LSU looks to new faces for return to Omaha
Published 7:00 pm Monday, January 29, 2018
<p class="p1">More often than not, even at an LSU, the baseball season ends in a loss.</p><p class="p1">But it’s different when that season-ending loss comes in the national championship series in Omaha — “this” close to winning the big prize.</p><p class="p1">That was a new one for the Tigers last year, who’d won their six previous chances in the final — and for head coach Paul Mainieri, who’d won his only other sniff of the national championship.</p><p class="p1">Their trip to the College World Series last June ended when they dropped back-to-back games to Florida with the title on the line.</p><p class="p1">And it was different.</p><p class="p1">“I’d like to tell you I’m over it,” Mainieri said. “But I don’t think I ever will be. To be so close and feel the games were winnable and not be able to finish it … it hurts.</p><p class="p1">“It’s a pretty distasteful feeling. It’s unlike any feeling I’ve had before in the previous 34 years of coaching.”</p><p class="p1">The Tigers began the task of putting it behind them and beginning yet another quest for Omaha when they opened practice for the upcoming season over the weekend.</p><p class="p1">This may be a little different, too.</p><p class="p1">Re-tooling a college baseball program is nothing new, and LSU’s goals -— getting to the mecca in Omaha — will never change.</p><p class="p1">But expectations, on the outside at least, may be downsized a bit. The Tigers are ranked in preseason anywhere from No. 9 to No. 17 in the various polls.</p><p class="p1">“I think there’s a wide range of what people might think about our team this year,” Mainieri said, “because of the newness of our team.”</p><p class="p1"> He noted that of the 32 players on this team, only 15 were on the roster that came so close last year.</p><p class="p1">Among the departures are the stellar double-play combination of Kramer Robertson and Cole Freeman, leading RBI man Greg Deichmann, and the “rock” of the team, catcher Michael Papierski.</p><p class="p1">Mainly, though, the entire weekend starting pitching trio has vanished, including first-round draft pick Alex Lange, the school’s all-time winningest pitcher in Jared Poché and freshman All-American Eric Walker, who will have to sit out this season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last summer.</p><p class="p1">Mainieri can only remember two seasons when that’s happened before.</p><p class="p1">The first was 2009, and LSU won its last national championship. </p><p class="p1">“So it can be done,” he said. “The other one I don’t want to speak so much of.”</p><p class="p1">That was 2011, the last time LSU missed the NCAA tournament all together.</p><p class="p1">This year?</p><p class="p1">“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Mainieri said.</p><p class="p1">Two proven pitchers will lead the way, although one will be in a totally different role.</p><p class="p1">Caleb Gilbert was one of the stars last year’s postseason, including 7.1 innings of two-hit, one-run work against top-ranked Oregon State in the game that put LSU in the CWS finals.</p><p class="p1">“You can’t pitch much better than that on the biggest stage,” Mainieri said. “But he was pitching excellent even up to that point.”</p><p class="p1">Zack Hess all but became a folk hero in Omaha with dominant fast-ball-centric performances as a closer out of the bullpen. To be a starter, however, Mainieri said he’ll have to pace himself differently to last into the late innings.</p><p class="p1">Mainieri said ideally he could keep Hess in the closer role.</p><p class="p1">“However, without having veteran starting pitchers, you have to take your best arm and try to get as many innings out of him to see if he can impact the games in that way.”</p><p class="p1">The third starter will likely be Todd Peterson, who had some promising outings last year before a shoulder injury shelved him.</p><p class="p1">Mainieri’s projected everyday starting lineup includes three former Barbe players — with junior college transfer catcher Hunter Feduccia joining twins Beau Jordan (who will DH) and Bryce Jordan (the All-SEC DH of two years ago who will play first base after missing last season with a knee injury).</p><p class="p1">None of it is written in stone as Mainieri has never been afraid to shake things up after fiddling with things all during the season.</p><p class="p1">“This is always the most exciting time of the year for me,” he said. “Every year the anxiety of not knowing what the new season holds keeps me young.”</p>
