LSU loses shortstop Smith

Published 7:00 pm Wednesday, February 21, 2018

It wasn’t the kind of news LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri needed to hear.

But he revealed Tuesday that starting shortstop Josh Smith will miss at least the next month with a “stress reaction” in his vertebrae.

Smith, who hit the three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning Friday that gave the Tigers their lone victory of last weekend’s three-game series against Notre Dame moved to shortstop after starting all of last season at third base.

“Nobody knows how it happened,” Mainieri said. “His back had just been bothering him for a few days. He played through it all weekend, but you could tell he was kind of a step slow out there at shortstop.”

Smith will not be able to participate in any baseball work for at least four weeks, Mainieri said.

His place will be taken by freshman Hal Hughes, although Mainieri said he was not certain who will bat leadoff.

The Tigers (1-2) host New Orleans (2-1) tonight before a three-game weekend home series against Texas (2-1).