Alex Box to host its final SEC series

• By CARL DUBOIS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 9, 2008 - Page: 3C - UPDATED: 12:45 a.m.

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Early last season, his first as LSU baseball coach, Paul Mainieri looked around Alex Box Stadium during a game and scanned the grandstand and bleachers.

“I turned to my assistant coach and I said, ‘Doesn’t every game here feel like the championship game of a regional tournament?’ That’s really kind of the feeling I get every day when I’m coaching at Alex Box Stadium — just the electricity and the crowd, the enthusiasm, the energy in the stadium,” Mainieri said.

“You can feel the history and tradition, and it’s a remarkable place.”

LSU (32-16-1) begins its final Southeastern Conference series at The Box at 7 p.m. today against Mississippi State on a nine-game winning streak that gives the Tigers hope for a number of bonuses that didn’t seem within reach when their last homestand began.

At 12-11-1 in the SEC, LSU is in first place in the Western Division and suddenly has a legitimate shot at earning a home regional tournament and an extension of the final season at The Box.

“If I’d have stood up here three weeks ago and told you, ‘Hey, we’re going to host a regional,’ you guys would have thought I was ready for the looney-tune farm,” Mainieri said at an informal news conference Tuesday.

There will be a lot of sideshows this weekend.

Mike the Tiger is scheduled to visit the field in his cage before tonight’s game. Saturday is Senior Day, and Sunday is the final scheduled game at The Box.

Mississippi State (20-29, 7-17) brings a young, banged-up, last-place team to the ballpark — and a retiring coach. Ron Polk, in his 29th season with the Bulldogs and 35th overall as a college head coach, will step down after the regular season ends May 17.

Polk is 70-56 against LSU, including a 4-3 record in two seasons as Georgia’s coach. He has a 27-29 record against the Tigers at Alex Box Stadium and a 34-30 record there vs. all teams, including tournament play.

LSU officials couldn’t confirm it Thursday, but Polk suspects no visiting coach has coached more games at The Box than him.

“To go down there is a great thrill for me,” he said, recalling an intense rivalry with LSU in the 1980s and early ’90s that helped elevate baseball in the SEC.

“I’m glad I’m going to be down there closing the grand ole stadium down.”