1996 LSU Tigers baseball team explained

Mode:	baseball
Year:	1996
Team:	LSU Tigers
Conference:	Southeastern Conference
Division:	West
Short Conf:	SEC
Record:	52-15
Conf Record:	20-10
Head Coach:	Skip Bertman
Stadium:	Alex Box Stadium
Champion:	National Champions SEC Champions

The 1996 LSU Tigers baseball team won the NCAA national championship in one of the most memorable College World Series games in history.

The Tigers, coached by Skip Bertman, had already established themselves as a premier college baseball program, having won two previous national championships in 1991 and 1993. The 1996 version built on this reputation by compiling a 52–15 record, including going 20–10 in the Southeastern Conference, winning the SEC championship as well.

Regular season

The Tigers regular season record was 43–13 with notable losses coming against conference rivals Alabama and a 3-game sweep at the hands of Florida.

SEC tournament

LSU defeated Tennessee in the first game of the 1996 SEC baseball tournament but then lost to Florida (their fourth loss to them in as many games) and Kentucky and were eliminated.

NCAA Tournament Regional

LSU cruised through the regional round (hosted by LSU at Alex Box Stadium) of the NCAA Tournament defeating Austin Peay 9-3, UNLV 7-6, UNO 17–4 and Georgia Tech 29-13.

College World Series

The Tigers opened the College World Series by defeating Wichita State 9-8, the same team they beat in the championship games of 1991 and 1993. LSU then moved on to play conference rival Florida (who had beaten the Tigers in all four games played earlier in the season). LSU won 9-4. Florida then came back through the losers bracket to face LSU again. The Tigers won the second game 2–1 to move onto the championship game.

The championship game featured a match-up of two college baseball powers in LSU and Miami (Florida). Both teams had previously won 2 national championships (Miami: 1982 & 1985) and were vying for their third. Miami featured future major leaguers Alex Cora and Pat Burrell, who helped the Hurricanes to establish a 7–3 lead in the game. However, the Tigers would fight back to tie the game. Cora then reclaimed the lead for Miami with an RBIs single and the Hurricanes then led 8–7 heading into the 9th inning.

With 2 outs and a runner on third base LSU only needed a base hit or a wild pitch to tie the game. An unlikely hero emerged from the LSU dugout in Warren Morris, who had been hurt most of the year. He stepped to the plate and faced pitcher Robbie Morrison. Morris swung on Morrison's first pitch and lined the ball just inches over the right field fence for a 2 out, game winning walk off home run. This was his first home run of the season.

Aftermath

Morris' home run would later win the 1997 Showstopper of the Year ESPY Award.^[1]

The Tigers won their third national championship and would follow it up with four more in 1997, 2000, 2009, and 2023. Miami would recover and go on to win two more national championships as well in 1999 and 2001.

Schedule/Results

1996 LSU Tigers baseball game log

Regular Season
	Date	Opponent	Site/stadium	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Overall record	SEC record
1	-	Western Kentucky		9–0	-	-	-	-	1–0	-
2	-	Western Kentucky	Alex Box Stadium	18–0	-	-	-	-	2–0	-
3	-	Western Kentucky	Alex Box Stadium	18–1	-	-	-	-	3–0	-
4	-		Alex Box Stadium	6–1	-	-	-	-	4–0	-
5	-	Southern Mississippi	Winn-Dixie Showdown (New Orleans, LA)	7–4	-	-	-	-	5–0	-
6	-	Ole Miss	Winn-Dixie Showdown (New Orleans, LA)	9–7	-	-	-	-	6–0	-
7	-	Mississippi State	Winn-Dixie Showdown (New Orleans, LA)	8–4	-	-	-	-	7–0	-
8	-	Tulane	Alex Box Stadium	10–0	-	-	-	-	8–0	-
9	-	Louisiana Tech	Alex Box Stadium	6–1	-	-	-	-	9–0	-
10	-	Duquesne	Alex Box Stadium	14–7	-	-	-	-	10–0	-
11	-	Duquesne	Alex Box Stadium	9–5	-	-	-	-	11–0	-
12	-	Loyola-New Orleans	Alex Box Stadium	22–2	-	-	-	-	12–0	-
13	-	Vanderbilt		15–0	-	-	-	-	13–0	1–0
14	-	Vanderbilt	Hawkins Field	2–3	-	-	-	-	13–1	1–1
15	-	Vanderbilt	Hawkins Field	14–4	-	-	-	-	14–1	2–1
16	-	Dayton	Alex Box Stadium	15–2	-	-	-	-	15–1	-
17	-	Dayton	Alex Box Stadium	6–7	-	-	-	-	15–2	-
18	-	Georgia	Alex Box Stadium	14–4	-	-	-	-	16–2	3–1
19	-	Georgia	Alex Box Stadium	12–5	-	-	-	-	17–2	4–1
20	-	Georgia	Alex Box Stadium	23–5	-	-	-	-	18–2	5–1
21	-	UNO	Alex Box Stadium	16–8	-	-	-	-	19–2	-
22	-	Northeast Louisiana	Alex Box Stadium	10–0	-	-	-	-	20–2	-
23	-	Florida		6–7	-	-	-	-	20–3	5–2
24	-	Florida	McKethan Stadium	5–9	-	-	-	-	20–4	5–3
25	-	Florida	McKethan Stadium	1–2	-	-	-	-	20–5	5–4
26	-	Southern	Alex Box Stadium	19–0	-	-	-	-	21–5	-
27	-	McNeese State	Alex Box Stadium	16–0	-	-	-	-	22–5	-
28	-	Tennessee	Alex Box Stadium	9–2	-	-	-	-	23–5	6–4
29	-	Tennessee	Alex Box Stadium	5–3	-	-	-	-	24–5	7–4
30	-	Tennessee	Alex Box Stadium	9–1	-	-	-	-	25–5	8–4
31	-	Tulane		3–1	-	-	-	-	26–5	-
32	-	Northwestern Louisiana	Alex Box Stadium	5–10	-	-	-	-	26–6	-
33	-	Northwestern Louisiana	Alex Box Stadium	5–6	-	-	-	-	26–7	-
34	-	South Carolina		15–2	-	-	-	-	27–7	9–4
35	-	South Carolina	Carolina Stadium	0–2	-	-	-	-	27–8	9–5
36	-	South Carolina	Carolina Stadium	4–2	-	-	-	-	28–8	10–5
37	-	Southeastern Louisiana		5–2	-	-	-	-	29–8	-
38	-	Nicholls State	Alex Box Stadium	14–0	-	-	-	-	30–8	-
39	-	Ole Miss		6–5	-	-	-	-	31–8	11–5
40	-	Ole Miss	Oxford-University Stadium at Swayze Field	10–1	-	-	-	-	32–8	12–5
41	-	Ole Miss	Oxford-University Stadium at Swayze Field	9–2	-	-	-	-	33–8	13–5
42	-	Southeastern Louisiana	Alex Box Stadium	7–4	-	-	-	-	34–8	-
43	-	Arkansas	Alex Box Stadium	2–3	-	-	-	-	34–9	13–6
44	-	Arkansas	Alex Box Stadium	11–4	-	-	-	-	35–9	14–6
45	-	Arkansas	Alex Box Stadium	9–4	-	-	-	-	36–9	15–6
46	-	University of New Orleans		8–4	-	-	-	-	37–9	-
47	-	Louisiana College	Alex Box Stadium	20–0	-	-	-	-	38–9	-
48	-	Alabama	Alex Box Stadium	8–6	-	-	-	-	39–9	16–6
49	-	Alabama	Alex Box Stadium	4–17	-	-	-	-	39–10	16–7
50	-	Alabama	Alex Box Stadium	5–12	-	-	-	-	39–11	16–8
51	-	Auburn		14–2	-	-	-	-	40–11	17–8
52	-	Auburn	Samford Stadium – Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park	6–0	-	-	-	-	41–11	18–8
53	-	Auburn	Samford Stadium – Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park	3–7	-	-	-	-	41–12	18–9
54	-	Mississippi State	Alex Box Stadium	8–7	-	-	-	-	42–12	19–9
55	-	Mississippi State	Alex Box Stadium	17–9	-	-	-	-	43–12	20–9
56	-	Mississippi State	Alex Box Stadium	10–11	-	-	-	-	43–13	20–10

Roster

^[2]

Coaches

Name	Position
Skip Bertman	Head coach
Mike Bianco	Assistant coach
Dan Canevari	Administrative Assistant
Daniel Tomlin	Volunteer Assistant Coach

Players

Name	Position
T.J. Arnett	RHP
Tom Bernhardt	OF
Eric Berthelot	LHP
John Blancher	INF
Justin Bowles	RF
Matt Colvin	LHP
Patrick Coogan	RHP
Chad Cooley	LF
Casey Cuntz	INF
Brian Daugherty	RHP
Chris Demouy	LHP
Nathan Dunn	3B
Jake Esteves	RHP
Eddy Furniss	1B
Dan Guillory	RHP
Jeff Harris	RHP
James Hemphill	OF
Conan Horton	C
Sonny Knoll	RHP
Mike Koerner	CF
Tim Lanier	C
Brett Laxton	RHP
Antonio Leonardi-Cattolica	RHP
Trey McClure	INF
Jeramie Moore	1B
Warren Morris	2B
Joey Painich	RHP
Keith Polozola	INF
Kevin Shipp	RHP
Bill Bridges	RHP
Kevin Ward	C
Jason Williams	SS
Brad Wilson	DH
Jeremy Witten	OF
Eddie Yarnall	LHP

References

https://www.espn.com/espy2005/s/pastwinners.html ESPY Past Winners
Jim SchwankeAssistant Coach

External links

USAToday.com: LSU dramatics trigger memory