LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri has a plan for his pitching staff for about the first three weekends of the season.He got what he wanted from his starting pitchers in a weekend sweep of Centenary — five or six solid innings and fewer than 80 pitches from sophomore Joey Bourgeois and juniors Anthony Ranaudo and Austin Ross.The middle relievers left Mainieri yearning for a bit more Friday and Saturday. They threw a combined seven innings and gave up 11 earned runs.The No. 2 Tigers (3-0) will continue their search for middle relievers for the upcoming Southeastern Conference schedule this afternoon at 4 p.m. against McNeese State (3-0).”I liked just about everything I saw from the team [last] weekend,” Mainieri said shortly after Sunday’s 4-0 victory against the Gents. “But we need to find more pitching from middle relief.”Sunday’s relief provided him with a little less heartburn, as freshman Jordan Rittiner and senior Paul Bertuccini shut down Centenary’s bats, giving up just two hits in three innings of work while striking out four batters.Mainieri knew what to expect from Bertuccini, a fifth-year senior. But Rittiner showed he could provide middle relief for the Tigers with something the team lacks — southpaw pitching.Mainieri put the freshman into a tough spot with the game tied at 1-1 in the seventh inning, but he knew Rittiner would get the job done. Mainieri even hailed Rittiner as the possible “Matty Ott of 2010.”In the tight situation, Rittiner was ready to handle the pressure.”I was a little nervous in my warmup pitches,” Rittiner said. “Once I got out there and I started the game, I just focused in on [junior catcher Micah] Gibbs, and he just calmed me down.”LSU will hand the ball over to junior Daniel Bradshaw against McNeese. Bradshaw pitched three innings Friday night in relief. He gave up three runs on five hits while earning the victory in a 5-4 LSU season-opening win.”The first inning, I thought I threw well,” Bradshaw said. “The second and third innings I threw, I just made a couple of bad pitches. I got ahead in the count, and then I hung a few curveballs. It wasn’t exactly the way I envisioned it, but I have this start and a chance to turn things around.”Bradshaw is another piece to Mainieri’s three-week pitching plan. He wanted to give the junior some work Friday night, which he did, before starting him tonight.If Bradshaw should come out of tonight’s game with a good outing, Mainieri hopes to use him in a starting role again in early March when the Tigers take on an ever-dangerous Pepperdine club.”Whoever we throw on that Thursday night against Pepperdine has got to be on the top of his game,” Mainieri said. “I want to see if Daniel has the capabilities of being that caliber of starting pitcher … The question is do I want him to be a midweek starter or a guy out of the bullpen on the weekends? Right now, I want him to pitch innings and gain experience.”But having a good outing against McNeese may be harder than it seems considering the Cowboys swept past Valparaiso this weekend and kept LSU close in a 6-3 loss last season in Alex Box Stadium. That game marked Ott’s first save in what would be a record-breaking save season for the freshman.”Hey, it will be a matchup of two undefeated Louisiana teams,” Mainieri said with a wink. “Terry Burrows is doing a great job over there at McNeese State. He is a great coach, and they are getting better with each passing year.”——————Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]