BATON ROUGE – Surrounded by reporters in late June 2019 at the Manning Passing Academy where he was a counselor, Joe Burrow made one of the boldest proclamations ever uttered by an LSU quarterback considering the historically conservative Tigers had never averaged more than 38.6 points in a season.

“I think we’re going to score a lot of points,” Joe Cool said. “And I don’t think a lot of people are used to LSU scoring 40, 50, 60 points per game. And I think we have that capability.”

Turned out he was a man of his word.

Burrow won the 2019 Heisman Trophy by throwing an NCAA record 60 touchdown passes (averaging one per quarter) in an offense that averaged 48.4 points per game en route to a 15-0 record and the national championship.

A week ago, current LSU QB1 Garrett Nussmeier found himself in the “Burrow Hotseat” as a Manning camp counselor fielding questions from the media.

After reminding him of Burrow’s self-assured prediction for the ’19 offense, I jokingly asked if he had anything as brash to say about the 2024 offense as he takes over for departed 2023 Heisman winner Jayden Daniels who led a unit that averaged a nation’s best 45.5 points.

“Joe is an absolute dog, and he does things his way, and shoot, he’s unreal,” redshirt junior Nussmeier said. “But I don’t like to sit here and say stuff like that. That’s not who I am. I’m just going to let our play do the talking. And I’m excited for Vegas.”

In Las Vegas on Sept. 1 when the Tigers face Southern Cal in the ’24 season opener, it’s the first time Nussmeier has opened a season as a starting quarterback since 2020 as a senior at Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas.

He came to LSU as an immature gunslinging four-star recruit, the son of longtime college and NFL offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier.

And now, after playing in 18 games spread over three seasons in which he served as backup to Daniels for the last two years, Nussmeier sounds and acts like a seasoned vet ready to finally take control as the leader of a well-oiled offense.

“I went through a lot in the last two years just learning different things,” said Nussmeier, who played as a true freshman in 2021 under former head coach Ed Orgeron and inexperienced offensive coordinator Jake Peete before transitioning in 2022 to new head Brian Kelly and O-coordinator Mike Denbrock. “There was a different coaching staff, a different system, a new culture and way we do things.

“I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a person. I’ve learned a lot of important lessons, like putting all my trust and faith in God, keeping my head down and working.”

Nussmeier’s patience and undeniable loyalty (“Being the quarterback of LSU has been a dream of mine since I was a kid,” he said) are becoming rare in this new era of college football ruled by transfer portal and NIL deals rule. Half of the projected starting QBs in the 16-team SEC in the upcoming season are transfers.

More often than not, quarterbacks transfer after no later than just two seasons if they aren’t getting substantial playing time. Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning wants to see more patience among young signal-callers itching to play.

“If you choose to transfer, you’ve got to learn a new (offensive) system,” Manning said. “It takes a couple of years to truly get comfortable in a system. There are rewards for the guys that stay and get comfortable in a system.

“Because they’ve had so many reps, they know where the first, second and third reads are in a play. That’s the best way to learn and grow.”

Other Manning camp counselors, such as Georgia starting QB Carson Beck, are examples of having the patience to position themselves for success.

Beck played 12 games in his first three seasons for Georgia, sticking it out even when 2021 national title-winning QB Stetson Bennett decided to return for 2022 and not turn pro.

Last season, a confident Beck started 14 games for the 13-1 Bulldogs and finished third nationally and first in the SEC in passing yards.

“Even now, coming back for my second year as a starter and building chemistry all last season and in this off-season with a lot of guys coming back, I have an even greater comfort level,” Beck said.

Nussmeier’s ReliaQuest Bowl MVP performance as LSU’s starter (replacing Daniels who opted out) – 395 yards and three TDs in last January’s win over Wisconsin – is proof he’ll probably fire on all cylinders from the first snap vs. the Trojans.

Honestly, he should. Burrow and Daniels, both day-one starters as transfers from Ohio State and Arizona State, had to learn new systems upon arriving in Baton Rouge. They were drastically better in their second seasons as LSU’s QB1 when they won Heismans.

Because new offensive coordinator Joe Sloan has been Nussmeier’s QB coach the last two seasons, Nussmeier is far ahead of the learning curve than Burrow and Daniels were heading into their LSU debut seasons.

“I always prided myself, even when I was the backup. to do the best I could to help our program,” Nussmeier said. “I’m excited to hopefully prove the people right that believed in me and in us.”

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

---

By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Sports Information Director

The addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the Southeastern Conference ranks became official Monday as the big-time collegiate sports landscape was redefined.

Four west coast powers – UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington – made the move into the Big Ten Conference. SMU shifted up from the American Athletic Conference into the Atlantic Coast Conference, which a month from now will officially add former Pac 12 members Cal and Stanford.

Close to home, on Monday former Division II stalwart Kennesaw State was welcomed into Conference USA alongside Louisiana Tech. Stephen F. Austin came back to the Southland Conference and once again became league rivals with Northwestern State for a fifth straight decade.

July 1 was certainly a day for redefining conference identities. It was quite significant for Centenary and the other members of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, which expanded its ranks by four.

The SCAC officially welcomed Concordia University (Texas), McMurry University and University of the Ozarks as core members of the conference.

McMurry was announced as the league’s 10th member on October 31, 2022, and Concordia and Ozarks both accepted membership on May 15, 2023, becoming the conference’s 11th and 12th members.

With those additions, the conference enters the 2024-25 academic year with 12 core members – which equals the largest-ever membership total in the league’s 63-year history. The SCAC also had 12 core members from 2007-08 to 2011-12.

The conference will also welcome back football as an officially sponsored conference sport this fall. Austin College, Centenary College, McMurry, Texas Lutheran University and affiliate member Lyon College kick off the league’s first gridiron season since 2016. Lyon is in its inaugural year as an affiliate member of the conference. 

Additionally, the league’s administrative leadership council officially rotated to Schreiner University as Dr. Charlie McCormick will serve as chair of the SCAC Presidents Council and Bill Raleigh will take over as chair of the conference’s Athletic Directors Council for the 2024-25 academic year.

WOMEN’S GOLF:  Two Centenary players, sophomore Kaylee Roberts and freshman Jordyn Templeton were named to the 2023-24 WGCA All-American Scholar Team, the Women’s Golf Coaches Association announced on Monday. Roberts and Templeton are two of 1,497 women’s collegiate golfers from 412 programs recognized with this prestigious honor.

The criteria for selection to the All-American Scholar Team are some of the most stringent in all of college athletics and continue to demonstrate the high-level academic achievements of our players. To be selected, a student-athlete must:

• Have an overall cumulative grade point average of 3.50 or higher.
• Be an amateur and on the team’s roster through the conclusion of the team’s season.

• Have played in 50 percent of the college’s regularly scheduled competitive rounds during the year through the team’s conference championship.

FOOTBALL:  As the calendar turns to July, Centenary’s official kickoff of its reborn football program is two months from game day and about a month from the start of preseason camp. Head coach Byron Dawson continues to stress to those in the program and those with eyes on it that the Gents have a special mission for the local community.

“In my opinion, the game of football brings people together. We take pride in being Shreveport-Bossier’s college football team,” said Dawson.

“Also, the opportunity to play in the SCAC and represent Centenary college is a great honor for coaches, players, and support staff. Practice will begin in August in preparation for our August 24 scrimmage with Millsaps College.”

Contact Patrick at pmeehan@centenary.edu

---

BATON ROUGE – It will feel around 105 degrees in Austin and Norman today.

Seems appropriate because today’s the day the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma jump out of the frying pan into the fire as they officially become members of the Southeastern Conference.

The league that won 76 national championships in the last 12 years as a 14-team conference just upped the ante by adding a pair of schools that won a combined 36 national titles (18 each for Texas and Oklahoma) in that same time frame.

But as dominant as the Longhorns have been during that period in volleyball (three national titles) and the Sooners in softball (seven titles including the last four straight), they have come up empty in football, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball.

And to most fan bases, those sports matter the most for bragging rights. It’s certainly the sports that figure heavily in evaluating the job performance of athletic directors.

Here’s the SEC vs. Big 12 NCAA national championship scoreboard from the 2012-13 academic year when Texas A&M and Missouri joined the SEC through last Monday when Tennessee won its first College World Series title:

Football: SEC 7 (4 Alabama, 2 Georgia, 1 LSU), Big 12 0.

Men’s basketball: SEC 0, Big 12 2 (Kansas and Baylor 1 each).

Women’s basketball: SEC 4 (South Carolina 3, LSU 1), Big 12 1 (Baylor, coached by now-LSU head coach Kim Mulkey).

Baseball: SEC 7 (Vanderbilt 2, LSU, Florida, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Mississippi State 1 each), Big 12 0.

The fact Texas hasn’t won a national title in any of those sports since the Longhorns won the 2005 College World Series sticks in the craw of all those loyal to Hook ‘Em Horns.

Texas enters the SEC as one of the richest athletic programs in America. In the 2022 fiscal year, the Longhorns had an NCAA record $271 million in revenue followed by just under $240 million in 2023 ranking second nationally behind Ohio State.

Oklahoma’s athletic revenue of $177.3 million in 2022 jumped to $199.2 million in 2023, placing seventh in the SEC among the current league schools including Texas.

Yet the last national title won by the Sooners in the four major sports was football in 2000.

So why do Texas and Oklahoma want to join the SEC?

The SEC will provide at least $20 million more annually to Texas and Oklahoma in TV revenue than it received in the Big 12. Also, because of ESPN’s SEC Network, there’s vastly more exposure in all sports 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

But it’s way more than that.

“Texas fits so well in our new league,” Texas President Jay Hartzell told the Houston Chronicle Sunday during the school’s day-long public celebration of joining the SEC. “It’s the biggest stage in college sports, befitting one of the premier athletic programs and fan bases in the country. For those to aspire to compete for championships, the SEC is the place. And we get to keep and relaunch some storied, passionate-field rivalries.”

The SEC has the biggest and best gameday atmospheres in college sports, especially in football and baseball.

Last season, seven SEC schools ranked in the top 11 nationally last in home football attendance. The Big 12 had two (Texas and Oklahoma) in the top 13.

Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers got a taste of the passionate, packed SEC stadiums he’ll see this year when he led the Longhorns to a win at Alabama last season.

“I just love the environment overall,” Ewers said Friday at the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux. “Just feels like it means more down there, you know? We only have three away games in the SEC this year, but I’m excited to check out all those stadiums. I always thought it (the SEC) was a super competitive league, physical and really talented.”

In the last 25 years, Texas has played just five regular season football games vs. three SEC teams and Oklahoma has played four vs. two teams.

The Longhorns and Sooners will discover annual regular season conference schedules with four, five or six ranked teams including a couple of top 10 matchups.

That’s something the Longhorns and Sooners didn’t see regularly in the Big 12, but it’s a way of life in the SEC.

Championship contenders must have an overload of talent and depth because by early November even the powerhouse teams in the league are running on fumes.

“I have some great Oklahoma friends,” Ole Miss quarterback legend Archie Manning said Friday at the MPA. “I just tell them `This (the SEC) is Big Boy football.’ I love the old Southwest Conference and I’m not knocking the Big 12. I’m just saying in the SEC the records and the programs there speak for themselves.

“These are two great traditional programs coming into the league. You line up these 16 teams, it’s just strong.”

The SEC was content with a 14-team league. But when Texas and Oklahoma expressed interest in joining, it fit exactly what the SEC wanted.

Both are strong, traditional overall athletic programs that are flagship schools of their states that geographically touch states already with SEC schools. All 16 SEC members are in 12 states that border each other in just two time zones. That’s not by coincidence, it’s by design.

So welcome to the family feud, Longhorns and Sooners. And come out swinging.

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

---

BATON ROUGE – There are no more Cinderella stories in college athletics.

Cinderellas who once fantasized about playing college sports now sells the glass slipper for a bag of cash.

College head coaches’ “dream jobs” no longer exist.

The only place coaches now “always wanted to be” is the one that puts the most zeroes on the end of their paychecks.

Recruits often once said they committed to “a school I’ve wanted to play for since I was a little kid.”

In the brazen new lawless world of college athletics in which everything is negotiable and everyone has a price, athletes commit and decommit to a list of suitors while trying to squeeze every penny from NIL deals and jock-sniffing sugar daddies.

Each decommitment is announced through a social media post with the recruit asking the general public “Please respect my decision.” Which is ironic since each decommitment is waffling that subtracts respect.

There are rarely any surprises in college athletics.

Not even Texas A&M head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle after his team’s Monday night loss in the CWS finals to Tennessee, sniping at a reporter daring to ask him (“I think it’s pretty selfish of you to ask me that question,” he said) to address rumors he may be leaving to become Texas head coach (“I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again, and that hasn’t changed in my mind,” he said) and then accepting the Texas job before suppertime the following day.

No one is naïve enough to think college athletics weren’t getting paid under the table for decades and decades.

But despite being against the alleged amateurism rules, maybe because not every other athlete was demanding an annual six-figure salary or because it wasn’t done blatantly in the open or because rigid NCAA transfer rules kept athletes from rarely jumping schools, there was a bit of remaining pureness in college athletics.

Sure, it was a business. But because every athlete wasn’t being bought, there seemed to be a sense of loyalty between athletes and their schools.

Fans appreciated that and in return gave unconditional love. They could build relationships with players because they stayed at the same school for at least three years or more. This doesn’t happen anymore.

The only legislation the spineless NCAA approves these days as rules is anything goes.

Care to transfer as many times as you want? Go ahead.

Want to renegotiate your NIL agreements or cash deals with your school after every season or you’ll leave for a new situation with greener money pastures? Give it a whirl.

Hire as many assistant coaches as possible on a football staff? The NCAA gave greenlighted that on Tuesday.

Sooner or later as college athletic departments became financed mostly by network TV contracts in their respective conferences, it became clear athletes needed a share of the bounty.

Why? Because college athletes train year-round. It’s a job, not a sport. They deserve a piece of the pie.

But college sports have accelerated at an alarming pace into a soulless money grab where athletes promoting their brand override individual development and team goals.

There’s an argument that college head coaches – especially those with multi-million contracts coaching football, basketball and baseball – are just as transient and money-hungry as athletes.

The difference is coaches, now more than ever, earn every penny of their salaries. Because there aren’t rules limiting anything, coaches must recruit and drastically re-build their rosters yearly.

Coaches either adapt or retire. Ones that attempt to retain their principles and speak honestly about how the transfer portal and NIL deals are intended to work risk losing recruits.

Back in early May in a TV interview after he couldn’t convince several top defensive tackles in the transfer portal to sign with LSU, Brian Kelly had the cojones to say what other head football coaches won’t.

“We’re not in the market of buying players and unfortunately right now that’s what some guys are looking for,” Kelly said. “They want to be bought. If you’re just looking to get paid, you’re looking in the wrong place.

“If you like all the things that we do here in developing our players, bringing you into a championship program, playing in front of the best fan base in America, playing for championships and having an opportunity for NFL, you should be a Tiger. But if you just want to get paid, this is not the place for you.

“What we’re asking our players to do is all part of a bigger picture. And if they can be helped out with NIL money, absolutely. We’re going to be able to provide those opportunities for you. But if you’re looking to retire playing college football, this is the wrong place.”

In the meantime, Texas A&M is looking for a new head baseball coach. Whoever the Aggies hire won’t be taking over a team that was the national runner-up.

By the time A&M makes a hire, the 2024 squad will be a carcass, stripped to bare bones by opposing speed-dialing rival head coaches plundering the transfer portal like dive-bombing vultures.

The only thing remaining should be the stench of what college sports have become. And no one yet has a solution to get rid of that stink.

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

---

By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Sports Information Director

Honors continue to land on Kings Highway for Centenary student-athletes, while anticipation of the official return of football to the campus is building.

MEN’S GOLF:  Centenary senior Andrew Bennett has been named to the 2023-24 Louisiana Sports Writers Association All-Louisiana Men’s College Golf team.

The LSWA announced Men’s and Women’s Golf All-Louisiana Teams on Wednesday, honoring LSU’s Connor Gaunt and Ingrid Lindblad as the men’s and women’s Players of the Year.

Bennett earned a spot on the first team, joined by three LSU players and one from Louisiana Tech, as he made the team for the first time in his career. Ten men were recognized, while five golfers made up the women’s All-Louisiana squad. 

A glance at Bennett’s award-winning season: 

• First Centenary men’s golfer to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the Gents’ NCAA Division III era (2013-present); 

• Named the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Golfer of the Year after he claimed the individual title at the SCAC Championships in April; 

• One of six individuals selected to participate in the NCAA Division III Championships in May; 

• Named a 2024 Division III PING All-American by the Golf Coaches Association of America; 

• Named to the PING All-Region Team (Third Team); 

• First Centenary men’s golfer to be named an All-American since Hal Sutton in 1980; 

• Earned first-team All-SCAC honors this season, was named SCAC Men’s Golfer of the Week once, and claimed two individual wins, three top-five finishes, and a top-15 finish during the season; 

• He helped lead the Gents to a fourth-place team finish at the conference championships, which is their best at the event since finishing fourth in 2014. Bennett is the first Centenary golfer to be named All-Louisiana since former Gent Richard Polan earned Honorable-Mention honors in 2022.

The 2023-24 LSWA All-Louisiana Men’s and Women’s Golf teams were selected by a statewide vote of school sports information directors.

ACADEMICS:  Eight Centenary student-athletes were named to the 2024 Academic All-District® Men’s and Women’s At-Large teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, this week.

Senior Devan Martin of the men’s golf team and sophomore Kaylee Roberts of the women’s golf team were joined by six Centenary gymnasts – senior Kendall Huff, junior Emma Lavelle, senior Izzie Plaza, sophomore Sophie Schmitz, sophomore Olivia Stratmann, and senior Lacey Wedge, who each earned a spot on the prestigious team.

The 2024 Academic All-District® Men’s and Women’s At-Large teams recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances in competition and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes at-large honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.

Roberts earned a spot on the prestigious team for the first time in her career.

FOOTBALL:  A reminder that Centenary football tickets are on sale as the season opener is just over two months away. Visit www.gocentenary.com to purchase tickets.

The Gents, led by head coach and Shreveport native Byron Dawson, will play their first official NCAA season in over a half-century this fall. Centenary will face the Hendrix College Warriors at home on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. at Mayo Field in its season opener.

Contact Patrick at pmeehan@centenary.edu

---

JOURNAL SPORTS

GRAMBLING – After guiding the Grambling State basketball program to consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season championships, and the Tigers’ first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and win this March, Donte’ Jackson has been rewarded.

Heading into his eighth season as head basketball coach, with three SWAC regular-season crowns to his credit, Jackson’s contract was extended through 2029, the university announced Friday. No financial terms were cited.

Dr. Traveon Scott, Grambling’s vice president for intercollegiate athletics, made the announcement.

“Coach Jackson is without a doubt one of the best basketball coaches in the country and we are blessed that he’s the leader of our men’s basketball program,” said Scott. “He has taken our program to heights that haven’t been seen for decades and we are confident that he will continue to be successful and mold our student-athletes into men who represent our institution the right way.” 

After clinching the SWAC regular-season race with a week left, the Tigers swept through three games in the conference tournament to punch their ticket to March Madness for the first time in 45 seasons.

Grambling dumped Big Sky Conference Tournament champ Montana State – which had played in the three previous NCAA Tournaments — 88-81 in the First Four before bowing to No. 1 seed Purdue, which reached the national championship game. The Tigers played the Boilermakers competitively in the first half but were overwhelmed by national player of the year Zach Edey and his teammates.

Jackson has 120 wins in his seven seasons as head coach and has been SWAC Coach of the Year three times, including each of the last two seasons. His 2022-23 Tigers won 24 games, the most by the program in its NCAA Division I history, and beat two Power 5 foes, posting a road win at Vanderbilt and a homecourt victory over Colorado.

Jackson is second all-time in basketball coaching victories at GSU, topped only by the legendary Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame member Fred Hobdy, who held the state record for many years with 567 wins.

---

By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports

BATON ROUGE – Jay Johnson’s 43-minute Tuesday afternoon press conference – probably the longest since his introductory presser when he was hired as LSU’s head baseball coach in June 2021 – became an unofficial State of his Tigers address.

He made it clear he’s not interested in the Texas head coaching vacancy despite rumors he’s at the top of the Longhorns’ wish list.

“I have not been contacted,” said Johnson, who has more wins (137) than any LSU head baseball coach in history in their first three seasons after the defending national champion Tigers rallied for a 43-23 finish, almost advancing to a Super Regional they would have hosted. “Contractually if I was to be contacted, (LSU athletic director) Scott Woodward would be the first person that knows because that’s what it says in my contract.

“And I’m very, very thankful to be here . . . I think I’m built for this job incredibly well because you’re just going to face a lot of bullets coming at you. There was nobody better positioned to help us get through what we did (winning the last 21 of 28 games despite a 3-12 start in SEC play) than me, and that’s exactly what happened. I’m not saying it’s because of me, but I feel like I’m very well positioned to help LSU and players that commit and stay at LSU to be really successful.”

Johnson also said he’s changing his recruiting philosophy because of mass roster defections caused by the NCAA’s transfer portal and LSU’s proclivity for producing many major league draft choices.

After LSU had 13 players drafted last season (players are first eligible to be drafted as high school seniors and then as third-year college players), Johnson figures anywhere from five to 11 Tigers could be taken in the upcoming draft in July. So far, nine LSU players on the 2024 roster including a junior, three freshmen, two freshmen redshirts, and three sophomores have entered the transfer portal.

“I want the guy that (five-time national championship LSU head coach) Skip Bertman was able to redshirt and then get in there in some type of role and then elevate that role,” Johnson said. “And then become, a player that everybody around here remembers.

“My specialty is developing a program, that’s like my wheelhouse. But we’re in a different landscape now. I don’t think it’s about building a program anymore. It’s now about building your team one year at a time. We have to adapt and adjust to overcome that.

“I have a blueprint in my head (of the 2025 roster/playing rotation) of probably 12 or 13 position players that are really going to contribute, 9 to 11 pitchers and the rest of the roster needs to be able to do something really well and be completely bought into what we’re doing at LSU.”

Since arriving back in Baton Rouge last Tuesday after a heartbreaking 4-3 10-inning season-ending loss to host North Carolina in the Chapel Hill Regional championship game, Johnson dived headfirst into roster management.

His exit interviews with his players started to determine which underclassmen wanted to return to LSU or enter the transfer portal. He told players eligible for the major league draft that they were welcome to return to LSU if they weren’t drafted or were unhappy with their draft position after being selected.

Reliever Griffin Herring and first baseman Jared Jones are draft-eligible Tigers with remaining eligibility at the top of Johnson’s wish list to return.

“I know their value to LSU baseball and value they could create (by returning to LSU) for themselves next year is really high and they have a platform here to do that,” Johnson said. “If they were to return for a third year, they could leave here as one of the best pitchers and one of the best hitters ever to play here.”

Johnson sees the four Tigers who combined for 130 starts as true freshmen this past season – second baseman Stephen Milam (60 starts), outfielders Ashton Larson (40) and Jake Brown (21) and pitcher Cade Anderson (9) – as the 2025 squad’s building block as well as redshirt pitchers Chase Shores (sophomore) and Jason Noot (freshman) returning from Tommy John arm surgery.

Johnson can’t predict how many signees in his No. 2 nationally freshman signing class he’ll lose to MLB after the draft.

But he has signed five junior college players, led by junior college Division 1 national champion Blinn (Texas) College infielder Tanner Reaves. He hit .563 with 13 RBI and 14 runs scored in the NJCAA Division 1 College World Series.

Johnson understands day-to-day roster management is a fluid situation.

“You’ve got to be uncomfortable with uncertainty,” Johnson said. “Three days last week, a player would look me in the eye, say they were returning, and then call me and said they’re not returning.

“I’ve got to be OK with that.”

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

---

By T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT, Written for the Louisiana Sports Writers Association

Some great athletes are born to be that way based on God-given talent that can be improved on with a solid work ethic, sheer determination and love of the game.

But it can sometimes work the opposite way for great coaches, who don’t always have great careers as athletes but become great coaches based on the same kind of God-given talent combined with a solid work ethic, sheer determination and love of the game.

Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024 inductee Wilbert Ellis was one of those types of coaches. Ellis spent 30 seasons as Grambling’s head baseball coach after serving the previous 13 as an assistant under Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones.

Ellis retired in 2003 after posting a 743-463-1 record with three Southwestern Athletic Conference titles, five SWAC Western Division crowns and three NCAA Tournament appearances.

He was inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 2011 and American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2007. Now, he joins the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Ellis is part of the 12-member Class of 2024 to be honored June 20-22 in Natchitoches. For participation opportunities, visit LaSportsHall.com or call 318-238-4255.

Those coaching credentials warranted strong consideration for LSHOF induction, but what sealed the deal, and made Ellis even more worthy was what he’s done out of a baseball uniform.

Ellis is the second recipient of the Hall’s Louisiana Sports Ambassador Award, established in 2020 when Shreveport-based national broadcaster Tim Brando was the winner.

The award is presented only occasionally and honors long-term exemplary contributions to the perception of Louisiana by an individual who has ties to the state’s sports landscape.

“Throughout his life, as a coach and in many ways since then, Wilbert Ellis has been a tremendous representative of our state and his beloved Grambling State University,” said LSHOF chairman Doug Ireland. “Our selection committee believes he is the ideal person to be the second winner of the Ambassador Award as a man who has been nationally prominent in his field while constantly benefiting Louisiana through words and deeds. Coach Ellis has bolstered our state’s identity and its well-being.”

Ellis is nationally regarded as one of the country’s finest representatives of college baseball, beloved by Grambling alumni for his expansive yet now unofficial, longstanding role at the university.

He has been a trusted advisor for generations of presidents, athletic directors and coaches at Grambling, and to others in Lincoln Parish and statewide in community and governmental affairs.

Ellis was instrumental in the establishment of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum in Grambling, and the school’s Grambling Legends sports hall of fame. He still conducts baseball clinics for kids in Lincoln Parish and elsewhere, and serves as an NCAA Regional site supervisor.

In 2015, the Ruston-Lincoln (Parish) Chamber of Commerce presented Ellis with the 2015 Robert E. Russ Award, which is the highest award that is given for community impact in Ruston or Lincoln Parish, and in 2021 Ellis received that year’s Bill Best Humanitarian Award from the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.

That award was established in 1997 by the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce to recognize a local citizen for their outstanding contributions to humanitarian interests, unselfish giving, and service to others.

Ellis oversaw construction of Grambling’s baseball facility that houses Wilbert Ellis Field at Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones Park and serves as president of the Friends of the Eddie Robinson Museum organization.

And in 2022 Ellis was inducted into the Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame in Baton Rouge for his proactive approach in working with youth conducting clinics teaching hardball skills at the same time as offering instruction on the importance of life skills such as staying in school and completing their educations, staying away from drugs and alcohol and becoming productive citizens upon entering adulthood.

Those clinics include nearly 15 years worth of free Wilbert Ellis Youth Baseball Clinics in Ruston and more than 20 years guiding similar youth camps in conjunction with the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

“My whole life has been about guiding people and especially children and young people,” Ellis said. “For me, it was never about the wins and losses – instead, I wanted to see what I could teach them about the game of life through the game of baseball. Every year I’d attend the national coaches convention to learn different ways to make an impact in the kids’ lives, and those lessons have helped me make a difference here in Louisiana. We now have youth camps in Grambling, Ruston, and Lincoln Parish where 200-300 kids come out for the sessions.

“All I’ve wanted to do since I was young was lead coach others in all phases of life and with his grace the Good Lord has granted me with that honor, just as the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame is granting me this upcoming honor. Being honored and joining all the great athletes, baseball coaches and players from Louisiana, the state I’ve always lived in, is incredibly thrilling and rewarding. It’s been a good life for this kid who coached on the east end of Ruston.”

Contact Scott at tscottboatright@gmail.com

---

JOURNAL SPORTS

LSUS basketball coach Kyle Blankenship is one of four finalists for the Allstate Sugar Bowl state Collegiate Coach of the Year, which is selected by the New Orleans Sports Awards Committee.

Blankenship, the long-time men’s coach, assumed control of the women’s team just two weeks before the regular season started.

He coached both teams to the NAIA Tournament with a combined 54-12 record, including a pair of NAIA Tournament wins on the same day.

Blankenship was voted the Women’s College Basketball Coach of the Year by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association following a 30-3 season with the Lady Pilots and the program’s first-ever NAIA Tournament win. LSUS also won the Red River Athletics Conference regular season and conference tournament titles with an unblemished league record.

“What we were able to accomplish this season coaching two teams is something that has never been done before in college basketball history,” Blankenship said. “I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to lead both our men’s and women’s teams this past season.

“It was definitely the highlight of my 12-year career and one that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Blankenship joins LSU gymnastics coach Jay Clark, McNeese men’s basketball coach Will Wade, and LSU Eunice baseball coach Jeff Willis as finalists.

Both Clark and Willis won national championships in their respective sports, the first-ever for LSU gymnastics.

Willis continued to add to LSU Eunice’s junior college dominance with his eighth national championship in the past 19 seasons.

Wade was named the LSWA Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year after helping the Cowboys improve their record by 19 games (30-4 record) in his first season at the helm, which tied the NCAA Division I record for single-season improvement.

“What an incredible honor to be considered for such a prestigious award in our state,” Blankenship said. “I have such great pride being from Louisiana and coaching at my hometown’s university.

“To be mentioned in the same category with two national championship coaches and one who led the biggest turnaround in college basketball this season is pretty cool.”

The winner will be announced June 28 by the committee, but fans will also have their say.

Voting is open for the coaching award along with the top male and female college athlete honors, dubbed the James J. Corbett Awards.

The fan favorites will be announced alongside the committee’s choices.

---

By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Sports Information Director

(SECOND OF A TWO-PART SERIES)

Centenary followed its accomplishment-filled fall and winter sports seasons highlighted in the SBJ last Wednesday with plenty of achievements in spring sports, making the 2023-24 athletic year one that will be tough to top.

BASEBALL: The Diamond Gents won the 2024 SCAC Championship last month in Cleburne, Texas by defeating Texas Lutheran 9-5 and made their third appearance in the NCAA Tournament in program history.

Centenary completed a memorable run through the loser’s bracket by winning three-straight elimination games over three days to win a second SCAC tournament title in three years after claiming the title in 2022.

Coach Mike Diaz moved into third-place all-time in conference history with 144 SCAC regular-season wins with a win on April 20 against Texas Lutheran, passing Jim Mallon of Southwestern.

Diaz, who just completed his 14^th season at the helm, became the all-time winningest coach in program history last season with his 292nd win and is now 318-229-1, having passed former HC Ed McCann (1999-2010) for the all-time wins mark in school history. He won his 300^th game on Feb. 13 against Rhodes College.

Nine Centenary players were named All-SCAC, seven made the All-Tournament Team, and two were named All-Region. Freshman first baseman Alex Miller was named the Freshman of the Year. Miller is the third consecutive Centenary player, and fifth all-time, to earn SCAC Freshman of the Year honors.

SOFTBALL: Senior right fielder Mackenzie Cox was named to the Division III All-Region team by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association last month. Cox, named to the first team, was one of 376 student-athletes from 167 schools to make an all-region team nationally.

Cox posted another stellar season in which she was named first-team All-SCAC, earned a spot on the 2024 SCAC Championship All-Tournament Team, and was named SCAC Hitter of the Week once during the season. She is the first Centenary player to be named All-Region since Anna Dunn was named to the West Region first team in 2018.

MEN’S GOLF: Senior Andrew Bennett participated in the NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championships last month in Boulder City, Nev. after he claimed the individual title at the SCAC Championships in Whitney, Texas. He was one of six individuals selected to participate in the championships and was the first Centenary men’s golfer to qualify for the NCAA’s in the DIII era (2013-present). Bennett posted under par scores (71, 71 and 70) in each of his three rounds, becoming just the third player in conference championship history to do so, and his three-day total of 212 is tied for the third-lowest finishing score in conference history.

MEN’S TRACK & FIELD: Senior Xavier Venious was named All-SCAC following his runner-up finish in the 400-meter hurdles at the SCAC Championships in April. Venious’ time of 55.64 was second to only Trinity’s Justin Johnson (53.51). He also placed sixth in the 400-meter dash as he ran a time of 49.80 and put an exclamation point on a superb senior season which saw him record multiple top-five finishes.

GYMNASTICS: Freshman Olivia Williams was named a first-team All-American following her appearance in the finals at the USA Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate National Championships in April. The sensational rookie finished 13^th on floor with a 9.66 score. Williams put a cap on her outstanding rookie season after recording a career-high 9.75 on floor on April 12 to qualify for the event finals the next day.

CHEER: The Centenary Competitive Cheer team capped off an impressive season by being named Star Spirit Nationals Virtual Finale Champions for the College Game Day Division. Centenary competed in the Star Spirit Productions Nationals on May 13. The bid was awarded to the team’s game time routine that was performed in February in Baton Rouge.

Centenary earned three national runner-up finishes at the United Spirit Association Collegiate Championships in February in Anaheim, Calif. The Maroon and White, which earned two runner ups and an additional third-place finish on day one of the USA Collegiate Championships, competed in the college game day division where they were crowned national runner-up in the fight song and band chant division and brought home third place in the situational sideline division. The team posted season and program-high scores in each routine earning a 94.9/100 in fight song, 96.4/100 in situational sideline, and 96.8/100 in band chant. 

Contact Patrick at pmeehan@centenary.edu

---

BATON ROUGE – The weather forecast here in the upcoming weekend calls for temperatures in the mid-90s with a 10 percent chance of rain.

Then, throw in 13,000 fans packing LSU’s Alex Box Stadium and the Tigers have a perfect Hell’s Kitchen to melt the opposition as an NCAA Super Regional host.

In the next few days, it would be human nature for LSU third-year head baseball coach Jay Johnson to take a break from conducting Tigers’ players to exit interviews, wander to the home dugout, stare at the empty field and stadium in silence, and ponder what could have been.

He’d think about the four, maybe five regular season heartbreaking SEC losses in which victories were obtainable with a handful of outs.

Win those games and host an NCAA tourney regional for an enormous homefield advantage that often results in three straight wins and a fast track to a Super Regional.

But Johnson isn’t wired like that.

The man who speaks in his own lexicon with phrases such as “professional at-bats” and “complementary baseball” and “sustainable style of play” accepts the results of a season-long journey of peaks and valleys.

He understands in the end his team is exactly what its season-ending record and finish says it is.

LSU’s 43-23 mark, ending with a 4-3 10th-inning loss at North Carolina in the NCAA’s Chapel Hill Regional, is slightly under the 46.1 wins per season the Tigers had the last 39 years (minus the 2020 COVID-shortened season) since Skip Bertman became LSU’s coach in 1984.

By the lofty standards set by the Tigers winning seven national titles in that time frame, the past season was underwhelming.

Until you consider LSU started SEC play 3-12, losing its first five league series, and then rallied to win 21 of its last 28 games, Johnson’s post-game comments after the North Carolina season-ending loss reflected how most of the Tigers’ fan base felt.

“I’ll never forget this week the rest of my life,” Johnson said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of great teams and go a little further than this. But my heart’s full right now.

“In terms of how I’ll remember this, I’m good. I got all the peace in the world right now about what these guys did and I’m so proud of them.”

Three weeks ago when LSU ended the regular season with a home SEC series sweep of Ole Miss, the Tigers’ chances for an NCAA tournament at-large bid were in doubt.

And considering that LSU’s pitching staff seemingly didn’t have enough depth to handle after staff aces Gage Jump and Luke Holman started the first two games of a series, the Tigers’ prospects of winning more than two consecutive games in the daily grind of post-season play seemed bleak.

LSU’s margin of error was slim. The Tigers could win with excellent pitching and adequate offense. But once past the games Jump and Holman started on the mound, LSU’s offense had to elevate to win slugfests while hoping Johnson could press the correct relief pitching buttons.

As it turned out, the Tigers’ relievers carried the team in the Chapel Hill Regional. Eleven LSU relievers appearing 15 times had a 2.13 ERA in 25.1 innings.

Sophomore Griffin Herring’s longest relief effort of his LSU career – 6.1 innings allowing one run – enabled the Tigers to beat Wofford 13-6 in a Sunday afternoon elimination game.

Junior Thatcher Hurd, who struggled all season, delivered 5.2 stunning innings allowing two runs as a starter in LSU’s 8-4 Sunday win over North Carolina that forced a winner-take-all championship game Monday night.

Senior Will Helmers pitched three times in the regional, allowing no runs and two hits in seven innings.

The Tigers missed the services of one of their best relievers. Vastly improved senior Christian Little wasn’t available for the regional after straining a lat muscle in the SEC tournament finals vs. Tennessee.

Two of LSU’s five starting pitchers – Nate Ackenhausen in Game 3 vs. Wofford and Sam Dutton in Game 5 vs. North Carolina – didn’t survive the first inning. The Tigers’ starters lasted 20.1 innings with an ERA of 6.64.

Without a doubt, LSU’s MVP of its 10-game postseason (4-1 SEC tourney, 3-2 NCAA) was freshman second baseman Steven “Monster” Milam, who hit a team-leading .386 with nine RBI and walk-off home runs in wins over South Carolina and Wofford.

Sophomore first baseman Jared Jones hit .306 with 6 of his 11 hits for home runs and a team-high 12 RBI.

LSU has 16 players – two graduate students, six seniors, seven juniors and one redshirt sophomore – eligible for the major league draft.

Johnson, as his nature, has already hit the reset button. He’ll be shopping in the transfer portal soon, mostly looking for pitchers.

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

---

JOURNAL SPORTS

EUGENE, Oregon —  Not so fast, friends. The 2023-24 major college sports season didn’t finish with LSU’s baseball loss in the Chapel Hill Regional.

LSU is sending a combined 33 athletes into the four-day NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships that begin today in the American mecca of the sport, Heyward Field at the University of Oregon. ESPN2 will have coverage each evening, with supplemental event coverage on ESPN Plus.

Locally, Northwestern State has a nine-person contingent in Eugene, and Grambling is represented by long jumper James “Jet” Brown. There are no qualifiers from Louisiana Tech.

To reach the national meet, athletes or relay teams had to post a mark ranking in the top 48 regionally – East or West. All of Louisiana’s schools with qualifiers competed in the East Regional two weeks ago in Lexington, Kentucky, where the top 12 finishers moved on to Eugene. They will be pitted against the top 12 from the West Region.

This week, the top eight finishers in each event earn All-America first-team honors, and those placing 9-16 are second-team All-Americans. As long as a national qualifier records a mark in Eugene, they receive at least honorable mention All-America recognition.

The LSU women are NCAA team championship contenders, entering with a No. 2 national ranking based on projected scoring this week. The Tigers stand ninth in the men’s team standing projections.

Northwestern State has two individual qualifiers in the men’s field, along with its 4×100 meter relay team, while the Lady Demons’ record-shattering 4×400 relay squad made it to Eugene.

Two seasons ago, Demons’ thrower Diamante Gumbs traveled to Eugene to cheer on twin brother Djimon Gumbs when Djimon competed at nationals in both shot put and discus.

Fast forward to 2024, the twins switch places, as Djimon is in Eugene to support Diamante, as Diamante caps off a sensational NSU career with his turn at nationals, competing in the discus.

“This is Diamante’s turn to get a crack at nationals and he’s been really hot this last year in the discus,” Demons’ coach Mike Heimerman said. “He’s had some big throws at practice and decent throws at competition. To have one of those big throws finally happen at a meet (the East Regional) was huge.

“I expect some big things from him and he’s just scratching the surface. He’s looking to have a little fun and finally getting out of the shadow of his older brother (by a minute). I am looking forward to seeing Diamante go out there and prove he is not just Djimon’s brother. He’s DD.”

Diamante is one of two NSU athletes heading to nationals in an individual event, as well as NSU has two relay teams competing.

“For a school this size, or really any size, to get that many people to the national championships is a huge accomplishment because they only take the top 12 in each region in each event,” Heimerman said. “So to be one of the top 12 in the East region is very, very tough. It is a huge honor to be there and these kids are looking forward to going there and competing.”

The nationals begin today with the men’s semifinal events and field event finals, with the racing finals and more field events taking place Friday. The women’s events are Thursday and Saturday.

The Demons’ 4×100 relay kicks off the nationals for the Demons at 6:32 p.m. CDT today. Zachaeus Beard competes in the 100 at 7:46 p.m.

Grambling’s Brown is in the 24-man long jump final that begins at 8.

Gumbs competes in the men’s discus at 7:35 p.m. on Friday.

The Lady Demons’ 4×400 relay competes at 10:48 p.m. on Thursday.

The groups are the first relay teams from NSU to make nationals since 2018.

Jasmyn Steels earned a national championship the following year, in 2019, in the women’s long jump during the indoor season.

It has been 13 years since the last NSU outdoor champion, Trecey Rew, who won the women’s discus in 2011. The Demons won the men’s 4×100 relay title in 1981, and high jumper Brian Brown was the 1990 NCAA Indoor high jump champ.

“I’d love for everybody to be able to call themselves All-Americans,” Heimerman said. “I’d like for everyone to compete their best and come back with a personal best. If they all do PRs, big things will be in store.”

---

By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Sports Information Director

The 2023-24 Centenary Athletics year was filled with exciting and memorable moments, and holds much promise for more success next season.

In the first of a two-part series, here’s a look at the top stories involving fall and winter sports at Centenary.

FOOTBALL: The Gents made their historic return to the gridiron last fall for the first time since the 1940’s and outscored their nine exhibition opponents, 375-113, and recorded three shutouts under the direction of head coach Byron Dawson. Centenary finished 8-1 and opened the warmup season with seven straight wins.

Three months from now, Centenary makes its official debut as a competitive Division III football program.

A cornerstone of the football rebirth is the new 4,700-square foot fieldhouse that houses locker rooms for Centenary’s football team along with its women’s soccer and softball teams. The facility, which also includes coaches’ offices, looks out over the new 76,500 square foot turf practice field.

Adjacent to the Gold Dome and to Mayo Field, home of Centenary’s football, lacrosse, and soccer teams, the field house and practice field are the latest addition to Centenary’s revitalized athletic complex located on Kings Highway.

The ribbon-cutting event last month also served as the official re-launch of Centenary’s “C Club,” Centenary’s athletic booster club. C Club supporters can choose to allocate funds to specific athletic teams or to the athletic department as a whole, and can choose from a variety of individual and corporate affiliation levels.

For more information or to donate, visit gocentenary.com/gocentenary/C_Club.

MEN’S BASKETBALL:  The Gents had one of their finest seasons as they won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history.

Centenary, led by seventh-year head Chris Dorsey, finished 17-12 overall and 9-7 in league play during the regular season. The Gents finished third in the conference behind Trinity and St. Thomas to earn the No. 3 seed in the league tournament – one which the Maroon and White had the pleasure of hosting at the Gold Dome.

The Gents finished 11-3 on their home court counting the regular season and conference tournament and are now 22-5 in their last 27 home games and have won 46 of 53 overall.

WOMEN’S SWIMMING:  Freshman Hannah Waddell, a Shreveport native, capped off a stellar rookie season at the SCAC Championships in February by setting a new school record in the 200-yard breaststroke as she swam a time of 2:24.99. She also swam the second-fastest time in program history in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.51) and the eighth-fastest in the 200 IM (2:11.69). Waddell also recorded 10 individual wins during the season. She was also named to the SCAC Winter All-Sportsmanship Team.

VOLLEYBALL:  Kayla Black was named head coach of the Centenary Ladies’ volleyball program in March. Black, an Atlanta, Ga. native, comes to Centenary after two seasons as head coach at Philander Smith University in Little Rock, Ark. She won 36 games in her two seasons with the Panthers, including an 18-10 mark in conference play.

Black had a stellar career at Xavier University in New Orleans as she was an honorable mention All-American as a senior in 2020, named the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year and Attacker of the Year in 2018 and 2019.

Black’s grandfather is Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame football legend James “Shack” Harris, a Grambling star from Monroe. He is the first black quarterback to start and win a playoff game in NFL history. Her father, James Black, was a standout high school football player at Fair Park High School from 1983-87.

NEXT WEDNESDAY:  A recap of the best of spring sports for the Gents and Ladies.

Contact Patrick at pmeehan@centenary.edu

---

By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Needing just two outs to secure a victory for the NCAA’s Chapel Hill Regional championship to advance LSU to a Super Regional it would host, the Tigers’ reign as college baseball’s defending national champions ended Monday night in the cruelest fashion.

Gage Jump, LSU’s top starting pitcher suddenly being used as a reliever, gave up a game-tying one-out RBI single in the top of the ninth and the eventual game-winning two-out RBI in the top of the 10th as No. 4 national seed North Carolina rallied from a 3-2 deficit to a 4-3 victory.

“I’m sad because I’d give anything to practice on Wednesday and get ready for a Super Regional at home,” said LSU third-year coach Jay Johnson, whose team bounced back from a 3-12 start in SEC play to advance to the league tourney finals, earn an NCAA Tournament bid and finish 43-23 after coming within a whisker from winning a road regional. “But my heart is full right now because of these guys.

“In terms of how I will remember this, I’m good. I’ve got all the peace in the world right now about what these guys did. I’m proud of them.”

North Carolina (45-14) will go into a Super Regional as a host vs. West Virginia knowing it was battle-tested and pushed to the max by the resilient Tigers who battled out of the loser’s bracket.

“Tonight’s game was perfect because it showed you how much of a team we are,” said UNC second baseman Alex Madera, whose 10th-inning RBI single plated the game-winning run. “We used pretty much every single guy that we have on our roster, and everybody showed.”

The Tar Heels took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, knocking LSU starting pitcher Sam Dutton out of the game after 11 pitches.

North Carolina starting pitcher Jason DeCaro lasted two innings, giving up two runs and two of LSU’s game-total five hits including Tigers’ right fielder Jake Brown’s game-tying solo homer in the second.

LSU first baseman Jared Jones edged the Tigers ahead 3-2 with a third-inning solo homer off Matthew Matthijs, the first of just two relievers used by UNC.

Once LSU senior Will Helmers entered the game with one out in the UNC second, it was a duel of relievers. First, it was Helmers vs. Matthijs until Tar Heels reliever Dalton Pence replaced Matthijs with one out in the seventh.

That UNC relief duo gave up a combined one run and three hits in the last eight innings. Pence, who held LSU hitless and scoreless in the last two innings of UNC’s 6-2 win on Saturday, blanked the Tigers again over the final 3.2 innings.

“He’s a horse,” UNC head coach Scott Forbes said Pence. “And that guy Helmers who came in for them (LSU) was really good.”

Helmers, the second of four Tigers’ relievers, had the finest performance of his career in his final college game.

He threw 5.2 scoreless innings facing 21 batters, allowing two hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Helmers got the Tigers to the UNC eighth where senior reliever Nate Ackenhausen struck out the last three batters after Helmers opened the inning with a walk.

“Nobody wants to walk away with tears in their eyes,” Helmers said. “But it means a lot to me to just give us a chance in those four or five innings. All I was trying to do was just give us a chance because I had the utmost confidence in whoever we turned it over to in the back end.”

Though Ackenhausen threw just 16 pitches in the eighth inning after lasting 27 pitches as LSU’s Sunday starter in an elimination game win over Wofford, Johnson thought he was playing the percentages when he called on Jump as a ninth-inning reliever to close out the victory.

Jump, operating on two days rest after throwing 101 pitches in 7.1 innings in the Tigers’ 4-3 regional opening win on Friday over Wofford, had thrown just 11 pitches as a reliever this season. It happened in the season-opener on Feb. 11 vs. VMI when he was easing back into game-action after the UCLA transfer sat out last season recovering from Tommy John arm surgery.

“I felt great about where we were at that point,” Johnson said when he sent Jump to the mound to finish off the Tar Heels. “Nate was a completely different look than him (Helmers) and Gage is completely different than both of them. We set this plan in motion before we came here. We knew that’s what we would do, but they (North Carolina) executed.”

UNC third baseman Gavin Gallaher opened the top of the ninth by tagging Jump’s 2-2 pitch for a double down the left-field line.

After Madera struck out trying to execute a sacrifice bunt, nine-hole hitter shortstop Colby Wilkerson stroked another 2-2 Jump pitch for an RBI single to tie the game at 3-3.

Jump escaped further damage, but Pence held the Tigers scoreless in the bottom of the ninth, despite a single by designated hitter Hayden Travinski, the Airline High product playing in what became his final college game.

Jump retired the first two UNC batters in the top of the 10th. But LSU left the door open when Brown misplayed Johnny Castagnozzi’s drive (“I’m not quite sure what happened there,” Johnson said) to the right field warning track that turned into a double instead of an inning-ending out.

After Gallaher was intentionally walked, Madera ripped Jump’s 3-2 pitch up the middle for an RBI single that scored pinch-runner Jackson Van de Brake for what proved to be the winning run.

“He (Jump) couldn’t really land his sliders and he beat me with a couple of fastballs early in the count,” Madera said. “When I got to 3-2, I just kind of sold out for fastball. I told myself, `He’s throwing 96 (miles per hour), but I’m not going to let myself get beat by a fastball here.’ So, I just jumped on it.”

LSU had the top of its batting order coming to the plate in the bottom of the 10th, hoping to conjure a rally that had been a staple of the Tigers’ late-season run over the last 13 games dating back to a regular-season ending SEC series sweep of Ole Miss.

But with a reliever as determined and almost unhittable as Pence closing the game in front of his home crowd, LSU ran out of miracles.

Pence retired the first two batters – third baseman Tommy White and second baseman Stephen Milam — on fly balls to right field before Jones drew a full-count walk.

It brought Tigers’ cleanup hitter Josh Pearson to the plate sporting a .353 batting average in the regional with seven RBI and five extra-base hits.

He worked Pence to a 2-2 count before he drove the ball deep to center field where Honeycutt gloved it for the game’s final out.

The stunned Tigers watched UNC’s celebration from their dugout, staring glassy-eyed trying to comprehend the victory that slipped through their fingers.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” Helmers said. “But this team competed like hell. For our younger guys (returning for next year’s team), it’s just a matter of staying with that.”

Contact Ron at ronhigginsemedia@gmail.com

---

By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Needing two wins to stay alive Sunday in the NCAA’s Chapel Hill Regional championship, LSU head baseball coach Jay Johnson put out a call to arms and an S.O.S. (swing our sticks) signal.

The Tigers responded with clutch pitching performances galore and a combined 32 hits, staying alive with a dramatic 8-4 victory over No. 4 national seed North Carolina in the nightcap after pounding Wofford 13-6 in an elimination game earlier in the day.

It set up Monday’s 5 p.m. CT winner-take-all game for the regional championship between the Tigers (43-22) and the Tar Heels (44-13), who beat LSU 6-2 Saturday before suffering just their third home defeat in 37 games this season.

“As I said last night after a tough loss, today was going to be our best day,” Johnson said. “To win in this tournament, you have to have great individual performances by guys that have talent. That’s what we got today in both games.”

LSU second-game starting pitcher Thatcher Hurd and first-game reliever Griffin Herring were the Tigers’ hurling heroes in Sunday’s victories.

Hurd, who has struggled this year after being a key figure in LSU’s NCAA tournament run to last season’s national title, delivered 5.2 stunning innings of near perfection as the winning pitcher vs. North Carolina.

During his longest stint of the season, Hurd allowed two runs on six hits while striking out six and issuing two walks.

“My focus was getting ahead in the count because for the majority of the year that wasn’t the case,” Hurd said. “I used my fastball and slider mostly.”

In the meantime, LSU staked an 8-1 lead, using a four-run fourth inning keyed by third baseman Tommy White’s RBI single and second baseman Stephen Milam’s two-run single.

Designated hitter Hayden Travinski’s solo homer in the fifth was the Tigers’ final run. LSU had just three hits in the final three innings and the Bossier City-Airline product’s blast was the biggest blow.

“LSU is a powerful team,” North Carolina head coach Scott Forbes said. “You make mistakes and they will make you pay. And Hurd did anything he wanted. He had (all of his) pitches going. He had good velocity, and he was ahead in the counts.”

When Hurd departed with two outs in the bottom of the fifth after giving up a run to reduce LSU’s margin to 8-2, the Tigers had to walk a tightwire the rest of the way.

Four relievers – Justin Loer (who lasted one batter), Fidel Ulloa, Kade Anderson and Gavin Guidry – gave up two runs and four hits to the final 20 North Carolina batters.

An Ulloa bases-loaded strikeout of UNC third baseman Gavin Gallaher ended the sixth. Anderson induced Tar Heels designated hitter Alberto Osuna to seventh inning-ending pop-up leaving two runners on base. Guidry struck out UNC first baseman Vance Honeycutt on a 3-2 pitch as the Tar Heels left two stranded in the eighth and then got Gallaher out a bases-loaded fly out in the ninth to end the game.

“Maybe we didn’t get the big hit tonight,” said UNC first baseman Parks Harber, who had two doubles and scored twice. “That’s just baseball sometimes. It’s going to motivate us to come out even more ready to go. We were disappointed we lost for about 10 seconds and then we flipped the switch realizing what an awesome opportunity we have tomorrow.”

In Sunday’s opener, sophomore reliever Herring came through with the best performance of his career after Wofford took a 5-0 lead off LSU starting pitcher Nate Ackenhausen who lasted two outs, 27 pitches and seven batters.

Herring allowed one run on five hits against 25 batters in 6.1 innings, striking out seven and walking none. He threw 89 pitches, his longest outing as a Tiger.

As Herring silenced Wofford’s bats, the Tigers’ offense began chopping wood against four Terriers’ pitchers.

LSU scored two runs in the second inning, one in the fourth, three in the fifth to tie the game at 6-6, two in the seventh, three in the eighth and two in the ninth.

After the Tigers’ offense produced a combined six runs in their first two regional games, Johnson’s move to thoroughly shuffle the batting order paid off.

Eight Tigers had multiple hits in a 21-hit barrage off five Wofford pitchers. Then, LSU had 11 hits off four UNC hurlers.

Tigers’ left fielder and cleanup hitter Josh Pearson, who entered Sunday batting just .255 after hitting just .178 in his last nine games dating back to the start of the SEC tournament, had himself a day.

He hit a combined .500 vs. Wofford and UNC, going 4 for 8 with two homers and two doubles, 6 RBI and 5 runs scored.

His two-run homer spurred LSU’s three-run fifth inning vs. Wofford tied the game at 6-6. Then, he struck the first blow against the Tar Heels with a two-homer in the top of the first.

“I feel I approach every at-bat pretty much the same,” Pearson said. “In those moments, I just do a good job of staying within myself and not trying to do too much. I don’t get too sped up in the box and allow the pitcher to use his time against me. Just be loaded up and ready whenever the pitcher throws.”

An unsung pitching hero for the Tigers was true freshman reliever Cade Anderson. He saw action in both Sunday’s games combining for 2.1 scoreless innings while striking out five of the 11 batters he faced.

Anderson struck out the side in the Wofford eighth in the opener. Then, he returned vs. North Carolina with one out in the seventh and struck out two of the eight batters he faced before being pulled with two outs in the eighth for Guidry.

Johnson’s biggest challenge in Monday’s final game is piecing together a pitching plan after using 12 pitchers in the first four regional games including five pitchers (Herring, Guidry, Anderson, Loer and Will Helmers) twice.

“North Carolina is an elite team, so you’ve just got keep playing,” Johnson said. “You just have to keep playing. I have a saying that everything is training for something. We’re trained and ready for tomorrow.”

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

---

By MALCOLM BUTLER, Lincoln Parish Journal

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — An emotional Louisiana Tech baseball coach Lane Burroughs sat before the media gaggle Saturday at Baum-Walker Stadium Saturday following his team’s 19-4  loss to Kansas State and an ensuing 9-3 season-ending defeat to Southeast Missouri State.

With tears in his eyes, a frog in his throat and the voice of a 100-year-old man, he admitted his Bulldog baseball team didn’t play up to its caliber in either of the two losses in the Fayetteville Regional.

“The last two days are not indicative of who we are,” said Burroughs. “We did not play good. I am taking nothing away from Kansas State and SEMO. They are phenomenal baseball teams. They are well coached. We did not play good.”

The Bulldogs (45-19) fell behind early Friday night to the Big 12 Wildcats and trailed 9-4 when the game was delayed due to weather and then finally around midnight was postponed until Saturday morning. The two teams came back at 11 a.m. and K-State outscored Tech 10-0 the rest of the way to push the Bulldogs into the elimination bracket.

Less than two hours after the completion of that game, Tech squared off against SEMO. The Redhawks used a 7-run fourth inning to ultimately build a big lead and never looked back.

“We don’t make excuses, but we are out of gas,” said Burroughs. “The last three weeks have been tough on us. We won a regular season championship. We had a tough trip (to Liberty) with a doubleheader. We had to win all of those games. We had to sweep the last two weekends to win the regular season. We did that.

“Unfortunately, when we got into our (conference) tournament we had weather, we got into the losers’ bracket, and we played five games in 72 hours. Those guys left it on the field. We ended up running out of gas on (last) Sunday. I think we did here too. I hate we didn’t play better.”

Tech entered the regional with a well-rounded squad. The Bulldogs ranked top 10 in the country in fielding percentage, owned over 80 home runs, and relied on a pitching staff that kept it in games all season long.

None of those things were evident in Fayetteville. The Bulldogs committed four errors in the two games while hitting just one home run — Karsen Evans vs. SEMO — in the two games. The Tech pitchers combined to walk 10 hitters while surrendering seven home runs in the two losses.

“These last two days are not who we are,” said Burroughs. “These guys have so much to be proud of. It was a historic season. 45 wins which is the second most in school history. These guys mean a lot to me. I love them.”

Conference USA Player of the Year Ethan Bates, who began his career as a Razorback, pitched the final inning of the season finale against SEMO. Ironically, his first career collegiate appearance came against SEMO on February 27, 2021, as a Razorback.

“It’s tough on you mentally,” said Bates. “You get a delay before the game even starts. It sets your starters back and then you have to warm up again and do all of that. It was just a really long day. It just got to us, I guess.”

Sixth-year senior Adarius Myers doubled home two runs in the 9-3 loss to the Redhawks. Myers said he felt like the team was ready to play despite the challenges of the past few weeks.

“We’ve played a lot of baseball the last couple of weeks,” said Myers. “It’s a challenge but it wasn’t anything we weren’t up to. I think we came out ready to play. I think we thought we were going to come back and win Game 1. We didn’t come out here expecting to lose. It was tough, but it’s just part of it.”

The Bulldogs competed in their third NCAA regional in the past four years, the most successful stretch in decades for the program.

Contact Malcolm at lpjnewsla@gmail.com

---

By T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT, Lincoln Parish Journal

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Sometimes gradual income can end up being more important than immediate outcome.

The Grambling State University baseball team hopes that philosophy pays big dividends in the future.

Louisiana-Lafayette defeated Grambling 12-5 in Saturday’s elimination game of the College Station Regional at Blue Bell Park at Texas A&M, but as much as falling stings, sometimes that only makes you get up stronger than ever.

“I’m proud of the way we competed throughout this tournament,” said GSU coach Davin Pierre. “This is high level baseball and we were in games with some of the best teams in the country. (The Tigers fell in a closer-than-it-looked 8-0 contest Friday afternoon to the host Aggies, the nation’s No. 3-ranked team).

“We have a lot to grow from and we have put this program and Grambling State University on the map with baseball. We represented well  — we showed them that, ‘Hell Baby, We Grambling!’  I’m excited about the future of this program. This is the beginning of something special.” 

For the second day in a row, Grambling (finishing 26-28) suffered a tough second inning, giving up four runs to the Cajuns before giving up four more in the third.

Grambling’s first run came in the bottom of the second as Julian Murphy scored off a Jose Vargas single.

After ULL made it 8-1 the top of the third, Grambling scored its second run on a solo round-tripper by Cameron Bufford, the 47^th of his epic Tiger career.

The 22^nd-ranked Ragin’ Cajuns pushed it to 9-2 in the top of the sixth before Trevor Hatton smashed a two-run dinger to cut ULL’s lead to 9-4. But the Tigers couldn’t get closer.

Friday’s regional opener against A&M opened well enough for Grambling.

Having led off the game with a pair of singles and holding off Texas A&M’s attack in the bottom of the first inning, the Tigers seemed to be on the right track.

But the GSU hardball train derailed in the bottom of the second. The Aggies – who swept through the regional unbeaten and will host a Super Regional next weekend — plated seven runs in the bottom of the second inning off five hits and a walk aided by a pair of wild pitches and a throwing error by the Tigers.

“We were hitting and were feeling good and then it suddenly got away from us,” said Pierre. “As a team we talked about it coming into this game —- we couldn’t give up a big inning because that’s what cost us multiple games this season. But against a good team like Texas A&M, it still happened.

“The strike zone was a little different than it is in the (Southwestern Athletic Conference), and we’ve got to get used to that. We hit the ball but left too many base runners stranded. We’ve got to take advantage of the opportunities we’re given, and we didn’t do that.”

GSU totaled nine hits on the day while leaving 14 runners on base.

Catcher DeMarckus Smiley led GSU with a 2-for-4 plate performance while Tiger Borom and Ashton Inman each went 2-for-4.

Contact Scott at tscottboatright@gmail.com

---

By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports

CHAPEL HILL, N.C – Tommy White’s two seasons as LSU’s big bat bopper have flashed like a streaking meteoroid burning across the college baseball universe.

Just 16 months ago after he transferred from North Carolina State, White ripped the first pitch he saw in a Tiger uniform for an RBI single.

Since then, despite a labrum injury that bothered him all last year until he underwent surgery in the off-season, White, a junior, has developed into a complete third baseman projected as a top 15 pick in July’s major league baseball draft.

But as he makes his 128th start of his LSU career today when the Tigers (41-20) open NCAA tournament play vs. Wofford at 11 a.m. in the Chapel Hill Regional, White’s total focus is the here and now.

“LSU is everything to me, it’s been there from the start when they (his teammates) just accepted me,” said White, a.k.a. Tommy Tanks,  who leads the Tigers with a .337 hitting average with a team-high 69 RBI, 24 homers and a mere 3 fielding errors. “I just want to play as long as possible. It’s what everybody should want to do being here.

“This is the last time I’ll wear an LSU jersey making a postseason run and I don’t want to take it off yet. I wanted to fight to get to that spot.”

In the Tigers’ last-gasp push to earn an SEC bid by winning 7 of their last eight games, White is batting .416 (15 of 36) 13 RBI and 4 homers.

His fight has proven contagious since LSU scored 43 runs in winning its first four SEC Tournament games before losing 4-3 in the finals to No. 1 and NCAA tourney top-seed Tennessee.

“I just think that the whole team wanted it just as much as I did,” White said. “It was pretty cool to see that it wasn’t one guy stepping up. It was everybody stepping up. It was like we said, `We can do this, let’s just do it.’

“You all saw where we started (a 3-12 start in SEC play) to where we’re at now. It’s completely different.”

Though most of White’s batting numbers are down from a year ago when he led the nation with 105 RBI, he also had the luxury of being situated just behind Golden Spikes winner Dylan Crews in the batting order.

Crews, the No. 2 overall pick by Washington in last July’s MLB draft, was third nationally in batting average (.426) and second in on-base percentage (.567).

Because Crews reached base in all 71 games last season, 18 of White’s 24 homers drove in multiple runs. With no Crews to set the table this season, only 10 of White’s 24 homers have scored multiple runs.

It hasn’t deterred White from doing things his way, like slamming 15 first pitches in his LSU career for home runs and leading off an inning 10 times with a homer. He’s also continued to spray the ball all over the park. Of his 48 career homers as a Tiger, 18 have been to left field, 17 to right field, 5 to center field, 5 to right centerfield and 3 to left centerfield.

White has 75 career homers, the first 27 at North Carolina State where he set the NCAA single season freshman home run record. He is No. 8 all-time in NCAA history in career home runs and is just the fourth player in NCAA history to reach the 75-homer mark in three seasons.

“I really look at a game one pitch at a time,” White said.

No. 2 seed LSU (40-21) vs. No. 3 seed WOFFORD (41-18)

WHAT, WHERE: NCAA baseball Chapel Hill (N.C.) Regional

SCHEDULE/PITCHING MATCHUP

Game 1: Today, 11 a.m. CT ESPNU

LSU –TBA

WOFFORD – TBA

LSU’s all-time NCAA tournament record: 174-72 (.707) in 35 appearances, 7 College World Series championships (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2009, 2023 in 19 CWS appearances.

Wofford’s all-time NCAA tournament record: 0-2 (.000) in one appearance.

LSU PLAYERS TO WATCH 3B Tommy White (.337, 24 HR, 69 RBI, 3 errors in 99 chances), 2B Steven Milam (.328, 6 HR, 36 RBI, 5 errors in 211 chances), SS Michael Braswell III (.304, 3 HR, 33 RBI, 13 errors in 203 chances), DH Hayden Travinski (.278, 15 HR, 52 RBI), P Luke Holman (9-3, 2.54 ERA in 85 innings, 116 strikeouts, 32 walks), P Gage Jump (6-1, 3.42 ERA, 73.2 innings, 89 strikeouts, 20 walks), P Griffin Herring (4-1, 6 saves, 1.88 ERA in 43 innings, 57 strikeouts, 13 walks).

WOFFORD PLAYERS TO WATCH

3B Dixon Black (.368, 13 HR, 75 RBI), 1B Tyler Hare (.327, 12 homers, 62 RBI), C Daniel Jackson (.362, 12 HR, 67 RBI), CF Marshall Toole (.383, 9 HR, 64 RBI), P Zac Cowan (9-2, 3.55 ERA in 104 innings, 118 strikeouts, 18 walks), P Camden Wicker (4-3, 4.14 ERA in 16 appearances, 51 strikeouts, 43 walks), P Kenny Michaels (3-1, 2 saves, 4.20 ERA in 45 innings, 56 strikeouts, 22 walks).

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

---

By MALCOLM BUTLER, Lincoln Parish Journal

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — At one time in his coaching career, Lane Burroughs wore the purple uniform of the Kansas State Wildcats.

Now the Louisiana Tech skipper will be facing the same Big 12 foe when the Bulldogs open the Fayetteville Regional tonight at 7 p.m. at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Tech (45-17) enters the regional as the No. 2 seed and will face the No. 3 seed Kansas State (32-24) in the second game of the day. No. 1 seed and host Arkansas (43-14) will face No. 4 seed Southeast Missouri State (34-25) at 2 p.m.

Burroughs, who spent the 2008 season in Manhattan as an assistant coach for the Wildcats, will lead Tech into its third regional in four years (Ruston 2021, Austin 2022).

He said the Wildcats will present plenty of challenges despite the fact it’s K-State’s first NCAA Regional in 11 years. He specifically talked about the arm Tech will face tonight in Owen Boerema (6-3, 4.91).

“I watched video (of him the past few days),” said Burroughs. “He is good. He has good stuff. Three pitches for strikes. He competes, and he pitches deep into ball games. He threw 132 pitches last week in the Big 12 Tournament.”

Offensively, the Wildcats are hitting .271 with just 59 home runs, but they have stolen 127 bases on the year. K-State is just 12-17 away from their home stadium this season, including a 3-3 mark in neutral site games.

“They are just a really good team,” said Burroughs. “Having lived up there and coached up there I know what that program means to those people. I’m sure they are going to show up too. It’s a really, really good ball club and we have to be ready to go.

“I think all four of the teams are good. It will be fun to get up there, reconnect with some old friends, and play some ball.”

Burroughs confirmed that Luke Nichols will get the nod on the mound in the opener for Tech. Nichols (4-3, 3.75) will make his 16th start of the season, logging a team-high 77.0 innings this year.

“We’ll see their top starting pitcher Luke Nichols. No one ever said it was going to be easy, but it’s that time of year when you’re going to have to run through some arms to go where we want to go,” said K-State head coach Pete Hughes. “They’ve got a really good coach, Lane Burroughs is one of the most respected coaches in the country, so I look forward to playing against his team – I’ve always admired his team from afar.”

Hughes had plenty of praise for the Bulldogs.

“Their top four guys each had over fifteen home runs, that’ll make you pause and think a little bit,” said Hughes. “It’s a really good program for those guys. No one-hit wonders. They have won a lot of games for some time now. They’re playing good baseball, they’re hot and they’re well coached. They are pretty physical, and they pitch it well too, the back end of their game is as good as it gets in the country.”

Every game this weekend will be streamed on ESPN+.

Contact Malcolm at lpjnewsla@gmail.com

---

By T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT, Lincoln Parish Journal

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The Grambling State baseball team made some school history last weekend by winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament, and earned the chance to make some more this weekend.

The Tigers begin play at noon today in the College Station Regional of the NCAA Baseball Championship, facing the host Texas A&M Aggies, the No. 3 national seed in the 64-team tournament bracket at 16 regional sites.

A couple months ago GSU’s basketball teams made history when the men’s and women’s squads both earned postseason tourney berths.

The Tigers won the SWAC regular-season hoops crown, defending their 2023 title, but then notched Grambling’s first-ever SWAC Tournament championship to advance to March Madness. There, they won an opening round game in the First Four before bowing to eventual national finalist Purdue.

The Lady Tigers missed the Big Dance but were invited to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament and won a first-round game at Tulsa.

And now, for the first time since 2010, Grambling baseball will be playing in an NCAA Regional.

GSU stands at 26-26 (18-8 in regular-season SWAC play) while Texas A&M enters the regional with a record of 44-13.

“We faced a tough (Southwestern Athletic Conference) tournament that threw everything imaginable just to get here,” said Tigers coach Davin Pierre. “But here we are making history. Players like Cameron Bufford, Trevor Hatton and Julian Murphy, who have been a big part of this program for a long time, are now part of history. And this entire team has established their own legacy in the history of Grambling athletics.

“Now it’s about going out there and trying to continue making history.”

Speaking of history, the last time the Tigers appeared in an NCAA Regional was in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 2010, when then coach James Cooper’s GSU team fell 19-7 to Arkansas in its opener before rallying back against Kansas State in its second game, scoring four runs in the seventh inning to tighten things up only to lose 9-8.

Grambling first made NCAA hardball history in 1985 when the Tigers played in the Austin, Texas, Regional where they took the University of Texas to 12 innings before falling 4-3. Grambling fell 5-2 to Oklahoma a day later.

“I’ll never forget that Texas game —- that was historic,” said College Baseball Hall of Fame coach Wilbert Ellis, who was the Tigers’ bench boss. “Texas had a great team, including pitcher Greg Swindell. Gary Eave pitched the whole game for us. 

“It was a game we lost on a controversial call, but we showed we could take a team that went on to the College World Series championship game to extra innings. I’m just praying we can see this year’s team do that (today) against Texas A&M.”

That won’t be easy. The Texas A&M pitching staff has the seventh best ERA in the nation (3.97) and ranks first in shutouts (10), first in 1-1 strike percentage (69.0), fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.31), fourth in WHIP (1.24), seventh in ERA (3.97), ninth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.8), 10th in 0-0 strike percentage (62.0), 11th in hits allowed per nine (7.94) and 11th in walks allowed per nine (3.26). 

And that pitching corps’ 10 shutouts are tied with the 1976 Aggies for second in program history.

Offensively, Texas A&M ranks fourth in home runs per game (2.18), fifth in homers (124), sixth in slugging percentage (.567), sixth in walks (355), 13th in runs (500), 16th in scoring (8.8) and 19th in on-base percentage (.419).

They’ll be facing a Grambling batting lineup with a .317 batting average that ranks 10th nationally. 

Junior second baseman Kyle Walker leads the charge, batting .394 with 11 home runs, 10 doubles, and one triple. 

GSU’s projected starting pitcher, Mason Martinez, stands 12-2 on the season with  a 4.33 ERA.

“I’m hoping the momentum that came from the way we won the SWAC Tournament carries over and gives us a spark against Texas A&M,” Pierre said. “Baseball is a crazy game and sometimes the underdogs do shock the world.

“That’s what we’re going to try to do. Represent Grambling and shock the world.”

The other two teams in the regional, Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette, will play in today’s evening contest. Winners collide Saturday after an elimination game between today’s losers.

Contact Scott at tscottboatright@gmail.com

---

JOURNAL SPORTS

HOOVER, Ala. – By sweeping Ole Miss over the weekend, LSU has raised its stock to a point where most college baseball analysts believe the Tigers have secured an at-large berth in next week’s NCAA Tournament.

Winning a first-round Southeastern Conference Tournament game this morning would remove all but the slightest doubt.

The Tigers, 36-20, square off at 9:30 a.m. against the 39-14 Georgia Bulldogs in the opening game, televised on the SEC Network from the 10,800-seat Hoover Met.

After sweeping the Rebels, LSU’s NCAA RPI (ratings percentage index) rose five spots to 30^th. A win today would really spike it as Georgia comes in with a No. 6 RPI.

The teams did not meet this season. Wes Johnson, who was LSU’s pitching coach last year as the Tigers won the College World Series, has breathed life into the Bulldogs as Georgia’s first-year head coach.

LSU has won 10 of its last 15 SEC games and four of its last five SEC series. The Tigers are 14-5 overall in their last 19 outings.

“We’re playing as well as we have all year, as well as anybody in the country,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “It was tough at the midway point of our league schedule. We were not in a good place. I don’t think there are five teams in the country that could accomplish what we just did on the back half of our schedule.

“I’m really excited, I want to keep playing baseball with this team. I’m really proud of our team based on their response to where we were earlier in the season. We’re playing a brand of baseball right now that is sustainable at the highest level.”

LSU third baseman Tommy White was named SEC Hitter of the Week Monday after batting .615 (8-for-15) in three games with two doubles, one triple, three homers and seven RBI against Ole Miss. He produced a slugging percentage of 1.615 and an on-base percentage of .643 and culminated the weekend in Saturday’s win with two home runs – including a grand slam – and five RBI.

Georgia is No. 2 in the SEC with a .307 team batting average, and the Bulldogs are second in the league with 140 home runs. Bulldogs star Charlie Condon leads the league in batting average (.451), home runs (35), hits (93), total bases (219), slugging percentage (1.063) and run scored (78).

---

JOURNAL SPORTS

BATON ROUGE – One of basketball’s greatest players and LSU’s biggest sports heroes, Seimone Augustus, has joined the Tigers’ women’s basketball staff as an assistant coach, head coach Kim Mulkey announced Monday.

Mulkey is a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for her coaching accomplishments. Augustus begins her collegiate coaching career as a pending Naismith Hall of Fame inductee, in October, after she will join Mulkey June 22 in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Augustus, a 40-year-old Baton Rouge native, won three Olympic gold medals playing for Team USA, and is arguably the greatest women’s basketball player in state history. She played point guard/forward while starring at Capitol High in Baton Rouge, at LSU and in the WNBA along with her international career.

“It is an exciting day for the LSU Women’s Basketball program to bring Seimone Augustus back to join our staff,” Mulkey said. “As a player at LSU, Seimone helped transform the program as the best player in the nation. She brought LSU to national prominence. She will be a tremendous member on our staff as someone with great experience who has excelled at every level of the game from high school in Baton Rouge to college to the WNBA to the Olympics. Her expertise in the game will benefit our team and allow our players the opportunity to learn from a Hall of Famer who has exhibited great class throughout her entire career.

“Competing against Seimone and watching her play professionally and internationally I was always impressed with her leadership and basketball IQ. Those are the intangibles I’m excited about her bringing to our program.  She has experiences at the highest level of success that will allow her to be an outstanding mentor to our student-athletes.”

As a player at LSU, Augustus led the Tigers to their first three Final Four appearances (2004, 2005, 2006) before going on to star in the WNBA and on the world stage. After finishing her WNBA career in Los Angeles, Augustus was an assistant coach for one season with the Sparks. Augustus joins the LSU staff to fill the vacancy left after the retirement of Johnny Merrick, Mulkey’s longtime assistant at Baylor and during the past three years with the Tigers.

“Life always guides you to where you belong,” Augustus said. “Thus, my path has led me home. Gracing me with an opportunity to further my coaching career within a program that I hold dearly. They say experience is the greatest teacher, I am truly excited about the knowledge and wisdom I will gain working alongside of legendary coach Mulkey and reconnecting with my former coach, (associate head) coach Bob Starkey. A Fighting Tiger once more, I look forward to pouring into this generation of Lady Tigers. Once A Tiger, Always A Tiger. A new chapter begins. See you at the PMAC.”

Augustus became the first former female student-athlete at LSU to receive a statue in her honor in 2023, last month was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Former LSU athletics director Skip Bertman called her “the single most important recruit in the history of LSU Athletics.” The date was April 30, 2002, when Augustus, the nation’s top high school prospect, pledged her commitment to the Tigers. In each of her four years, Augustus received All-America honors as she reached double digits in 132 of 140 career games, the most in NCAA history.

Augustus became the first woman in school history to have her jersey retired. On Jan. 24, 2010, her No. 33 jersey was unveiled in the Maravich Center rafters hanging proudly next to the likes of Pete Maravich and Shaquille O’Neal. And then on January 15, 2023, Augustus became the first LSU female student athlete to be honored with her own statue with Maravich, O’Neal and Bob Pettit’s in LSU’s Plaza of Legacy.

The No. 1 pick of the Minnesota Lynx in the 2006 WNBA Draft, Augustus took her game to even further heights as a professional, quickly winning WNBA Rookie of the Year in 2006. She won four WNBA Championships and was named MVP of the 2011 WNBA Finals. Augustus earned All-WNBA first team honors in 2012 and was a second team selection five times. She was an eight-time All-Star. In 391 regular-season WNBA games, she ranks among the league’s Top 10 all-time scorers.

---