Vols’ run at ‘unbreakable’ HR mark impresses Bertman, whose teams were faces of 1990s ‘gorilla ball’
FILE - Louisiana State baseball coach Skip Bertman addresses the state House of Representatives at the Capitol in Baton Rogue, La., June 21, 2000. Bertman's 1997 Tigers slugged 188 home runs in 70 games on their way to the second of two straight national championships and were the inspiration for the phrase "gorilla ball,” the descriptor for the style of offense in an era when bats were juiced and balls flew out of ballparks at unprecedented rates. (AP Photo/Bill Haber, file)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/BILL HABER]
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Retired LSU baseball coach Skip Bertman is impressed by Tennessee’s bid to break the 1997 Tigers’ NCAA record of 188 home runs in a season. The Volunteers will enter the College World Series finals with 178. They would need to average almost four per game to break the record and that would be if the best-of-three finals went the distance. Bertman’s teams put up prodigious home run numbers with juiced-up bats and inspired the phrase ‘gorilla ball’ for the style of offense in that era. Bertman says Texas A&M’s pitching could be good enough to hold down the Vols.
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FILE - Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello coaches against Stanford in a baseball game at the NCAA College World Series in Omaha, Neb., on June 19, 2023. Skip Bertman's 1997 Tigers slugged 188 home runs in 70 games on their way to the second of two straight national championships and were the inspiration for the phrase "gorilla ball,” the descriptor for the style of offense in an era when bats were juiced and balls flew out of ballparks at unprecedented rates. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz, File)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Rebecca S. Gratz