Culture

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/SPORTS/805180313/1001 BATON ROUGE -- On signing day 2008 when LSU finished with the No. 11 class in the nation, according to both Rivals.com and ESPN.com, LSU coach Les Miles said the best time to get a No. 1 class or close to it is the year after winning the national championship - not the month. "I don't know that winning the (2007) national championship got us in on anybody specifically on the back end," Miles said. "I'm told, and as I look at it, I agree, that after you have identified the national champion from last year, the recruitment then of next year, there's a real advantage to being the defending national champions. And I think that's something that we'll look forward to as we go into the next recruiting season." It's happening. LSU's class of 2009 is off to a national championship start with 11 commitments, including six ranked in the Rivals.com top 202. Four of those are from out of state. Shreveporttimes.com 5/18/08

http://www.olemisssports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=13045&SPID=748&DB_OEM_ID=2600&ATCLID=1471582 LEXINGTON, Ky. – It took a little over four hours and 11 innings, but in the end the Rebels got it done with clutch performances at the plate as Ole Miss (34-22, 15-15 SEC) clinched an SEC Tournament berth with a 7-5 win over No. 20 Kentucky (41-15, 16-14 SEC) on Sunday. The tourney's eighth seed, Ole Miss will face top-seeded Georgia Wednesday at 5 p.m. CT at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala. Tied at five in the 11th, the Rebels opened the inning with back-to-back singles from Brett Basham and Jordan Henry before an intentional walk of Logan Power with one out loaded the bases. Cody Overbeck then pushed across the go ahead run as he was hit by a pitch before Matt Smith drew a two-out, bases loaded walk to push a second run across and give the Rebels the 7-5 win. OleMissSports.com 5/18/08

http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/19053944.html Carl Dubois Advocate Sportswriter AUBURN, Ala. — Paul Mainieri put five role players in the starting lineup for the regular-season finale Saturday, and the hottest team in the country just kept rolling along. The Southeastern Conference Western Division champion LSU Tigers defeated the Auburn Tigers 11-7, rallying from a 7-5 seventh-inning deficit to complete a school-record fourth consecutive three-game conference sweep. LSU (39-16-1) will take its 16-game winning streak upstate to Regions Park in Hoover, where it will open the SEC tournament as the No. 2 seed at 10 a.m. Wednesday vs. No. 7 seed South Carolina. The Advocate Online 5/18/08