CENTREVILLE — Former LSU pitcher Hunter Devall is back home in Clinton, La., finishing his degree in interdisciplinary studies.

The lefty hurler and former Centreville Academy Tiger got to stay in Baton Rogue a little longer than most of his fellow senior classmates.

Devall served as a member of LSU’s 2016 super regional run that ended with a defeat to Coastal Carolina one week ago. Devall said, however, the game was a climactic end to a season in which some outside of the LSU baseball program doubted the Tigers would come that close to a College World Series berth in Omaha, Neb.

“Honestly, this was an amazing season,” Devall said. “One of the greatest since I had been here due to the circumstances. The previous year we lost a lot of guys. Baseball, in general, had us written us out before the season started, due to the fact that we had so many young guys starting.”

Devall, who wrapped up his final campaign with a 3.12 ERA and opposing batting average of .235, said he and his teammates never doubted themselves despite a shaky start to LSU’s conference schedule.

The Tigers managed just one win in each of their opening series against Alabama and SEC Tournament champion Texas A&M. In hindsight, Devall said that start made the late-season surge more poignant.

“We weren’t clicking the way we needed to be and started the SEC (schedule) 2-5,” Devall said. “We expected to make a regional.”

LSU was 45-21 in its 2016 campaign, beating No. 1 Florida four of six times leading up to a top-eight hosting bid in regionals. The team that started the season with eight new position starters could finish the season in the upper half the nation’s top 25 programs.

“We became the hottest team in the SEC by far,” Devall said. “It was a great run to beat Florida, beat Tennessee and Mississippi State. (We) came back and beat Rice in some hard games in regionals, and in super regionals, we played our hearts out.”

For Devall, LSU baseball is the pinnacle for the south Louisiana native. Devall said he was first recruited by Division I schools as a freshman in high school. Devall transferred to Centreville before his junior season and won two state titles in 2011 and 2012.

Before the last state title, Devall said he had several college baseball options from large programs, but he was waiting on the one he had pined for almost his entire life.

“I was highly recruited in my freshman and sophomore year of high school, but not so much by LSU,” Devall said. “LSU told me they wanted me to come in and talk about an offer the weekend after Alabama and Ole Miss gave me an offer. I was confused and didn’t know if they wanted me.”

Devall didn’t hesitate to verbally commit to the program that is about a 45-minute drive south of his hometown. It wasn’t until Devall was on campus that he said he felt perhaps one of his greatest goals sink in.

“Throughout my high school career, I was just astonished. ‘Wow, I’m going to play baseball for LSU,’” Devall said. “LSU baseball is college baseball … Any kid growing up and playing baseball in Louisiana, Texas or Mississippi wants to go to LSU.”

Devall said some standout moments in his LSU career include his first outing at Alex Box Stadium. Devall closed out the game in one inning of a 14-3 win against Maryland, allowing one hit.

“I can’t even tell you who we played against, but I can tell you every pitch I threw from first to last,” Devall said. “Standing on the mound and seeing everybody (was unbelievable).”

Devall made the jog from the bullpen to the mound at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha twice, which he said is a memory he will gladly share with his children one day.

Most recently, Devall’s final outing was in a regional game against Rice. Devall pitched 0.2 innings with a strikeout in LSU’s 10-6 loss, before winning the regional the following game.

“The most memorable thing is just spending time with the guys at the field and all the unbelievable friendships I made,” Devall said. “I’ll keep up with those guys for the rest of my life.”

As for next season’s LSU squad, Devall said, “the sky is the limit.”

“In my opinion, they will be the best team to come through LSU in the past 10 to 15 years,” Devall said. “What a lot of fans don’t even realize is how good a lot of the guys sitting on the bench all year that didn’t play or they took a redshirt. But when they see those guys strap up and take the field, it’s going to be mind-blowing.”