LSU had a new look during its four-inning intersquad scrimmage after practice Monday, as the Tigers’ starters tied the Tigers’ reserves, 1-1.
LSU coach Paul Mainieri said at the team’s Media Day on Friday that when junior right fielder Raph Rhymes’ throwing arm had shown enough progress from offseason surgery, junior Mason Katz would be shifted from the outfield to first base.
At practice before the scrimmage and during the scrimmage, Rhymes was in the outfield and Katz was at first base.
Katz made every play that came his way in Monday’s scrimmage and went 0-for-2 at the plate.
“The problem with Mason Katz is that he’s so good at first base and so good in right field that you’d like to just cut him in half and play him at both positions,” Mainieri said.
During the scrimmage, the projected starters wore gold uniforms while the rest of the team dressed in white.
Sophomore pitcher Kurt McCune — who Mainieri gave a preliminary tag of Sunday starter at Media Day — got the nod for the gold squad, throwing two innings for the Tigers.
McCune was aggressive in the strike zone, but got touched for a couple of hits by the LSU reserves who found the holes in the LSU infield.
Freshman Jared Foster yanked a double down the line in the first inning and was knocked in by fellow freshman Evan Powell two batters later. Powell went 2-for-2 with an RBI and two stolen bases in the outing, and played third base for the white squad.
Unofficially, McCune went two innings, recording one strikeout and allowing one run on two hits. Of his 28 pitches, 17 were strikes.
“That’s his forte,” Mainieri said. “He’s a strike thrower and he gets ahead of the hitters. His goal was to try to get the hitters out with the first three or four pitches he threw to each batter.”
Offensively, LSU couldn’t muster much against freshman left-hander Christian Trent, but sophomore left fielder Jackson Slaid looked comfortable in the cleanup slot.
Slaid hammered two balls deep toward the Alex Box bleachers, one of which fell just short of the right field fence for a double.
Senior Tyler Hanover socked a solo home run to left field for the gold squad’s lone run.
 
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Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]