LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri made some major changes to his team’s lineup heading into Tuesday night’s in-state matchup against Southeastern Louisiana in Alex Box Stadium.
The defensive changes seemed to work, as LSU turned three double plays in the game. The Tigers had 16 total on the season heading into the game.
The Tigers’ offense, however, was lagging behind its defense, as the team got seven hits while the Lions got 16.
But No. 6 LSU (29-12) was able to squeak by Southeastern Louisiana (23-16), 6-5.
“It was a hard earned victory, and we will take it,” Mainieri said. “The kids played great on defense.”
One of the changes Mainieri made was inserting freshman Austin Nola into the starting lineup at shortstop. Nola went 0-for-1 at the plate with two walks, but he was a part of all three double plays, turning one by himself, and had six total assists in the game.
Nola said he was surprised when Mainieri told him he would start at shortstop.
“I had been ready because coach prepares us to be ready for anytime that he calls on us,” Nola said.
Mainieri said after the game he started sophomore DJ LeMahieu at second base because LeMahieu chose second over third base. LeMahieu was the starting shortstop.
“I actually gave DJ a choice of where he thought he would feel more comfortable moving to,” Mainieri said. “DJ said he played a game at third base in [the] Cape Cod [League] over the summer and he felt awkward over there the way the ball bounced. After ten minutes of working out at second base [Monday], I turned to him and said, ‘You look like a major league second baseman.'”
LSU sophomore Ben Alsup got the start on the mound for the Tigers, going six innings while giving up five earned runs on ten hits and striking out four.
“He threw a lot of strikes and he allowed his defense to work behind him,” Mainieri said.
The Lions got on the board first when catcher Josh Cryer singled to score center fielder Cass Hargis.
LSU answered in the second inning when sophomore catcher Micah Gibbs hit a sacrifice fly to score LeMahieu, tying the score at one.
The teams then had a huge third inning, combining to score eight runs.
SLU went ahead, 4-1, in the third inning by scoring three runs.
LSU then answered with five runs of its own to take a 6-4 lead.
Junior left fielder Ryan Schimpf hit his 11th home run of the season in the inning, his first as an outfielder, while junior designated hitter Blake Dean followed with his seventh home run of the season.
The Lions attacked again in the fourth inning when second baseman Ty Summerlin singled to score shortstop Justin Boudreaux.
That was the end of the scoring for Southeastern, as LSU’s relief came in to combine for three innings of shutout ball, giving up six hits while striking out two batters.
LSU will play Louisiana-Lafayette tomorrow in the Wally Pontiff, Jr. Classic at Zephyr Field in New Orleans.
Mainieri said sophomore Austin Ross will get the start on the mound for the Tigers.
“I want to see if he can’t get back in a groove,” Mainieri said.
Ross has had a rough time in his last three outings. The Shreveport native went LSU two innings Sunday against Tennessee, giving up six runs on six hits while striking out nobody.
 
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