After Mississippi State senior pitcher Kendall Graveman’s pitch went behind Mason Katz’ head last season, LSU coach Paul Mainieri knew the Bulldogs were frustrated.
Katz had cranked three home runs in the Tigers’ two wins that Friday and Saturday in Starkville, leading Graveman to send the purpose pitch on the first throw of the second inning.
“I mean, we beat them every year and they get tired of getting beat by us,” Mainieri told Nola.com | The Times-Picayune after the game. “There’s no place in college baseball for doing that.”
The often chipper, serene skipper wasn’t done there.
“I just can’t respect people who do things like that,” Mainieri added that day. “It’s just not how the game is supposed to be played.”
Graveman’s gone. Katz is gone. And when the defending College World Series runner-up Bulldogs (20-10, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) begin a three-game set in Baton Rouge tonight, the feelings of animosity stemming from the incident will have departed too.
Instead, Mainieri and the Tigers (21-8-1, 3-5-1 SEC) anticipate a clean rekindling of an SEC rivalry dating back to the days of legendary managers Skip Bertman and Ron Polk.
“That was an isolated incident,” Mainieri said Thursday. “[Mississippi State coach] John [Cohen] and I talked over the summer, and I really believe it’s behind us. We don’t have hard feelings about it.”
Mainieri originally told reporters Thursday he would start freshman southpaw Jared Poché to give Aaron Nola a full six days rest. 
But the weather forecast forced Mainieri to change plans, telling The Daily Reveille that he will start Nola on Friday night because of expected rain Saturday. 
Opposing Nola is crafty redshirt junior Ross Mitchell, who Cohen relied on last season out of the bullpen early in games, but uses his funky offspeed style against righties to find success.
Both teams are unsure of a Sunday starter.
With the tensions toned down from last season’s debacle, LSU senior designated hitter Sean McMullen said the Tigers’ focus is breaking out of their SEC doldrums and ascending the Western Division standings.
McMullen asserted the series wasn’t circled before the season and there’s no added pressure on the team, even though Mainieri has not lost a series to the Bulldogs in his seven previous seasons.
“This is a new team, and we’re playing like we’re a new team,” McMullen said. “I’m treating it as another SEC series. I don’t have any bad blood           toward them.”