A favorite to return to the College World Series. A preseason No. 1 ranking. And the opening of a top-notch baseball stadium.Through it all, LSU’s baseball team hasn’t dropped out of the top 5 in the nation, and on Monday the Tigers moved back into the No. 1 spot in three college baseball polls for the first time since March 8.Naturally, LSU coach Paul Mainieri has been impressed with his team’s composure.”Going into this season, I couldn’t imagine a team being more under the microscope,” Mainieri said. “The kids have handled it all remarkably well. It’s really amazing what the kids have done, and we are getting better.”LSU will head into its first game back in the No. 1 spot against the University of New Orleans tonight in Alex Box Stadium.The Privateers are on a five-game losing streak, and No. 1 LSU (26-9) defeated UNO (13-21), 19-3, in the teams’ first meeting this season on March 3. Mainieri, who got his 100th victory at LSU last Friday in an 8-4 victory against Georgia, won’t be overlooking the Privateers this go around. Last year UNO defeated LSU, 8-6, in Baton Rouge to end a 10-game losing streak.”They beat us two times last year, and we haven’t forgotten that,” he said. “We had a good game against them earlier this year, but that was just one game, and it doesn’t mean anything as we go into [this game] so they have our full attention.”The Tigers enter the game coming off a weekend series victory on the road against Alabama in which they won Friday night, 8-5, and Sunday afternoon, 12-7, after falling on Saturday night, 13-5.The series win was the ninth straight Southeastern Conference weekend series victory for the Tigers, dating back to last season.”I couldn’t be more happy with our team,” Mainieri said. “If you win two out of three on the road, you have to be ecstatic, and that’s how I feel about it.”LSU racked up 19 hits Sunday and 40 overall in the series.LSU junior Blake Dean was named SEC Player of the Week for his performance this weekend.The Crestview, Fla., native went 6-for-12 during the weekend series with 10 RBI and two home runs.LSU junior second baseman Ryan Schimpf also had a huge weekend, going 8-for-14 with five runs scored, four RBI and two home runs.”Both of them are really finding their groove now,” Mainieri said. “Ryan Schimpf had so many big hits for us all weekend and is just playing tremendous baseball. Blake has really started to find his stroke, and once he gets his confidence back to where it always has been … He goes on a tear.”The Tigers received a bit of unfortunate news during the weekend as freshman southpaw Randy Zeigler will be out for nine to 12 months with a torn ligament in his throwing arm.The injury occurred Wednesday against Grambling during warm-ups before what was supposed to be Zeigler’s first collegiate start when he felt something pop.The freshman will have reconstructive surgery on his elbow, commonly known as Tommy John surgery.”That was one of the sadder moments of my coaching career,” Mainieri said. “I’m not so concerned about the team as I am about the kid; I just feel really bad for him.”—-Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]