LSU Athletic Director, Joe Alleva, just pulled a Rachel Phelps on his own baseball team.

You remember Rachel Phelps.  She was the long-legged, much hated vixen and owner of the Cleveland Indians in the 1989 sports film classic, Major League. In the movie, Phelps refused to fix the whirlpools, turned off the hot water, and yes, she took away their luxury jet. She replaced it first with a smaller, much more economical plane before finally putting them in a bus to ride from city to city.

Alleva just pulled the same trick on the Tigers following a three game series against the Razorbacks in Fayetteville. The Hogs swept the Tigers to pull within one game of the division-leading Alabama Crimson Tide, while LSU fell to the cellar of the SEC Western Division. The Tigers pulled into the hangar at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) inside the roomy comforts of a Boeing 737. After dropping three straight to the Hogs, Alleva saved the expenses, opting for the smaller and much cheaper CRJ 200 model for the flight home.

One source inside XNA said that LSU dropped nearly $150,000 to pay for the chartered ride into Fayetteville from Baton Rouge. Following the embarrassing weekend for the Tigers, the source said LSU chose “the less than economy class way to fly” for their trip home.  And embarrassing it was. The Tigers managed to score only seven runs the entire weekend and were shutout on Friday.

In fact, the bat boys, press, and other personnel couldn’t fit on the smaller, 50 seat plane and were told they would have to drive the trip from Northwest Arkansas to Baton Rouge- a more than 10 hour trip on wheels. The source inside XNA said he and others had no verifiable information as for why the Tigers were forced to take the trip back home in a plane roughly 1/3 the size of the 737 they flew in on, but there was plenty of speculation. LSU spokespersons were not immediately available for comment.

As a result of the sweep this past weekend for LSU, they are in serious danger of not qualifying for the SEC tournament. The Tigers are only 3-9 in conference play, and the road doesn’t get any easier for LSU. They play host to Auburn who has won five straight. Following that SEC series, LSU will travel to Vanderbilt. The Commodores have won their last 10 and are currently the top ranked team in the nation.

LSU is in not yet in danger of missing the NCAA tournament, but they could find themselves not hosting a regional if they don’t climb off the bottom of the SEC West standings. Hosting a regional could be very important for the Tigers who have not played well on the road this season. They have played all but six games this year inside the state of Louisiana. When playing out of state, the Tigers are just 1-5. LSU is 20-6 when playing inside the Pelican State.

So to quote Jake Taylor from Major League for LSU, I guess there’s only thing left to do.

Play better on the road. Otherwise, you’re likely to find yourself riding a rickety bus from now on.