College World Series 2017: Power ranking the field

7 of 8

Dec 22, 2016; Winston-Salem, NC, USA; A close up view of the logo on the LSU Tigers shorts during the game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Wake defeated LSU 110-76. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /

2. LSU Tigers

Out of the eight teams in this year’s College World Series, LSU has the most to brag about without winning the actual championship. Through the years, LSU has racked up the most wins in the College World Series (36), in addition to having the most hardware (six titles: 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2009).

Skip Bertman, ex-head baseball coach at LSU, should receive a lot of credit for the school’s success in the tournament, but he’s long gone. Since Bertman’s departure, they’ve started to huddle around Paul Maineri, LSU’s current head baseball coach. Within two years, Maineri earned his first national title over Texas in the 2009 College World Series.

Aside from coaching personnel, the energy of the 2017 LSU Tigers can be redirected to one ballplayer, Kramer Robertson. It would be the rallying cry from Robertson that provided a much-needed jolt of enthusiasm for LSU when they trailed in one of their games of the Super Regionals. Though Robertson is praised for his personality, it’s a small piece of the pie — he’s also inherently good at baseball.

With the help of three teammates, Robertson makes up LSU’s Fab Four, a term coined by a beat writer. Second baseman Cole Freeman, RF Greg Deichmann and P Alex Lange are the other three that make LSU a frightening team in this year’s field of eight. If there are teams that can extinguish the chemistry between the four, then one should depend on the loaded rosters of Oregon State, Florida and Louisville. There could, however, be a small speed bump in the road for LSU in Game 2, where Florida State awaits them.