Paul Mainieri never really stops tinkering with his team, but the LSU baseball coach seemed to be in frantic readjustment mode over the final weekend before the Tigers open SEC play Friday against Missouri.
The Tigers (11-6), who had split two midweek games last week, recovered from a 4-2 Friday night loss to Hawaii to claim the weekend series with a 5-1 victory on Saturday and a 14-1 rout on Sunday.
The lineup looked a lot different at the end of the week than when it started and Mainieri has a strong candidate to start Sundays on the mound with freshman righthander Ma’Khail Hilliard.
In the field, senior Chris Reid took over at third base for the weekend in place of Jake Slaughter, even though Slaughter seemed to be coming out of his early slump.
And Mainieri seems intent on getting Austin Bain’s bat in the lineup in the innings before using his arm in the relief closer’s role.
After the pitching disaster that was the season-opening series against Notre Dame, the Tigers continued to make strides.
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LSU gave up 27 runs in those first three games, but since then the ERA has been a respectable 3.01 — 2.31 over the last 10 games. Hawaii scored just six runs in the three games.
Most notable was Hilliard, who made his first career start Sunday and threw 5.1 shut out innings to extend his streak of scoreless innings for the season to 17.1.
Mainieri stopped short of handing Hilliard the Sunday job, but said, “I would think there’s a good possibility of that.”
Mainieri had hoped to use Sunday for the debut of highly touted 6-foot-6 freshman Nick Storz for a inning or two before turning the game over to Hilliard.
But Storz, who’s recovering from bone spurs in the fall, was held back after a Saturday throwing session.
Mainieri doesn’t think the setback is serious, but did not want to pitch Storz until he’s 100 percent.
The Tigers also got encouraging relief appearances from John Kodros, who made his first college appearance, and Cam Sanders, who had a couple of rough midweek starts before preserving Hilliard’s scoreless streak when he took over with one out and a runner on a third and got out of the inning unscathed.
Another freshman, AJ Labas, who’s had predetermined brief appearances in two starts, will get the ball Wednesday night at home against South Alabama, the Tigers’ only midweek game before the Missouri weekend series.
It’s likely Reid, who has been a fill-in at several positions and a key pinch hitter, will be starting again at third base after going 4-for-8 with two RBI, two runs and two walks over the last weekend.
“He played exactly the way I thought he would, which is just Steady Eddie.” Mainieri said. “I thought he made us a better team this weekend.”
Mainieri joked that the slow-footed Reid “can’t run from here to there in a day and doesn’t have any power.” But he added, “He puts the bat on the ball as good as anybody we have on the team.”
Bain, who has spent some time in DH while awaiting his closer call to the mound, played the last two Hawaii games at first base — the first time in his life he’s played the position — and also responded well.
Batting in the cleanup spot, the senior was 6-for-13 in four games for the week with two doubles, five RBI and four runs.
LSU’s leading hitter for the Hawaii series was former Barbe High catcher Hunter Feduccia, who went 4-for-8 with two doubles, one homer, six RBI and three runs scored.
The 3-2 week didn’t affect LSU in the major polls much.
The Tigers move up to No. 20 (from No. 22) in D1 Baseball, but fell to No. 17 (from No. 16) in Baseball America, to No. 16 (14) in Perfect Game and No. 16 (13) in Collegiate Baseball.
The lineup looked a lot different at the end of the week than when it started and Mainieri has a strong candidate to start Sundays on the mound with freshman right-hander Ma’Khail Hilliard.
