The LSU baseball team will be without its ace when it takes the field Friday night against William and Mary. The Tigers (4-0) will have to try to get a win against the Tribe (3-0) without the aid of junior pitcher Anthony Ranaudo.”He may just miss this start, or it may be another two or three weeks,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said after Wednesday’s game against McNeese State. “We don’t think it’s a serious problem, but we don’t want to put Anthony on the mound until he feels 100 percent.”Mainieri said the injury is a stress reaction and does not involve any ligament damage. He also said the injury does not appear to be a long-term problem. Ranaudo is pegged by many MLB draft projections as a first-round selection.The 6-foot-7-inch righty missed playing time during his freshman season because of another injury to his throwing elbow.In that season, he didn’t debut until well into the year because of tendonitis in a ligament. The injuries are unrelated.”I don’t think it’s going to be anything terribly serious,” Mainieri said. “What we’re going to do is take the prudent route, which is the ultra-conservative route. That kid’s just got so much riding on his career that I didn’t want to put the kid in any sort of situation where it could jeopardize his career.”Since they won’t be able to utilize their ace, the Tigers may need help from other facets of their game in order to handle the Tribe.Though it hasn’t been evident in all of its contests, LSU has the ability to hit the ball well. The Tigers have scored 36 runs this season and hit six home runs on 46 hits. Senior designated hitter Matt Gaudet leads the Tigers at the plate with eight hits in 14 at bats for a .571 average.Two of those hits have been home runs, and he has batted in six runs for LSU. Senior first baseman Blake Dean is batting .500 and has added one home run and nine RBIs.”This year I’ve had to come in with a different approach,” Dean said. “In the past few years, I liked to get my home run or my RBI totals up early. This year I’ve just gone to try to work the average up and get base hits.”Three of LSU’s four wins this season have been decided by four of fewer runs, and Dean said close games give the team confidence it can use later in the season.In LSU’s midweek game, the Tigers secured a 2-1 win against McNeese State. The game was tied until the eighth inning.”These games were a struggle,” Dean said. “This shows a lot about our team, and we go into the weekend with a plus on our backs. Hopefully, it carries us into the weekend.”William and Mary has some players who have been getting base hits while working their averages up as well.The Tribe comes into this game a week after they notched a three-game sweep of Maryland-Eastern Shore. William and Mary outscored its opponent 40-7 in the series.Four Tribe batters are batting .500 or better, and sophomore infielder Tadd Bower is leading his squad with seven hits in 12 at-bats with one home run and eight RBIs.LSU will combat the Tribe’s hot bats with junior pitcher Austin Ross on Friday night.Ross (1-0) pitched five scoreless injuries in his one start this season. He gave up three hits while striking out five batters.Sophomore pitcher Joey Bourgeois (1-0) will get his second start Saturday.Sunday’s pitcher is still to be determined, but Mainieri hasn’t ruled out the option of Wednesday night’s pitcher, junior Daniel Bradshaw, getting the start.”I’m sure Bradshaw will be available,” Mainieri said. “Not sure if we’ll start him or how we’ll do it. The best thing to do is to plan one game at a time, and we’ll see who we’ve got on Sunday.”–Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]