LSU-Shreveport basketball player Greg Tyer’s playing experience at The Den this season was traumatized by the presence of Bobby Alvarez.

But Alvarez, a centerfielder and left-handed pitcher for the Wolfpack baseball team, wasn’t even in Loyola’s home uniform and Nikes – he was in jeans, a tank top and beach sandals on the sidelines.

That Jan. 25, Tyer was having himself a forgettable scoring game.

And Alvarez reminded him of that every trip down the floor. Whether by drumming The Den’s hardwood with his palm and inquiring of Tyer (within inches of his face) why he passed up an open shot; or how much he’d charge for the house he was building with all those shots he’d bricked, Alvarez had visibly intimidated Tyer, who began to force ill-advised plays to shut his heckler up, failing with each turnover and blocked shot.

Tyer finally connected on his only three-pointer of the game in the second half and stared Alvarez down as he hustled back to defend, smirking smugly and slowing his pace to make sure the Miami native noticed him.

An infuriated Alvarez detonated, requesting Tyer step off the court and resolve their differences downstairs in the Freret Street garage.

Imagine Tony Montana, as he’s absorbing a barrage of automatic gunfire, flinging, “You think you can take me? You need a f—— army if you gonna take me!” to Sosa’s assassins in the climactic shootout in “Scarface,” and you’ve envisioned the essence of Alvarez’s body language, message and inflection.

“He just seemed like a pretty boy. I wanted to make sure I kept him in check, stayed in his face and in the meantime, made the game more dramatic,” Alvarez said.

It’s a good thing opening day was a week later, and he was scheduled for his first start on the mound or Alvarez might’ve killed someone.

“That’s how Bobby is,” said assistant coach Brett Simpson, shaking his head and smiling. “He’s all over the place and likes to talk – maybe too much.”

‘HE’S A BEAST’

To the Wolfpack (16-30), Alvarez brings a wealth of speed and highlight reel fodder.

Said Simpson, “He can make really spectacular defensive plays and drag bunt or do what we call ‘buffer hit.’ Those all involve a lot of running or beating out balls thrown to first in the infield, and that’s all high energy stuff. He’s a threat to steal a base at anytime.”

It’s at centerfield where Alvarez, currently batting .252, exploits his signature speed.

By zooming after pop flies with free-wheeling speed, he’s usually in a position to snag outs from what should be doubles or triples for the opposition. If the opposing batter is lucky enough to drive a shot low enough, Alvarez fields balls speedily and limits batters to singles on what should mean extra base hits – as he did on a pair of occasions in the late innings of a 6-4 loss against Spring Hill on April 13 at Segnette Field.

His speed brings a dangerous dimension to his presence on base, too. Against Spring Hill, Alvarez slammed a double off the left center field wall and comfortably cruised to second base standing up on a hit that would have demanded other players to slide to be safe. Later on, in the bottom of the 8th and trailing 6-4, Alvarez took a walk and stole base on the next pitch.

“He’s just a beast,” said shortstop Andy Rodriguez, mass communication senior, who, on top of liking him because of what he brings to the diamond, considers Alvarez a close friend.

Simply put, “He’s one of the few going to my engagement party next month.”

Rodriguez also claims they share a supernatural connection. “It’s weird, we know what we’re going to do. He’s in the game and tells me where to position myself from center depending on where he is, and I do the same. We know what we’re going to do.

“Maybe it’s because we’re both from Miami.”

BIG LEAGUE BOBBY

Mass communication senior Bobby Alvarez, when speaking about baseball and the style he brings to it, does so with the flow and velocity of a Miami hurricane.

But when it came to the early morning hours of Feb. 13, when a tornado swirled about his neighbored, he exhaled, “That was the scariest night of my life,” and looked rarely subdued.

Alvarez remembers waking abruptly, hearing the house and windows quaking and dismissing it all as an odd dream.

And then the shrieks of housemate and teammate Bryan McCauley, A’05, sliced through his drowsiness.

“Get in the closet!” his teammate yelled as Alvarez, with nothing but shorts on his body and terrors in his mind that the walls would topple in on him, hopped out of bed and darted to the closet. With a pace probably faster than the one he steals bases with, he eluded the swirling hulk outside.

“It was over in 10 seconds,” Alvarez remembers. And in that time, the three windows on his Nissan Xterra had been blown out, his house’s roof had sustained damage and Alvarez had his closest brush with mortality.

“For the most part, nothing happened, thank God,” he said.

However, whatever subduing effect the tornado had on Alvarez was minimal. Outside the dugout, minutes after the Spring Hill game and narrating the tornado episode, he pondered which Major League catcher he’d most love to steal a base from.

“‘Pudge’ (Rodriguez)” of the Detroit Tigers, said Alvarez, rubbing his chin mindfully. And he could do it, too.

“If I got a good jump, that bag is mine, no doubt,” he concluded, Feb. 13 a memory distant in the rearview mirror.

He turned over to Simpson. “What you think, Brett? You think I could steal a base on ‘Pudge’?”

Simpson abruptly answered, “No.”

He paused, adding, “And even if you did, ‘Pudge’s’ a broken down old man.”

“You see?” Rodriguez said. “You gotta watch what Bobby says, sometimes.”

Ramon Antonio Vargas can be reached at [email protected].