Tigers familiar with regional opponents

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 27, 2008 - UPDATED: 6:18 a.m.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Two of the three visiting teams headed to Baton Rouge this week for NCAA regional play are familiar with the host team and what it will take to cool off red-hot LSU.

The third team knows its way around Baton Rouge as well on the heels of an unexpected surge through the SWAC tournament last week.

Southern Mississippi and New Orleans are no strangers to the Tigers or Alex Box Stadium, which will host NCAA games at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The second-seeded Golden Eagles (40-20) and third-seeded Privateers (42-19) square off at 6 p.m. Friday.

Texas Southern gets the first crack at ending LSU’s single-season school record 20-game winning streak. TSU (16-32) brings its own share of momentum after rolling to four victories to win the SWAC tournament, finishing it off with a 12-11 triumph over Prairie View A&M on May 19.

LSU and Texas Southern meet at 1 p.m. Friday.

TSU is located in downtown Houston and there was some thought that the NCAA would send the SWAC champion to a regional at nearby Rice. Instead, Texas Southern will bus back to Baton Rouge for the second time this month and third time this season.

“It’s a shock,” veteran TSU coach Candy Robinson told the Houston Chronicle. “We wanted to be at Rice, but we’ll start working on the next phase of our season. It doesn’t matter where we play, we just have to show up.”

Texas Southern enters the 2008 tournament with the worst record of any team since the current format was implemented in 1999.

Eleven of TSU’s wins came against SWAC foes — two vs. Southern. Texas Southern also won its last two games of the regular season against Arkansas-Pine Bluff before knocking off SWAC East Division champion Jackson State twice, Mississippi Valley State once and Prairie View in the title game.

LSU got some help from Texas Southern in its last run to the College World Series in 2004.

Making its first NCAA appearance that season, TSU upset defending national champion Rice 4-3 in the first round. Rice survived the losers bracket and forced a second championship game but then fell to Texas A&M 7-5.

Instead of LSU having to travel to Houston for a super regional to take on the Owls, who had three of the top eight draft picks that season, LSU hosted A&M and beat the Aggies in two games.