{{tncms-inline alignment=”left” content=”<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>Nicholls State </strong></span><strong>at LSU, </strong><strong>6:30 p.m. </strong></p>” id=”2dcea13e-7c1a-4b74-a031-1b548b4d3292″ style-type=”fact” title=”TONIGHT” type=”relcontent”}}

As futile as it sometimes looked even in victory, LSU coach Paul Mainieri isn’t ready to give up on the fundamental sacrifice bunt.

There were four times in Saturday’s series-clinching 4-0 victory over Mississippi State when Mainieri signalled for a bunt — all ended in varying degrees of mayhem, none advancing a runner.

“We’ll get better at it,” Mainieri said after the game. “Every aspect of the game is tough. This is just one of them. But we didn’t execute the fundamentals of the game.” 

{{tncms-inline content=”<p class="p1"><strong>‘We’ve got to be able to move base runners over and get them around. It’s fundamentals.’</strong> </p> <p class="p3"><strong>Paul Mainieri<br /> </strong>LSU head coach</p>” id=”c2b6f9c8-9723-4798-94ac-5820005db2d3″ style-type=”quote” title=”Pull Quote” type=”relcontent”}}

For all the small-ball efforts that LSU used in trying to pad the 1-0 lead that the Tigers nursed for six innings, it took two big swings —a two-run homer by Daniel Cabrera and a solo shot by Zach Watson — to finally get some breathing room.

But those two bombs gave LSU just 22 home runs for the year — which ranks 11th in the SEC — so Mainieri knows he can’t count on that every game.

LSU just isn’t that kind of team this year.

“We’ve got to be able to move base runners over and get them around,” Mainieri said. “It’s fundamentals.”

LSU (18-11, 5-4 SEC) will get to work on it some more when the Tigers host Nicholls State today at 6:30 p.m. Freshman righthander AJ Labas (2-1, 2.95) will get the start. The Tigers then travel to Texas A&M for their next SEC series which begins Thursday.

The Tigers will enter the Texas A&M series tied for second place in the SEC West, just one game behind leader Ole Miss.

Maybe they can hone up on their bunting skills by then.

It could have cost them Saturday, although it turned out that freshman Ma’Khail Hilliard only needed one run while earning SEC co-freshman of the week honors for his six innings of shut out work while allowing only three hits.

Hilliard, who leads the SEC with six victories and an 0.76 ERA, had everything going for him but breathing room.

It was the little things.

Twice Saturday the Tigers popped out trying to bunt, another ended in a weak strike out after two fouled bunt attempts got the count to 0-2 and another bunting situation was sabotaged by a base running gaffe.

Austin Bain, whose no-out double had scored Nick Webre for the first run, was picked off second when Cabrera pulled back on a bunt attempt, short-circuiting the making of a bigger inning.

 That was the only one of the four scenarios Mainieri second-guessed himself on for putting the bunt.

“All three were the right thing to do,” Mainieri said. “I thought we needed one more run (leading), we needed to get the runner to third base where he could come home on a fly ball. We just didn’t execute.”

 Bain, he pointed out, spent his first three years at LSU strictly as a pitcher. His current dual role as a valuable bat and glove who can come in to close games on the mound has been one of the surprises of the season.

“I shouldn’t have put that on,” Mainieri said. “That was dumb on my part. Bain hasn’t’ been running the bases for three years. I played this game and I know what it’s like to have that lead off second and the guy is sacrificing. He pulls back at the last second, you’re trying to get a good jump …

“I put him in a difficult situation. That’s a tough read and he hasn’t done it for three years. Can’t blame the kid, really. It was my fault, it was a dumb move by me.”

Mainieri didn’t seem concerned that Beau Jordan popped up his bunt attempt foul.

Jordan is from the famed Barbe school of bunting and, as Mainieri said, “Beau is a typically a good bunter.”

Jordan also leads LSU with five home runs.

Light-hitting shortstop Hal Hughes is another matter.

He failed twice Saturday, once fouling off two bunt attempts before striking out and, later, with runners on the corners, popping out a bunt attempt to first base.

“That’s got to be a part of Hal’s game,” Mainieri said. “He’s obviously not the best hitter on our team. He reminds me a lot of me as a player. But you have to be able to advance runners. He’s got to go in those batting cages and bunt 1,000 balls. Those are plays he’s got to get the ball down us.”

‘We’ve got to be able to move base runners over and get them around. It’s fundamentals.’ 

Paul Mainieri

LSU head coach

Nicholls State at LSU, 6:30 p.m. 

26a95524-b5d0-11e8-8dbb-9b3093f8f84a2018-09-11T14:37:04ZAmerican Press _ Sunday, September 11, 2011 _ A5.pdf