LSU’s ‘Road Dogs’ look to play better against Tenn. in Supers than regular season

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Tennessee fans are making “Retire Mainieri” t-shirts, hoping their Vols can defuse the momentum Paul Mainieri and his Tigers have mounted since visiting Rocky Top back in March.

LSU fans didn’t see much of Tennessee in Hoover unless they stayed after the Tigers were eliminated in one game but Tony Vitello’s team that raised eyebrows sweeping the Tigers turned into a legit SEC East champ, edging Vandy to lock down a No. 3 national seed.

And the Vols showed nerves of steel under pressure, avoiding an unthinkable upset against Wright State with a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning, reminiscent of two walk-offs they had against the Tigers.

LSU superfan Chris Guillot said he’s hearing there will be lots of purple and gold support for the Tigers in Knoxville looking for tickets but the school allotment is just 600 for Lyndsey Nelson Stadium, which holds about 5,000.

“They refer to themselves as the ‘Road Dogs’ and they huddle up and start barking like dogs and stuff,” said Mainieri. “It’s kinda cute. They’re taking a lot of pride in it. I told them I’ve had a lot of really great teams at LSU that didn’t play as well as these guys on the road. And I wish I could explain why.”

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Guillot is also urging fans to be at Alex Box Stadium at 2:15 p.m. Thursday to send the Tigers off the right way.

Game one is Saturday at 6 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN2 or ESPNU.

Game two is Sunday at 11 a.m. or 2 p.m., with the if-necessary game on Monday.

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