Mahtook surprised by tournament MVP honor

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 25, 2009

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HOOVER, Ala. — For the first time all week, LSU center fielder Mikie Mahtook wasn’t sure what to do.

The All-Southeastern Conference tournament team had been announced to the remaining crowd at Regions Park, and Mahtook landed a well-deserved spot.

It so happened he was the final player whose name was called to go and accept a crystal trophy from SEC Commissioner Mike Slive.

Before Mahtook could get back to his gaggle of teammates — most whom were razzing the gregarious freshman a little — he was also declared the tourney MVP. He stopped, his eyes wide, and started back toward Slive, who waved him back to his team.

Mahtook already had the bigger trophy designating him as the MVP.

“I wasn’t sure I heard right, and then I looked down and it said MVP,” Mahtook said. “It’s really an honor. I had no idea I was in the running. I grew up watching a lot of these guys play in tournaments like this. I came here last year and saw Blake Dean win this.

“It’s a dream come true. I couldn’t have dreamed it any better than this.”

Mahtook claimed MVP honors because he was the toughest hitter in the tournament to get out. He collected 10 hits in 22 at-bats (.455), stole a base, scored twice and drove in three runs.

Blake Dean, the Tigers designated hitter, and LSU shortstop Austin Nola were also voted to the team and sophomore Daniel Bradshaw was one of two pitchers named after he notched the only shutout of the five-day event.

Been there, done that

By winning five games in four days, top-seeded LSU (46-16) became the second team in three years to come back form the losers bracket and win the tournament championship.

Vanderbilt, the team the Tigers knocked off for the crown, turned the same trick in 2007.

“It mirrors what we did in 2007,” Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. “We had the same path. It’s just tough, but if you have tough kids and you have kids that will take the ball, they you can get through it.”

Corbin said the Tigers’ impressive SEC tournament quest is another signal of their status as a national championship contender this season.

“That’s an Omaha team in that dugout, no question,” he said. “They have top pitching, they have hitting 1-through-9 and they have two guys who could start for any team in this league. I just think that they know how to win.”

Championship fact sheet

-- LSU has now won an SEC-best eight tournament championships, including the last two. The Tigers titles: 1986, 1990 (declared co-champion), 1992, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2008 and 2009.

-- Beating Vanderbilt Sunday makes LSU the first team to win back-to-back tourney titles since Alabama did so in 2002-03. Under the current format, the Tigers and Crimson Tide are the only repeat champs. Those two, Florida and Tennessee are the only programs with consecutive titles.

-- The Commodores were the second No. 8 seed in a row to get to the final, joining Ole Miss from last year. A No. 8 seed has never won the tournament.

-- LSU bounced back from a first-round loss to win the tournament for the first time in three tries. The Tigers got to the championship game under the same circumstances in 1987 and 1995 but lost each time.

-- The Tigers are 9-1 in SEC tournament play under third-year coach Paul Mainieri the last two years after going 1-6 in three appearances from 2004-06.

-- The five wins in a row this week represent LSU’s longest winning streak against SEC foes this season.

Quotable

“We’ve crossed a bridge from runny-nosed kids to a bunch of veterans who knows what it takes. That’s how you develop a program where the torch is being passed constantly.”

Mainieri on his team’s evolution from the start of the season

Around the horn

Tigers catcher Micah Gibbs extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a double in the fourth inning. Gibbs had one hit in each tournament game (6-for-20) and has matched DJ LeMahieu for the team’s longest hitting streak this season. … The Tigers upped their record to 41-0 this season when they lead after six innings. … LSU’s pitching staff gave up only five runs in the last four wins, covering 32 innings. The Tigers’ bullpen did not allow a run in its last 51/3 innings — two Sunday, two Saturday in the second game vs. Georgia and one against vs. South Carolina.