Few players need motivation to leg out a blooper and turn a single into a double, but a pair of LSU players added a little incentive to encourage taking that second base.
Junior right fielder Raph Rhymes and junior first baseman Mason Katz crafted a bet to see who could hit more doubles by the season’s end. It started last year as a competition between Katz and former outfielder Mikie Mahtook, but as the season dragged on, the race eventually formed around Katz and Rhymes.
“That’s a fun thing we try to get going,” Katz said. “Last year, it started with me and Mikie competing for a race and then he started hitting homers, and I was able to run away with the doubles until Raph started coming along.”
Katz won handedly in 2011, hitting 21 doubles and beating Rhymes by a three-double margin. Rhymes still doesn’t enjoy talking about Katz’s victory.
“I was pretty upset because he got a whole year to talk about it,” Rhymes said. “This year, I haven’t been on top of my game. I got to catch up. I can’t let him beat me two years in a row.”
Katz took the early lead in 2011, hitting his first double in the fourth game of the season against McNeese State on Feb. 22. Katz continued to build his advantage during a streak of 17 consecutive plate appearances in which he reached base. By the end of the streak, Katz had seven doubles compared to Rhymes’ three.
Rhymes’ deficit in the doubles race isn’t a mark on his productivity, but more a result of where he’s hitting the ball. Of Rhymes’ 38 hits this season, 32 have been singles.
Rhymes said jokingly that he might have to start ignoring any stop sign first-base coach Will Davis throws up in order to get more doubles.
“I’ve got to start hitting some doubles somehow,” he said. “I’ll just keep rolling. If I hit it up the middle, I’ll just keep going.”
Katz doubled once again against Southern on Tuesday, but before that hadn’t hit a double since March 4, allowing Rhymes to cut the deficit to just two. But as Rhymes draws closer, Katz hasn’t let up on the trash talk.
“He’s been letting me know that the competition is still on,” Rhymes said. “He was the champion last year, and I think he reminds me of it every day. I can’t let him win this year. Having to deal with that again, I can’t let that happen.”
This year, Katz and Rhymes may not be the only two in position to lead the team in doubles. Senior third baseman Tyler Hanover and senior shortstop Austin Nola trail Katz by two, and senior designated hitter Grant Dozar has five doubles this season.
“Last year it was pretty clear early that me and Raph were starting to go away with it,” Katz said. “But a lot of guys are coming up with doubles, so we might have to add some people into the bet.”
One person who hasn’t been let into the bet is LSU coach Paul Mainieri, who hit one double in 1976, his one season playing for LSU. Mainieri said he wasn’t aware of the players’ friendly competition.
“It’s nice if players have little internal competitions like that,” Mainieri said. “They push each other to a higher level by doing that. I hope they tie and they each hit about 30.”
As for the parameters of the bet, Katz said that’s something he’s not yet prepared to share.
“That is confidential right now,” he said. “Maybe later on as the season goes, me and Raph will come out with it, but we like to keep it quiet right now.”
 
____ Contact Hunter Paniagua at [email protected]