LSU’s brand-new 8,786-seat ballpark is considered by many to be the best stadium in college baseball.
But while the Tigers open a new era in LSU baseball this weekend against Villanova, LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri hopes his team’s level of performance matches the beauty of the new park.
“The only thing that remains is for us to put a ball club out there on the field that’s worthy of us using such a beautiful facility,” he said. “I’m pretty excited about what we have going for us.”
One of the things Mainieri is excited about is his team’s experience.Seven starters return from last season’s offense, led by junior outfielder Blake Dean, who hit .353 with 20 home runs last season.
Dean said the Tigers are anxious to return to the field after last season’s College World Series run.
“We’re so excited to get started,” he said. “We have a solid team and a great new park. We hope to make our new home as memorable as our old home.” Senior pitcher Louis Coleman will start on the mound in the season opener.
Coleman was one of LSU’s most consistent pitchers last season with an 8-1 record and a 1.95 ERA in 23 appearances.Mainieri said the high magnitude of tonight’s game was the reason he chose to give Coleman the opening game start.”I’m hoping to put him in the bullpen for the rest of the year,” he said. “We’ll see how it plays out, but I feel real confident that the guys that we think are going to be our starters will end up our starters.”
Two of the pitchers Mainieri talked about are sophomores Anthony Ranaudo and Austin Ross, who will start Saturday and Sunday’s games respectively.Ranaudo was limited for the early part of last season with an elbow injury but returned for the second half of the season and pitched 12 scoreless innings. Ross served as one of LSU’s most reliable bullpen pitchers last season and was 3-1 with a 2.58 ERA in 52.1 innings.
Against Villanova, LSU will face a team that went 30-28 last season.
But the Wildcats were depleted by graduation and return just one hitter with at least a .300 batting average and two pitchers with an ERA under five from last season’s team.Sophomore pitcher Chris Pack will start opening night for Villanova. Pack was 4-3 with a 5.17 ERA in his freshman season last year.Junior Brian Strilein and freshman Kyle Helisek will start on Saturday and Sunday for the Wildcats.
Villanova coach Joe Godri said his young team’s performance this weekend will go a long way in determining the Wildcats’ success this season.
“When the lights get turned on Friday night at LSU, it won’t be an intrasquad game in a controlled situation,” he said. “At that point it comes down to who can make the plays.”The Wildcats have a reputation for defeating Southeastern Conference opponents, beating then-No. 8 Florida in 2005 and then-No. 18 Alabama in 2007.
Godri said for a similar situation to play out this weekend, his team needs to handle the atmosphere in Alex Box Stadium.”We are going to play in their backyard,” he said. “We have to be able to handle the stadium atmosphere with 7,000-plus fans. There are a lot of opportunities on the field this weekend for Villanova against one of college baseball’s true heavyweights.”
— Contact Casey Gislciar at [email protected]