The No. 17 LSU baseball team remembers Ole Miss well.
The Rebels (18-8, 3-3), who enter Alex Box Stadium this weekend, started a seven-game skid against LSU after snapping a six-game winning streak for the Tigers (18-7, 1-5) last season.
“I think that’s still fresh in our minds,” said junior center fielder Mikie Mahtook. “That was the start of our slide last year.”
LSU was within striking distance in all three of those losses, losing by a combined four runs in the series, including a 9-8 loss in an 11-inning game.
The two Southeastern Conference rivals’ records would indicate more close games to come.
Both teams have struggled recently, as the Rebels are 3-4 and the Tigers are 2-5 in their last seven games.
LSU has a notable series win against Cal State Fullerton, while Ole Miss has beaten Tennessee. The Tigers have been upset by Louisiana-Lafayette, while the Rebels lost two of three games against Tulane.
“Any time that they come here or we go there, it seems to be a nailbiter,” Mahtook said. “We’ve got to grind out every victory we have.”
LSU implemented changes to the lineup Wednesday against McNeese State, including moving freshman second baseman JaCoby Jones to the No. 3 hole, sophomore designated hitter Raph Rhymes to leadoff and sophomore Alex Edward to left field.
Jones moved from the No. 9 hole to the leadoff spot before finding himself in the three-hole Wednesday.
“I like the idea of Jones and Mahtook batting back-to-back,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “You couple that with [junior shortstop Austin] Nola batting five-hole, I think that gives us a formidable middle of the order.”
Rhymes said he is comfortable in his new role despite never having been a leadoff hitter in his career.
“I hate striking out, so I’m going to go up there and put the ball in play any way I can,” he said.
Rhymes has also worked in left field, but Mainieri said he’s more comfortable with Edward right now, who went 1-for-2 with a walk Wednesday.
“[Edward] made himself into a pretty decent outfielder last year, and he’s worked really hard the last few days with our outfield coach Will Davis,” Mainieri said.
Mainieri said he expects the lineup to be similar this weekend, and the weekend rotation will stay the same with freshmen Kurt McCune and Kevin Gausman and senior Ben Alsup.
McCune threw LSU’s first complete game of the season last weekend against Georgia, while Gausman surrendered seven runs in two innings in his shortest appearance of the season.
“I didn’t pitch very well at all against them,” Gausman said. “I think that it’s good it happened early in the season and I kind of got it out of the way.”