LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri spent the early part of this week hoisting the Lombardi Trophy with Saints coach Sean Payton.
It was perhaps one of the last chances the coach will have to party, because he knows it’s now time to get to business.
“I was hired to be the baseball coach here, and that’s what we do,” Mainieri said. “It’s time to start another season.”
Mainieri, associate head coach David Grewe and a host of players spoke Wednesday afternoon in the team’s annual media day.
The coaches spoke from the fifth floor of the LSU Athletic Administration building, while the players spoke from inside Alex Box Stadium.
One of the hot topics of the day was LSU’s defense of its national title.The Tigers won their sixth national title last summer by defeating Texas in the final round of the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
And if the Tigers stay healthy, they could have a chance at meeting others’ expectations for 2010.
LSU was picked Wednesday to repeat as Southeastern Conference champions by the conference’s coaches. LSU won the SEC regular-season and tournament championships in 2009 in addition to the national title.
The coaches gave LSU five first-place votes and picked the Tigers to finish first in the SEC West as well.
Florida received four first-place votes, and Arkansas received three.Mainieri said although he recognizes his team as the defending champions, it has no effect on how he or his players approached the season.
“Every season is an entity into its own,” he said. “One of my favorite things I say to my players is that the new season does not begin at the point that the last season ended.”
Mainieri also announced his batting order for opening on Friday, when LSU hosts Centenary at Alex Box Stadium.
Sophomore left fielder Trey Watkins will lead off, followed by sophomore shortstop Austin Nola and senior first baseman Blake Dean. Sophomore second baseman Tyler Hanover will bat cleanup after Dean, and junior catcher Micah Gibbs and junior center fielder Leon Landry will hit in the fifth and sixth spots, respectively.
Sophomore right fielder Mikie Mahtook, senior designated hitter Matt Gaudet and redshirt freshman third baseman Wet Delatte will round out the last three spots in the lineup.
The experience of being a national champion is new for Mainieri as he had never won one before.
“This is the first season that I’ve ever had the experience of being the defending national champion,” Mainieri said. “I’m kind of looking forward to that, actually. I hope we can experience that in future years.”
One of Mainieri’s biggest mentors is his father, Demie Mainieri. The elder Mainieri won one junior college national title in his 30 years of coaching and told his son to go out and enjoy the experience of being a national champion.
Another big topic of conversation during media day was how LSU plans to replace the players it lost from last year’s squad.
Five members of that national championship team were taken in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft, and the younger Mainieri said he knows it will take a great team effort to replace them.
“It’s impossible to replace those kinds of guys man for man,” he said. “What has to happen is the whole concept of synergy. We just have to be greater than the sum of the parts.”
Mainieri said he likes the makeup of his team but feels it is lacking in terms of number of position players, mainly because of both NCAA regulations and injuries.
Prior to last season, the NCAA placed a roster size limitation of 35 players on teams.
LSU had to cut athletes to make this number last year. The Tigers have 34 players on this season’s roster.
Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]