LSU’s 2009 baseball team will be remembered as the team that moved into the new Alex Box Stadium under the microscope of a preseason No. 1 national ranking.But the Tigers’ season may very well be defined by a different move made by LSU coach Paul Mainieri — shifting sophomore shortstop DJ LeMahieu from the position he started 106 games at in his two years at LSU over to second base in favor of freshman Austin Nola.The drastic move came after then-No.1 LSU (36-13, 16-8) lost a weekend series to then-league worst Tennessee to snap a streak of nine straight Southeastern Conference series wins dating back to last season.”We haven’t made a lot of errors, but there are a lot of plays that we just haven’t made,” Mainieri said on his radio show after the pair of losses to Tennessee. “It’s time to give Austin Nola a shot and see if he can’t get the job done.”The Tigers had turned 16 double plays in the 40 games before the change.The change seems to have provided a spark, as the Tigers are 8-1 since the change and have turned six double plays in their nine games since the change heading into their weekend series against Arkansas.One major Tiger involved in the change, LeMahieu, has been on a tear in the past few weeks, hitting .352 on the season with 23 RBI and three home runs.Even junior outfielder Blake Dean has heated up as of late, hitting .414 with five home runs and 11 RBI in his last nine games.The emergence of freshman third baseman Tyler Hanover, who is hitting .322 with 40 RBI, also has Mainieri talking about things to come.”We’ve put ourselves in a position to make a run in the postseason,” Mainieri said. “We’ve got a chance to win an SEC championship, and … we are in a position to host in the postseason. And once you get there, it’s all about playing well on a given weekend. Hopefully we will end up in Omaha.”The appearance of sophomore outfielder Chad Jones in middle relief also has the Tiger faithful excited about the end of the season.With two on, no outs and the tying run at the plate in the top of the eighth against Auburn on April 26, Jones — normally an outfielder — entered the game to pitch.He gave up a hit to the first Auburn batter but struck out the next two before being pulled in favor of freshman Matty Ott.”I was pumped up,” Jones said. “I feel like I can do the job for the team now.”Mainieri said he was hesitant to let Jones pitch, even though pitching coach David Grewe had been telling Mainieri for a month to give Jones the opportunity.”I just thought it was too much for Chad because he’s got so much on his plate with football, school, being an outfielder and a hitter,” Mainieri said. “My only regret now is that we didn’t do this full time and forget about hitting.”LSU went on to win the game, 7-6.If a solid record in close games is any indicator of success to come, then the Tigers may be very well on their way to Omaha.LSU is 8-2 in one run games this season.”That’s a telling statistic,” Mainieri said. “You want to be able to keep your composure under pressure and find ways to win the close games, and that’s a quality that will bode well for us late into the season.”——Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]