Six flags fly over Alex Box Stadium

• By SCOTT HOTARD
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jun 26, 2009 - Page: 1A

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During the planning of the new Alex Box Stadium, LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri requested seven flagpoles behind the center-field wall.

One pole for each of the school’s five national championship banners. One for the American flag.

One for this.

Standing atop a stage on the infield of LSU’s new $35 million ballpark, Mainieri worked the crowd that gathered Thursday in its finest purple and gold to celebrate the newly minted champions of college baseball.

“Are you ready to raise the flag?” Mainieri bellowed.

And with that, the lone naked pole in the outfield wore some purple and gold of its own.

“That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Mainieri said above the din of the roughly 3,000 fans. “We’re so proud to bring that championship back to you.”

Certainly, the feeling is mutual.

College World Series championships at LSU used to arrive every two years or so. They came in bunches beginning in 1991, when the revered Skip Bertman returned from Omaha, Neb., with the first of his five titles.

The last of Bertman’s flags rose in 2000, the coach’s penultimate season.

Mainieri, who took over the program three seasons ago, moved the Tigers into their new digs this year. He wasted little time adding to Alex Box Stadium’s decor.

LSU swept through its bracket of the CWS to set up a best-of-three showdown against Texas in the championship series. It completed the charge Wednesday night, beating the Longhorns in the decisive third game.

“Because we hadn’t won it in nine years, this is much more enjoyable,” said LSU fan Dennis Raborn, standing in line at the souvenir shop prior to Thursday’s celebration.