Slugger: Tigers an easy choice

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jul 10, 2009

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You would think Kyle Koeneman wouldn’t have much left to prove on the baseball diamond.

Not after watching 50 home runs fly out of the ballpark in two seasons at Walters State (Tenn.) Community College on the heels of a prep career when he also blasted 50 homers.

But the bulky first baseman will take the next step of his baseball career with a combination of a chip on his shoulder and a confident swagger when he takes the diamond for LSU next season.

Koeneman committed to the Tigers during his sophomore season at Walters State and is in the process of completing necessary paperwork to enroll at LSU this fall.

He is taking a handful of classes this summer at Walters State, including a math class he needs to complete to be eligible at the Division I level.

“Yeah, that’s gonna happen,” Koeneman said. “I’m in good shape there.”

Good to go and with something to prove.

To the biggest home-state school that passed him over and to 30 Major League Baseball teams that have chosen not to draft him each of the past two seasons.

Koeneman grew up in Seymour, Tenn., which is in the shadow of Knoxville and the University of Tennessee campus. He and Volunteers first baseman Cody Hawn are best friends. They played together since from the time they were 8, including last year at Walters State.

Yet even when Koeneman slammed a national-best 29 home runs as a freshman and 21 this season, the UT coaches were hesitant to recruit him. Other in-state programs did, including Vanderbilt and Memphis.

So did LSU, and once that happened, Koeneman closed the door on everybody else.

“All their tradition and the national championship and the facilities — those things really made it an easy decision for me,” he said. “It was awesome seeing them dogpile in the College World Series. It gave me chill bumps. It’s great to have a chance to come and play for the national champion.”

With the departure of Sean Ochinko and the up-in-the-air status of Blake Dean, Koeneman figures to fit in well in the heart of the Tigers batting order.