LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri said the lineup could be tinkered after the No. 11 Tigers were swept against No. 1 Florida this weekend.
It didn’t take long for the changes to arrive.
Redshirt junior Mike Lowery will play first base for LSU (16-4, 0-3 SEC) in one of three lineup changes the Tigers plan on making tonight against Louisiana-Lafayette (9-10, 1-2 Sun Belt).
Mainieri said Lowery, a former shortstop, is capable of bringing infielder’s skills to first base and making solid contact at the plate.
“I’m going to give him an opportunity,” Mainieri said. “He’s earned it. I think every time we’ve put him in, he’s done somethingwell.”
Junior Grant Dozar, who started at first base this weekend, is hitting .185, while Lowery is 6-for-11 this season.
Dozar said he is disappointed he couldn’t get the job done at the plate, but he will continue to stay upbeat and keep his teammates loose.
He said he knows competition at first base will be best for the Tigers in the long run.
“I’ve always felt pretty confident in my defensive abilities,” Dozar said. “But to play you have to hit. You can’t win unless you score.”
The normal platoon at first base was Dozar and sophomore Alex Edward, both of whom have at least 25 at-bats this season.
“I wish I could fuse the two of them together and we’d have a good offensive player and a good defensive player,” Mainieri said. “But I just don’t think the level of play has been at the standard for which we need.”
Junior left fielder Trey Watkins’ average fell to .232 this weekend in the leadoff spot, while freshman second baseman JaCoby Jones is hitting .406 in the No. 9 hole, more than 40 points better than anyone in the lineup.
“I haven’t given up on Trey as a leadoff hitter,” Mainieri said. “I just think he needs to remember who he is and what kind of player he’s supposed to be. He’s been a little too much of a free swinger.”
One of the few Tigers who hit consistently throughout the weekend series was freshman catcher Ty Ross.
He hit .455 with two doubles and an RBI, nearly coming up with a game-tying home run Friday in the ninth inning, which caromed off the wall.
Mainieri said Ross will move up from the eight-hole in the lineup tonight, though he’s not sure where yet.
“He grew up this weekend,” Mainieri said. “I thought he played phenomenal the whole weekend offensively and defensively.”
The Ragin’ Cajuns have pestered the Tigers the last few seasons. LSU squeaked out a 4-3 win last season and lost, 10-9, in 2009.
ULL is coming off an 11-0 thrashing of Louisiana-Monroe and is hitting .262 as a team with a .241 opponents’ batting average.
“They’re not going to be intimidated,” said junior center fielder Mikie Mahtook.
Junior transfer Tyler Jones (3-0) will take the mound tonight against junior Joe Zimmermann (0-2).
Zimmermann played for UNO last season and pitched against LSU, holding the Tigers to three runs on five hits in 6 1/3 innings in an eventual 7-4 win for the Privateers.
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]