On Campus: Big Appetites For Bayou Baseball

College baseball has always been a serious business in Louisiana. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana State has been one of the most successful programs in the sport’s history, boasting six national championships and 20 consecutive years as the nation’s attendance leader. Louisiana-Lafayette, New Orleans and Tulane all have trips to the College World Series in their history as well. And all dozen of the state’s Division I programs boast strong fan bases with large appetites for baseball.

This season, the state has been even more hotly contested than normal. LSU (7) and ULL (16) are both ranked in the Top 25. Tulane (11-6) has been on the cusp of the rankings much of the season as it looks to build off its 2015 NCAA Tournament appearance. New Orleans is already 13-4 in Blake Dean’s first season as head coach, nearly matching last season’s win total (14). Louisiana Tech (9-4) boasts Top 25 wins against Arkansas and ULL. Northwestern State is 8-8 despite playing the third-toughest schedule in the country, according to WarrenNolan.com.

Seemingly anywhere you look across the state, there is good college baseball being played.

“I’m really proud of all the teams in the state,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “There are just a lot of teams playing well in this state. I think it’s a wonderful thing. I hope they can keep it up.”

Mainieri and other college coaches in the state said part of the credit for their success this season belongs with the state’s high school coaches. In recent years, players such as righthander Aaron Nola (LSU) and shortstop Blake Trahan (ULL) have followed a path from Louisiana high schools through Louisiana colleges to the minor leagues. This year’s teams have the next players in that pipeline, such as outfielder Antoine Duplantis (LSU) and lefthander Kyle Cedotal (Southeastern Louisiana).

Though Louisiana is the 25th-most populous state in the country, it is producing enough talent to go around. Northwestern State coach Lane Burroughs said the pipeline of in-state talent is the foundation of the colleges’ success.

“Baseball, there’s a premium put on it in this state,” Burroughs said. “There’s a lot of great players, a lot of great coaches. It’s just a hotbed. There are just so many really good high school programs and coaches. You have to give them a lot of credit.”

LSU recruiting coordinator Andy Cannizaro is a Louisiana native and has spent much of his life in the state. He played for Tulane and scouted the area for the Yankees for five years after his professional playing career ended.

Cannizaro said the rise of Louisiana travel ball programs such as the Louisiana Knights, Marucci Elite and Team Louisiana, as well as the success of top high school programs such as Barbe High, the 2014 Team of the Year, has been a boon for the state’s colleges.

“It’s a combination of high school baseball being really good in Louisiana and the travel ball programs being so good and playing all over the country against the best talent in country over the last several years,” Cannizaro said. “The travel ball kids are going back to their high school teams after competing against the best in the country, and it’s helping their games.”

With so many players staying in-state for college, there is plenty of familiarity when the teams face off. Because of that, Burroughs said the players are always excited to play other Louisiana schools.

“They all grow up together, play summer ball together and they know every time you play an in-state school, you’ve got to bring it,” Burroughs said. “One of two things happens: either you elevate your program or you go backwards. We’re seeing a lot of players and programs elevate their play.”

One program trying to do just that is Louisiana Tech. Last year, in his first season at the school, coach Greg Goff led the Bulldogs to a 25-27 record, a 10-win improvement on 2014. This year, Louisiana Tech has started 9-4, setting itself up well for the start of Conference-USA play.

Goff had never coached in Louisiana before, but has quickly learned how tough the state can be. He said when the Bulldogs play in-state opponents, the games take on a greater importance.

“It’s really very, very competitive,” Goff said. “I knew when I got the job, LSU and Lafayette were two very respected programs and we respect the coaching staffs and what they’re doing, but we also want to beat them. We’re just trying to work each day and get our program to be mentioned with such great programs.”

The 12 Louisiana programs play in six different conferences, making it feasible that the state could send several teams to the NCAA Tournament. But the postseason remains more than two months away. Before any of the state’s teams can think about regionals, they must navigate their conferences and several more challenging midweek games against each other.

“The competition on the college level is at an all-time high and there’s tremendous players, tremendous coaches and you have to bring your A game every single week to win those ballgames,” Cannizaro said. “College baseball in Louisiana is outstanding. Midweek baseball games in Louisiana prepare you to compete against the SEC on the weekends.”

News and Notes

Atlantic Coast Conference: Duke righthander Brian McAfee threw a five-hit shutout against Virginia on Sunday, as the Blue Devils won, 3-0, to salvage a game from their series. McAfee has now shut out the Cavaliers two years in a row, playing for a different team each time. Last year with Cornell, McAfee threw seven scoreless innings against Virginia, but took a no-decision in that game. McAfee graduated last year and transferred to Duke for graduate school and his final season of baseball. He is 2-1, 3.86 in four starts this season. “He changes speeds really effectively, his fastball’s down in the zone,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “The kid did a terrific job.” … Florida State and Pittsburgh have played 22 times over the years, with the Seminoles winning all 22 games. But this weekend the two teams will play in Pittsburgh for the first time in series history. The series marks a homecoming for Florida State third baseman John Sansone (.471/.561/.676), a native of New Castle, Pa.

Big 12 Conference: Texas Tech is slated to go with an all-freshman rotation this weekend at Baylor, as Big 12 play opens. Righthander Davis Martin will take the ball Friday and will become the first freshman to start the conference opener for the Red Raiders since A.J. Ramos in 2006. Martin began the season in the bullpen, and made his first career start last Saturday at California. He is 1-0, 3.07 this spring.

Big Ten Conference: Through four weekends, No. 18 Michigan has five saves, all recorded by different pitchers. Instead of having a definied closer, coach Erik Bakich said he has three pitchers—lefthander Carmen Benedetti and righthanders Mac Lozer and Bryan Pall—who he calls on whenever a key moment arises during the game. “The way we verbalize it to those guys is when they’re pitching, it’s a high-leverage situation,” Bakich said. “That could be in the fifth inning, it could be in the ninth inning. But when they’re pitching, it’s an important situation.” So far, the approach has worked. The Wolverines bullpen is 1-0, 2.17 with 70 strikeouts in 54 innings. … Illinois senior catcher Jason Goldstein left the first game of a doubleheader Saturday after tweaking his hamstring and missed the final two games of the weekend. He is Illinois’ leading hitter (.415/.447/.488), and has reached base safely in his last 12 games, dating back to last year.

Pac-12 Conference: UCLA righthander Grant Dyer is scheduled to return to the mound Saturday against Washington State after missing his last two starts. The junior has been sidelined since leaving his start Feb. 26 against Cal Poly after two innings with a strained oblique. … Following an 11-day break for finals, Stanford returns to action Friday with a home series against Kansas. The Cardinal (7-5) got off to a solid start to the season before their break and will look to pick up where they left off in their final nonconference series of the year.

Southeastern Conference: LSU freshman outfielder Antoine Duplantis has hit the ground running to start his college career. He has ably filled the three-hole in the Tigers lineup, hitting .417/.493/.567 with nine walks and three strikeouts in 16 games. He also has a 16-game hitting streak, tied for the third longest by an LSU freshman in the last 20 years. Mainieri said he knew immediately when Duplantis arrived in Baton Rouge that he would be special, a feeling he previously had only had about Alex Bregman, D.J. LeMahieu and Aaron Nola. “I think the sky is the limit for this kid,” Mainieri said. “There’s still aspects of his game that he can improve on—I’d like to see him bunt more and get better jumps when he’s stealing bases. But I think he’s going to be outstanding ballplayer.” … Vanderbilt pitchers Donny Everett and John Kilichowski have missed the first month of the season and are not yet pitching, coach Tim Corbin said. He does still expect to get the pair back at some point this season. The Commodores have shown they have the depth to withstand the losses to their pitching staff, and enter SEC play with a 2.53 team ERA and 190 strikeouts in 153 innings.

Other conferences: Missouri State third baseman Jake Burger, a 2015 Freshman All-American, went 8-for-9 with three home runs in two games against Western Illinois this week. He is hitting .464/.543/.899 and his nine home runs are tied for the most in the country. … Wichita State righthander Sam Tewes left his start last Friday at Cal State Fullerton in the first inning with elbow discomfort. He will not pitch this weekend at Nebraska as he awaits further diagnosis from doctors. Tewes, who ranked No. 33 on the preseason Top 100 College Draft Prospects list, missed most of last season due to shoulder inflammation and received a medical redshirt. He is 1-2, 7.36 this season.