Three losses in five games and a drop in the national polls has caused LSU coach Paul Mainieri to shake up his regular lineup.Mainieri announced on his weekly radio show Monday that freshman Austin Nola will start at shortstop while shortstop DJ LeMahieu will move to second base for tonight’s contest against Southeastern Louisiana at 6:30 p.m. at Alex Box Stadium.Junior Ryan Schimpf will move from second base to left field, which will move junior Jared Mitchell to right field. Freshman outfielder Mikie Mahtook will move over to center field, and sophomore Leon Landry will lose his starting spot in the shakeup.Mainieri said if the shakeup works, it may be on a permanent basis.”We havent made a lot of errors, but there are a lot of plays that we just haven’t made,” Mainieri said on the radio show. “It’s time to give Austin Nola a shot and see if he can’t get the job done.”The Tigers have turned 16 double plays in 40 games so far this season.After dropping two of three games to the Volunteers, the Tigers fell eight spots to No. 9 in the Collegiate Baseball poll. The losses snapped LSU’s Southeastern Conference-record run of nine consecutive conference series wins, and the team lost back-to-back games for the first time this season.LSU also fell to No. 6 in the latest Baseball America poll.While Mainieri said these prior accomplishments were “something to be proud of,” he said falling behind early and poor hitting in the Tennessee series overshadowed the Tigers’ previous success.”You never like losing, and you never want to see anything come to an end,” Mainieri said. “It shows consistency, it shows resiliency and it shows the ability to perform under pressure. But at the same time, [Sunday] we didn’t show any of those things. We don’t play with robots, we play with kids.”LSU senior outfielder Nick Pontiff said the Tigers’ recent struggles are just a “bump in the road.””We are still in a good position,” Pontiff said. “We have yet to play our best baseball.”Mainieri said LSU has many things to work on in preparation for its game tonight against Southeastern Louisiana — especially overall offensive output.”We’re not getting a lot of production out of Leon [Landry] or Jared [Mitchell],” Mainieri said. “When you fall in a hole, you can’t create a lot of things. You have to hit your way back into it.”One aspect Mainieri said has to be more dominant against a “very good Southeastern team” is starting pitching. LSU sophomore Austin Ross pitched only two innings and allowed six runs and six hits Sunday in his fifth loss of the season.Junior relief pitcher Paul Bertuccini said the bullpen is still finding its role, but there is still plenty of time to get out of the skid.”We can be beaten on any given day,” he said. “Our bullpen needs to step up. Our starters can’t be perfect every day.”Mainieri said he was happy with the play of one pitcher Sunday — senior Nolan Cain. Cain pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up no runs, two hits and struck out seven Tennessee batters.”He battled back from a sore arm this year, and early on we thought he might contend for a starting role,” Mainieri said. “He really inspired our team [Sunday] with a courageous performance. It’s a shame we couldn’t come all the way back and get him a win for that performance.”Mainieri said LSU will start sophomore Ben Alsup tonight in just his second career start. Alsup’s last outing was in relief against Nicholls State when he allowed no hits in three scoreless innings.Mainieri said junior outfielder Chad Jones will return to the team for this week’s games, but he is unsure what role Jones will play.”I know he hasn’t swung a bat in about five weeks,” Mainieri said. “We’ll play it by ear.”Sports Contributor Andy Schwehm contributed to this report.—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]