Third base coach Nolan Cain, left, pictured with Beau Jordan, a Barbe High School graduate, was a relief pitcher for LSU in 2009 when the team beat Texas two of three in the College World Series to win the national title. (Photo courtesy of LSU)

To have such a veteran squad on a team heading to Omaha for the second time in three years, LSU actually doesn’t have much real experience in the College World Series.

Many know the routine, the lay of the land. Few have actually been in heat of battle.

Pitching veterans Alex Lange and Jared Poché are no strangers to the mound at TD Ameritrade Park. But not one of LSU’s everyday players was a starter two years ago.

Junior DH Beau Jordan, then a freshman, was one of the few who got an at-bat. Team leader Kramer Robertson was on the team but didn’t even make the travel roster to Omaha as a sophomore.  

But if they look toward the dugout, it’s not only a veritable glut of CWS experience, but of winning — and winning big — in Omaha. 

And three assistant coaches have the championship rings to prove it.

Third base coach Nolan Cain is also the recruiting coordinator.

Volunteer coach Micah Gibbs was pressed into duty as full-time hitting coach in November when Andy Cannizaro left to take the head job at Mississippi State.

First base coach Sean Ochinko is in his first year on the staff.

All three were key members of the Tigers’ last CWS title when LSU beat Texas in the championship round.

“They have one thing these guys don’t have,” head coach Paul Mainieri said. “That’s a national championship ring. They know what it takes.”

Mainieri’s coordinator of baseball operations is Nate Furry, another former Tiger, although of more recent vintage.

The only assistant with no purple and gold blood is 55-year-old pitching coach Alan Dunn.

“I don’t need to say anything on him,” Mainieri said. “Best pitching coach in America.”

But the LSU coach couldn’t be happier with his younger staff.

“Everybody thought I was surrounding myself with ‘Yes Men,’ you know my boys who would never disagree with me,” Mainieri said. “They haven’t done whatever, OK? These players will tell you how qualified they are, how hard they work with them, how much they’ve contributed.”

They can also point the way.

Cain was a relief pitcher on the ’09 team that beat Texas two of three in the championship series for the school’s sixth national title.

He threw 3 1/3 innings of shutout relief in Game 2 of the series with four strike outs. He spent the rest of that summer in the Detroit Tigers’ minor league system before returning to LSU, first as a volunteer coach.

Mainieri has often mentioned that he and Cain just seem to be on the same page for the crucial decisions made as third base coach, mainly on when to game sending base runners to the plate.

Robertson gave Cannizaro a lot of credit for turning his career around last year, and they were close. But he became a huge fan of Gibbs’ when Cannizaro left for Mississippi State.

LSU’s offensive numbers have been virtually the same as a year ago under Cannizaro.

Gibbs, a second-team All-American, was the starting catcher on that last championship team, also played for Team USA a year later, and spent six seasons in the minor league systems of the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers and Kansas City Royals.

Ochinko coaches first base, just a couple of steps from the position he held down during the magical 2009 run.

He was one of the true stars, too. In the clinching third game in the CWS finals against Texas, he was 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs. He played six years in the minors, where he rose the AAA level with the Toronto Blue Jays.

“These guys know what it takes,” Mainieri said. “And they’re young enough to relate to these kids.

“I think they’ve all done a tremendous job, had a tremendous impact on our ball club.”