Tigers, Wave to meet in postseason for first time in 20 years

On Friday, Tulane and LSU will meet for the 318th time on the baseball diamond.

The 309 regular-season meetings certainly have drawn great interest through the years, but it is those eight postseason battles that have taken the rivalry to another level in the last four decades.

Just how intertwined are these programs?

*The 1893 game was the first intercollegiate sporting event for either school.

*In 1986, LSU defeated Tulane in a regional final to advance to the College World Series for the first time in program history.

*In 2001, Tulane defeated LSU in the third and deciding game of a super regional to advance to the College World Series for the first time in program history.

Friday will mark 20 years and two days since the teams have faced off in the postseason. Let’s take a look back at the first eight NCAA meetings between the Tigers and Green Wave.

May 26, 1986 (at old Alex Box) – LSU 7, Tulane 6

LSU was hosting a regional for the first time and dispatched of Jackson State, Oklahoma and Louisiana Tech to get to the regional final. After losing its opening-round game to Louisiana Tech, Tulane battled out of the loser’s bracket, defeating Eastern Kentucky, Oklahoma and Tech, to reach the final.

Tulane, which was the home team, led 6-4 after seven innings before LSU hit back-to-back homers in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game. A south Louisiana rainstorm pelted Alex Box in the bottom of the eighth, postponing the finish until Monday.

LSU got an unearned run in the top of the ninth and closer Barry Manuel shut down the Wave in the bottom of the night to send the Tigers to Omaha for the first time.

May 21, 1987 (at Privateer Park, UNO) – LSU 5, Tulane 3

A year later, the Privateers earned the right to host and it turned into a “Louisiana Invitational” of sorts. While Cal State Fullerton was shipped in as a No. 1 seed, UNO, LSU, Tulane, Louisiana Tech and Southern all stayed close to home.

The bracket put No. 3 seed LSU and No. 4 seed Tulane against each other in the first round. A month earlier, the teams met on Tulane’s campus and played a 15-inning game, with Tulane starter Sam Amarena working into the 15th.

Amarena got the ball again in the regional opener and the Tigers made the most of their opportunities, getting single runs in five straight innings to edge the Wave. Gregg Patterson went the distance for LSU, and then came back on short rest to beat Fullerton – which was stunned by Southern in the opening night game – to send the Tigers to the CWS for a second straight year.

May 23, 1992 (at old Alex Box) – LSU 7, Tulane 3

Tulane hosted and won the Metro Conference Tournament at Turchin Stadium, while the SEC Tournament took place down the street in the Superdome and defending national champion LSU battled out of the loser’s bracket to claim that title.

The following week, both teams were facing off again in the postseason, this time in a day three elimination game after Ohio State stunned LSU the day before and Cal State Fullerton sent Tulane into the loser’s bracket.

In that Saturday matchup, the Tigers got four runs in the bottom of the first off Juan Ibieta and never looked back. Ronnie Rantz, who had pitched LSU into the SEC title game six days earlier, started and got the win. Fullerton would end LSU’s season later that night and go on to win the regional title.

June 1, 2001 (at Zephyr Field) – LSU 4, Tulane 3 (13 innings)
June 2, 2001 (at Zephyr Field) – Tulane 9, LSU 4
June 3, 2001 (at Zephyr Field) – Tulane 7, LSU 1

You can read much more about this memorable weekend here, our story from 2011 on the 10th anniversary of this weekend, which came in with so many subplots – who would host and where, Skip Bertman’s final season as LSU coach, Tulane trying to get to Omaha for the first time.

In the third year of the super regional format, the NCAA chose to play this series at what is now known as the Shrine on Airline, which had opened in 1997. Tulane had played its home games against LSU there since 1998.

The opener went to the Tigers on a David Raymer sacrifice fly in the top of the 13th inning.

Tulane struck quickly in game 2, getting a leadoff home run from Jonny Kaplan and scoring four runs in the top of the first and never looking back.

In the deciding game, a double by James Burgess was the key hit in a six-run fourth inning that broke the game open. Lefty Beau Richardson went the distance for Tulane.

More than 35,000 packed the park for the series, which was at the time an NCAA record. The seminal moment of the weekend may well have been Bertman’s speech to the Tulane team behind second base after Sunday’s game.

June 1, 2002 (at old Alex Box) – LSU 4, Tulane 2

The 2002 regional at Alex Box was an all-Louisiana one, with LSU, Tulane, UL Lafayette and Southern, as the NCAA continued to minimize travel in the wake of 9/11.

The Cajuns beat Tulane in the opener and LSU in the driver’s seat game, forcing a Saturday night elimination game between the Tigers and Green Wave.

LSU snapped a 1-1 tie with a run in the third and two in the fourth, which was enough for Bo Pettit, who went the distance, striking out 11 Tulane hitters. Tulane had the tying run at second base in the bottom of the ninth, but Pettit got a strikeout to close out the win. The Tigers would win twice on Sunday to get to Omaha in Smoke Laval’s first year as head coach.

May 31, 2003 (at old Alex Box) – LSU 13, Tulane 5

After both teams won their opening-round games, this Saturday matchup was what Bertman would refer to as the “marble game” – or the game that puts the winner in the driver’s seat for the tournament.

The final wasn’t indicative of the closeness of this one. LSU led 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth when Tulane had runners on second and third with no outs, but Nate Bumstead pitched out of the jam with a fielder’s choice grounder, a strikeout and flyout.

In the top of the seventh, Clay Harris and Blake Gill hit back-to-back home runs as part of a five-run Tiger uprising. Tulane got two runs back in the bottom of the seventh but Ivan Naccarata’s three-run blast keyed a five-run ninth that put the game away.