7:20 p.m. -- Sweet, sweet sweep

LSU defeated Mississippi State 9-6, and now these Tigers have a 12-game winning streak.

Considering that came on the heels of a one-run loss to Georgia and a tie the next day, LSU is a couple of breaks away from what would be a 14-game winning streak.

LSU might need to win every game to make sure Alex Box Stadium gets a regional. The three teams below LSU in the SEC West standings -- Alabama, Ole Miss and Arkansas -- all won today. Paul Mainieri's team stayed in first place with three league games remaining, and winning the West would be the best way to make it hard for the NCAA to send LSU on the road for a regional.

After a Tuesday game against UNO in Metairie, LSU will play a three-game series at Auburn beginning Thursday. If LSU wins the West, it will be the No. 2 seed for the SEC tournament.

You'll find the standings below. Here is a link to LSU's report from the game, and there you will find the link to a video of the postgame ceremony.

It was quite a day at The Box. Players presented roses to their moms on Mother's Day. Bobby Box, a nephew of the late Alex Box, attended with his son, Brandon. People stood in long lines for tickets or a chance to get inside, and once they were through the gates they took photos of everything: plaques, signs, people, flags, the Intimidator and everything else you can imagine.

Mississippi State coach Ron Polk shook hands with the LSU players an hour before the game and told them The Box is a special place with a lot of history. Then he told them to go make some new history in the new stadium beginning next season.

The Tigers aren't waiting for that. They're on a streak that has everyone digging through the record books. The back-to-back-to-back SEC sweeps are the first for LSU since 1991.

Buddy LeBlanc, who swore us to secrecy last week, threw out the first ball. He saw the first game at Alex Box Stadium in 1938 (five years before it got its current name), and today he was at the last scheduled game there. He kissed the ground in the infield before throwing a pretty good pitch across home plate.

LSU announced the pitchers on the All-Alex Box "Omaha Era" Team: Ben McDonald, Paul Byrd, Chad Ogea, Kurt Ainsworth, Lloyd Peever, Mike Sirotka, Eddie Yarnall, Russ Springer, Rick Greene, Brett Laxton, Scott Schultz, Lane Mestepey, Patrick Coogan and Doug Thompson.

LSU sold a record number of tickets for a home game -- 8,701 -- but the season-high crowd of 6,556 didn't break the Alex Box Stadium record of 7,607 set in the 2004 super regional against Texas A&M. The crowd today was the largest at The Box since 6,631 saw Rice defeat LSU 9-7 in a second-round game in the 2005 regional, the most recent regional at the ballpark.

Will there be one more regional at The Box? If the Tigers keep winning, I don't know how the NCAA could decide otherwise.

The SEC standings:

EASTERN DIVISION
Georgia 19-7-1 (.722)
Vanderbilt 15-11 (.577)
Kentucky 14-13 (.519)
Florida 14-13 (.519)
South Carolina 13-14 (.481)
Tennessee 11-16 (.407)

WESTERN DIVISION
LSU 15-11-1 (.574)
Alabama 14-13 (.519)
Ole Miss 14-13 (.519)
Arkansas 13-13 (.500)
Auburn 11-16 (.407)
Mississippi State 7-20 (.259)

TODAY'S SCORES
LSU 9, Mississippi State 6
Alabama 8, Florida 7
Arkansas 4, South Carolina 2
Ole Miss 5, Auburn 2
Georgia 12, Vanderbilt 10
Kentucky 20, Tennessee 5

THE FINAL SEC SERIES
Alabama at Georgia
Arkansas at Mississippi State
LSU at Auburn
Vanderbilt at Florida
Ole Miss at Kentucky
Tennessee at South Carolina

Games are Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The SEC tournament starts the following Wednesday.

Got a comment or question for Carl? E-mail him at cdubois@theadvocate.com.