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LSU's Win Streak Extends To 23

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By BRETT MARTEL, The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 3, 2008

BATON ROUGE, La. - Standing on second base, LSU's Michael Hollander had the perfect vantage point for another memorable moment in the Tigers' illustrious baseball history.

He watched Blake Dean stride toward the batter's box, with a packed grandstand at 70-year-old Alex Box Stadium pulsating behind him. The bases were loaded, LSU led 6-2 and was primed to break open the clinching game of the Baton Rouge regional.

Hollander described getting chills as fans, most draped in purple-and-gold, pumped their arms above their heads to rhythmic chants of "L-S-U!"

A few pitches later, he and his fellow base runners were chugging home as the ball sailed toward the right-center field wall, the frenzied crowd roaring with delight.

"There was no doubt in my mind Blake was going to get the big hit," Hollander recalled. "I mean, he had to. Everybody was on their feet."

Pardon the LSU Tigers for oozing confidence bordering on invincibility.

They haven't lost in a month-and-a-half.

Their 23-game winning streak, which included sweeps of the Southeastern Conference tournament and their NCAA regional, is the longest current streak in the country and longest ever by an SEC team.

LSU head coach Paul Mainieri is trying to keep his players grounded, reminding them there's more work to do. They still must beat an impressive UC Irvine squad in a best-of-three super regional next weekend just to get to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

Yet Mainieri can't hide the fact that he is awe-struck by what his team has done only one season after winning 29 games total.

"To win 23 games in a row is an amazing accomplishment by a group of young men, but to do it at this time of the year against the schedule we've done it against - it's beyond explanation," Mainieri said. "It's an amazing thing. It really is. They should be tight but they're not. They're just having fun and playing the game."

The streak has included three-game regular season sweeps of SEC foes South Carolina, Mississippi State, Kentucky and Auburn. Sprinkled in were road victories over in-state rivals Tulane and New Orleans, which both qualified for the NCAA tournament.

At the SEC tournament in Hoover, Ala., LSU beat South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Alabama and Mississippi in succession, needing comebacks to win three of those games.

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