Rain forced the LSU baseball team to postpone its return to the practice field until today, but the Tigers used yesterday’s official beginning of fall practice to hold team meetings amid the swirl of lofty expectations.
“Everyone can’t wait obviously,” said junior right fielder Jon Zeringue. “There has been a lot of anticipation about our team being real good this year. We just want to see what the new guys got because we know what the old guys have.”
The Tigers, who finished ranked No. 5 in the nation, reeled in a 13-man signing class. Junior outfielder/DH Ryan Patterson said he is impressed with what he has seen so far from the newcomers.
“I’ve seen a little bit of them and they’re talented; that’s why they are here,” Patterson said. “I think they have a good possibility of coming in and playing.”
Some Tigers, such as junior outfielder J.C. Holt, spent their summer playing in summer leagues. Holt was named the MVP of his league, the Cape Cod league.
Others spent the summer in Baton Rouge voluntarily working on their game and staying in shape.
When asked about the players’ conditioning, coach Smoke Laval said he is happy with how the players prepared during the offseason coming to practice.
“Very much so, but that doesn’t mean you are going to be good or bad,” Laval said. “Because last year we weren’t in very good condition, we just had to work them harder. At least you get to see the makeup of the kids and their will to come in good condition.”
Thirteen lettermen including eight starting position players are returning to the diamond for LSU. The 2004 LSU baseball team should feature a deep bullpen that is nearly completely recovered from all the injuries that haunted the Tigers last season.
“We got more depth this year, but it seems like every year we have depth four or five people get hurt,” said junior left-hander Lane Mestepey. “So you can never have too many pitchers here. We should be able to mix and match our rotations this year and that will be a good thing for us.”
Laval said he expects last year’s junior transfer Brandon Nall to return from his shoulder injury by the spring, but Nall will not be throwing much until October. The rest of the injured Tigers pitching staff is throwing and expected to be at full-strength soon.
“Pitching this year is going to be a lot better,” Zeringue said. “Mestepey is better than he ever was probably.”
The success of the LSU baseball program throughout the past 15 years has set a standard of expectations that lands squarely on the shoulders of the players and coaching staff. Mestepey said the high expectations are just a part of being a Tigers baseball player.
“The high expectations should be there, that’s what this program is about,” he said. “It’s going to be kind of tough early on. People are going to expect us to win, but a few losses are going to come out of it.”
Laval said last year’s success sets this group of players apart from previous teams facing similar expectations.
“It has always been here whether we went to the [College] World Series or not,” he said. “Last year the standard was really raised. The one thing that is different and good with this group is that it is their bar now. It’s their standard that they set. They now have to get a little better on it, which I think is exciting.”