By hosting NCAA regional again, LSU baseball snapped a drought not seen since the 1980s

Back in late March, thousands of fans crammed into Alex Box Stadium. They filled every seat and formed multiple rows along the concourse, watching LSU host Tennessee in the first game of a weekend series. It was the largest crowd in stadium history — 13,068 — and sparked a venue attendance record for a three-game set.

Second baseman Gavin Dugas had not seen a turnout like that since the beginning of his career. Dugas, a fifth-year graduate student, knew what Alex Box Stadium looked like at its best from the postseason his freshman year. Nothing else, until those games against Tennessee, resembled the same kind of raucous atmosphere.

“I think that’s the closest we have been,” Dugas said. “It’s not going to match what’s going to happen this weekend.”

That’s because LSU is hosting an NCAA regional for the first time since 2019. The Tigers had not played home postseason games since then because of the coronavirus pandemic and two mediocre years that sent them on the road. The three-year drought was the longest in team history since 1987-89, the final seasons before the program turned into a national power.

“It’s been too long,” former pitcher Chad Ogea said.

Beginning with the 1990 season, LSU hosted regionals for 16 straight years, a run that included five national championships. The Tigers still usually hosted after the streak ended, including six consecutive years from 2012-17. Only twice — 2006-07 and 2010-11 — did multiple seasons pass without a home regional.

But the 2020 season was canceled by the coronavirus pandemic, and the last two resulted in road tournament games. The recent dry spell means Dugas and fellow fifth-year graduate student Cade Beloso are the only current players who experienced the postseason inside Alex Box Stadium before this weekend, which starts with No. 5 national seed LSU against Tulane.

“That’s the best way to make it to Omaha, so it was obviously one of our goals to play the postseason at home,” junior Tre’ Morgan said as he began to chuckle. “But I’ve never done it.”

With so much success over the last three decades, LSU and its fans annually expect to host postseason games and reach the College World Series. The last five seasons — an eternity for the program — generally ended short of those goals.

Since 2017, LSU had been a host site once until this year. It has not returned to the CWS.

“It was a standard that LSU was going to host a regional,” said Ogea, who pitched from 1989-91. “It was kind of a given.”

Former pitcher Zack Hess said changes within college baseball made it more difficult to win the way LSU once did, a point former coaches Skip Bertman and Paul Mainieri have reiterated multiple times. More schools invested in the sport. Mid-major teams now have more success. And eligibility extensions from the coronavirus pandemic in some ways created more competitive balance in recent seasons.

“I don’t think that’s much of a testament to LSU,” Hess said of the drought. “I think it’s more of a testament to the actual game of college baseball. It has grown so much, and it’s become more competitive top to bottom, which is great for the sport.”

During their careers, Hess and Ogea both played road regional games. LSU traveled to Texas A&M during Ogea’s freshman year in 1989 and beat the Aggies in the 11th inning of the deciding game. Hess had to pitch at Oregon State in 2018, a down year in which LSU didn’t advance.

Playing at home, they said, created a clear advantage. Host teams understand their ballpark better, and the pro-LSU crowd noise has the potential to rattle opponents or shift momentum. LSU expects to sell out the games this weekend with standing room-only tickets on-sale Thursday morning to the public.

“Other teams are going to have to adapt to that, and The Box is obviously no easy place to play,” Hess said. “Our fans do a great job of bringing the energy and showcasing the environment that is Alex Box. I think it’s going to be an advantage for them.”

This has been one of LSU’s goals all spring, and now the team doesn’t have to travel. It can practice in its own facilities. Sleep in its own beds. Use its own lockers. And if the Tigers advance to the NCAA super regionals next weekend, they will play at home.

“It’s awesome to be able to play in front of our fans all the way to Omaha,” Dugas said. “That’s the plan.”