LSU baseball holds one of the most eye-popping records in the sport, but this year’s Tennessee team could have a shot at breaking it.
In 1997, the Tigers set what many thought to be an untouchable home run record. The Skip Bertman led team hit 188 homers in one season and completely shattered the old record of 161 dingers set by BYU in 1988.
LSU averaged 2.69 home runs per game and was led by Brandon Larson who hit 40. Nine different Tigers hit the double-digit home run mark. The SEC’s all-time leader in homers Eddy Furniss was only third on the team with home runs that season.
But this year, Tennessee is sitting at 173 homers and is currently on pace to break the record in the next six games. They’re led by Christian Moore with 32 dingers and have eight players in double digits. If the Vols make a run in Omaha, they’ll have a shot of breaking the record.
Part of what made the record so special is that LSU used the massive numbers to claim a national title, it’s second in a row. The Tigers hit 10 of their record setting dingers in Omaha as they homered in all 70 games that season.
The Vols are behind LSU on a per game basis with 2.58 per game. If they break the record, they’ll likely need more games than the Tigers did in 1997, and if they don’t win the national championship, it probably still won’t have the same ring to it to most fans as the 188 that LSU hit.
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