The regular season series was a bit of surprise between the LSU Tigers and Mississippi State. Less than a month ago, both teams were fighting for the SEC West championship and LSU came out the victor in all three contests.
Fast forward to this Saturday and the Bulldogs are coming to Alex Box Stadium to try and punch their ticket to Omaha. For the first time since LSU was beaten by Coastal Carolina in last year’s Super Regional, Andy Cannizaro is going to be in the Box. However, he’ll be in the other dugout facing off against Paul Mainieri’s crew.
There’s numerous storylines going into this one, but the biggest one has to be the student taking on the teacher on one of the biggest stages in college baseball. Having Cannizaro, who has learned so much from Mainieri, up against the only other school he coached at should make for some solid ratings for the mothership this weekend. That logic seems to hold some water as they will be on one of the primary channels of the World Wide Leader for this best-of-three series in Baton Rouge.
Having that storyline built in makes for good ratings, but it doesn’t hurt that some of the best players in the country are playing this weekend. Just look at who will be at the dish this weekend from both sides. Mississippi State’s Brent Rooker is still chasing an SEC Triple Crown and can pose a real threat offensively. When it comes to LSU, Zach Watson is likely looking to follow up last weekend with another stellar performance and the Tigers as a whole will be trying to get over a poor defensive effort during regional play.
While the way the regular season series went down may make people think that the Tigers are going to make it look easy against the Bulldogs, it won’t be an easy win for either team. Mississippi State has been chomping at the bit to get some measure of revenge against LSU and Cannizaro wants to prove that he can take down LSU. If he does that in his first year as a head coach, the rivalry between these two teams will reach a new level.
-Clint Domingue