August 13: Eyeing the Tigers

With Wichita State and Texas A&M sporting records putting them well in front of the rest of the pack, a battle has emerged for 3rd place, with Miami and Texas tied at 64-61, an impressive 32 games behind the Shockers.  The ASU Sun Devils, who had been keeping pace in the hunt for 3rd, fell four games off that pace after having the misfortune of playing Wichita State in a three-game series, in which the Sun Devils lost all three.  Continuing our look at teams struggling in the second division, we turn to one that has been dropping steadily during the second half of the season--the 1997 LSU Tigers, the best home run-hitting college baseball team of all time.

Who's Getting It Done:  Well, the team is hitting homers; the team total of 123 leads the league easily over OSU's second-best 95.  Seven Tigers have double-digit numbers in home runs, led by Brandon Larson's 26.  1B Eddy Furniss leads the team in hitting with a .281 average and a .370 OBP.   Staff ace Doug Thompson (12-11, 3.52) has 272 strikeouts and his SO/9 is 3rd best in the league.

 .222 beats what he did for the Reds

Who's Not:  LSU's team batting average of .221 places them ahead of only Mississippi State and Arizona State; too many of the Tiger homers have been solo shots.  1997 CWS MVP Brandon Larson won't win any awards with a .222 batting average, although he's outhitting several of his teammates, including C Clint Earnhart, whose .119 average is the lowest in the league among regular starters (although roughly a third of his hits have been home runs).   Finally, the pitching staff ERA of 3.81 bests only OSU and Fullerton in this league with dominating starters, with particular issues at the bottom end of the rotation.  Still, the Tigers would be winning more games if they could get a few men on base before launching their longball attack.


LSU Tigers **Team Batting Stats**
Last           First     AVE   G    AB   SO   BB   H    2B   3B   HR   R    RBI  SB   E   
Larson         Brandon   .222  125  527  152  22   117  21   1    26   61   73   15   26  
Higgins        Danny     .245  125  507  151  74   124  26   1    11   59   44   7    0   
Barbier        Blair     .235  125  506  123  58   119  29   0    11   52   49   20   17  
Koerner        Mike      .222  125  499  140  26   111  22   1    17   52   57   13   6   
Bernhardt      Tom       .221  125  476  187  31   105  12   0    18   54   47   19   35  
Furniss        Eddy      .281  125  467  149  66   131  33   0    7    56   44   3    3   
Davis          Wes       .199  125  447  152  43   89   9    1    16   51   49   20   14  
McClure        Trey      .197  93   346  100  38   68   12   6    5    25   29   0    6   
Earnhart       Clint     .119  93   311  181  37   37   14   0    10   33   19   0    0   
Cuntz          Casey     .209  32   115  39   18   24   4    2    1    12   13   1    2   
Horton         Conan     .245  32   106  24   17   26   5    0    1    13   12   0    0   
-              -         .221  1435 4307 1398 430  951  187  12   123  468  436  98   111 

LSU Tigers **Team Pitching Stats**
Last           First     ERA   G    GS   CG   W    L    SV   IP    SO   BB   H    R    ER  
Thompson       Doug      3.52  32   32   2    12   11   0    222.1 272  77   203  101  87  
Coogan         Patrick   3.80  30   30   1    11   11   0    211.0 197  66   211  104  89  
Painich        Joey      3.78  26   26   1    9    11   0    178.2 154  56   176  87   75  
Berthelot      Eric      5.59  21   21   0    4    12   0    141.2 129  47   168  99   88  
Daugherty      Brian     2.79  85   0    0    6    5    5    135.2 117  34   128  52   42  
Demouy         Chris     3.86  36   8    0    5    5    21   88.2  81   35   86   39   38  
Guillory       Dan       3.65  51   0    0    4    8    5    81.1  65   15   96   39   33  
Shipp          Kevin     3.05  8    8    0    4    3    0    56.0  60   11   50   23   19  
Albritton      Jason     2.82  18   0    0    2    0    2    22.1  24   15   19   7    7   
Leonardi       Antonio   12.27 3    0    0    0    2    0    3.2   7    1    9    5    5   
-              -         3.81  310  125  4    57   68   33   1141.11106 357  1146 556  483 


College Greats League Standings 

Year      Team                     W    L    PCT   GB   L10  
1982      Wichita State Shockers   96   29   .768  -    7-3  
1989      Texas A&M Aggies         78   47   .624  18.0 8-2  
2001      Miami Hurricanes         64   61   .512  32.0 6-4  
1983      Texas Longhorns          64   61   .512  32.0 7-3  
1967      Arizona State Sun Devils 60   65   .480  36.0 4-6  
1995      Cal State Fullerton Titan57   68   .456  39.0 6-4  
1997      LSU Tigers               57   68   .456  39.0 3-7  
1971      USC Trojans              51   74   .408  45.0 4-6  
1985      Oklahoma State Cowboys   50   75   .400  46.0 2-8  
1985      Miss State Bulldogs      48   77   .384  48.0 3-7