Dubois: Tigers hoping for one more lap at The Box

• By CARL DUBOIS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 12, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 1 a.m.

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What if they held a going-away party for Alex Box Stadium and it wouldn’t go away?

Husbands and wives hugged, held hands and embraced Sunday after LSU’s 9-6 victory against Mississippi State in the last game scheduled at The Box.

Some first met or dated there, and the 70-year-old ballpark has been a big part of their lives for decades. Couples just don’t spend Mother’s Day at a college baseball game because they can’t think of anything better to do.

When they walked out of the gates Sunday, some said they knew there was no guarantee they’d see another game there. They know May 25 they will find out if LSU will get extra innings for The Box by being awarded an NCAA regional.

There’s no guarantee, so there were misty eyes.

But there was Skip Bertman, microphone in hand, asking fans not to scoop up infield dirt or rip out seats and carry away the ballpark bit by bit. There was his wife, Sandy, adding something to the Alex Box Stadium countdown sign after Skip did some subtraction.

Skip peeled off a 1 to make the sign read the way we all knew it would on this day: 0 Games Remaining At The Box.

Sandy then covered the 0 with a sign that said: NCAA Still to come!

It had the NCAA logo on it, just not the NCAA seal of approval — yet.

Players, coaches and a majority of fans expect to be back at The Box for the start of a regional May 30. They appeared more motivated than ever Sunday evening.

Senior third baseman Michael Hollander is the only LSU player who knows what it’s like to play in a regional at Alex Box Stadium, and he’s never won one.

The only other person in uniform in clubhouse meetings who can tell the Tigers what it’s like is hitting coach Cliff Godwin, who was on the East Carolina team that played there in the 1999 regional as the No. 1 seed and lost to the Tigers.

Everyone else in an LSU uniform Sunday got their first taste of what The Box can be like in a regional-type atmosphere during this weekend series with Mississippi State.