a series of events that nearly turned the day on its side. Louisiana Là freshman pitcher Donnie Bair beaned Heath in the ninth inning, leading to three ejections from the game -- Bair, Cajuns coach Tony Robichaux and, later, LSU shortstop Aaron Hill.

Hill swung at a pitch in the ninth inning, and the bat slipped from his hands and flew into the UL dugout. Hill later said his batting gloves were drenched with (water), but umpires ejected him, ruling the incident an intentional use of equipment "in a combative manner."

The Tigers played the second game without him, and they duplicated their 12-2 pasting of the Cajuns.

"I told the guys we didn't have Aaron Hill for 12 games and won eight of them, so why not this one?" LSU coach Smoke Laval said. "This was competitiveness coming out. I told them to play with emotion but don't get caught up in it.

"They did an outstanding job of refocusing, and it was great."

Brian Wilson, pitching on one day of rest as well, pitched a complete game in the second game, limiting the Cajuns to two runs on eight hits and three walks. He struck out seven.

Heath hit his second home run of the day in a four-run fourth inning, and J.C. Holt went 4-for-6 with three runs batted in and three runs scored. Raymer and senior catcher Chris Phillips each went 3-for-5, and when they came to the plate in the eighth inning for their final at-bats at Alex Box, the crowd chanted their names -- before and after each lined a run-scoring single for good measure.

In the end, LSU battered 10 pitchers, burying the Cajuns after being handcuffed a day earlier by UL pitcher Jason Gros. He and teammate Justin Gabriel combined to limit the Tigers to one run in three earlier games this season, but the Cajuns pitching staff was running on fumes by Sunday.

"We've thrown well, two arms deep, all year, so we knew any third game was going to give us some trouble," Robichaux said. "We knew we'd have to hit for more than two games."

They didn't. LSU held the Cajuns to nine hits in the first game, eight in the second.

"They were better than us two times," Robichaux said.

"LSU came out swinging," said UL freshman Kevin Ardoin, who started the second game. "They swung the bats today. Their players were picked up by the momentum from the crowd."

LSU's fourth straight trip to a super regional denied the Cajuns their third trip in four years.

"Our team battled all year long to come down to the championship," Ardoin said. "It's tough to see us go down this way, but we will be back."

Heath tipped his hat to the Cajuns, with a footnote.

"They're a good team," Heath said. "I just knew today was our day."

All-tournament team
2002 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional All-Tournament Team:
C -- Chris Phillips, LSU
1B -- Rocky Scelfo, LSU
2B -- J.C. Holt, LSU
3B -- Anthony Giarratano, Tulane
SS -- Fernando Puebla, Southern;
SS -- Chase Lambin, University of Louisiana
OF -- Sean Barker, LSU
OF -- Bryan Sneed, LSU
OF -- Matt Heath, LSU
DH -- David Raymer, LSU
P -- Andy Gros, University of Louisiana
P -- Jake Tompkins, LSU
Most Outstanding Player -- Jake Tompkins, LSU

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By CARL DUBOIS
cdubois@theadvocate.com
Advocate sportswriter