UC Irvine likes the road better than at home

By: CHRIS FONTENOT

Sports Correspondent

LSU to face UC Irvine in Super Regional at the Box. Who is UC Irvine and what to they bring? They’re a Big West Conference team that plays well on the road. They won the Austin, TX regional last year and then traveled to Witchita State for the super regional, which they won also to get to Omaha last year.

At last year’s CWS they lost to ASU but beat Cal State Fullerton and ASU in the second meeting before losing to Oregon State. Clearly a team with some experience and the #1 pitcher in the Nation.

They are led by former USC coach Mike Gillespie who came out of retirement this year to take over there. His USC teams were involved in some pretty heated regionals here (1990 and 1994) so he knows what the Box is about. He called Alex Box Stadium an “Echo chamber.”

Irvine opened its regional run with a Friday win over Oral Roberts, then rode the strong pitching of Daniel Bibona to a 3-2 win Saturday over Nebraska in front of 8,646.

Here’s what he /Gillespie had to say:

“We’ve played in some difficult places, and Baton Rouge certainly will be one of those places,” said Gillespie, who twice took Southern California teams to LSU for regional play in the 1990s. “They’ve been extraordinarily hot over the last six weeks or so. They play in an echo chamber.

“Having played here last night and to a lesser extent Friday should serve us well. I trust our players will be excited, as they should be, but not intimidated or awestruck.”

Should be a very interesting matchup and LSU’s win streak clearly in jeopardy. Should LSU win out through the College World Series it would be 31 games since they’ve lost (Counting a tie). Why is that number significant? Wally Pontiff wore #31.