Right now it is 50 degrees outside, raining, windy and cloudy.
What does it all mean? Baseball, of course.
The No. 3 LSU baseball team opens its season tonight in Orlando, where it faces the University of Central Florida at 5 p.m. The series will continue with games at noon on Saturday and Sunday.
The road trip marks the first time LSU has played outside the state of Louisiana to open its season since 1985, when the Tigers also played UCF.
Regardless of where the game is, designated hitter Nick Stavinoha said he and his teammates are just ready to play someone else.
“We’ve all been kind of foaming at the mouth a little bit to get this thing going,” Stavinoha said. “It’s been a good, solid three weeks or whatever it’s been preparing for the first game, but it will be fun to get on the field at Central Florida.”
The Golden Knights already have two games under their belts, both of them wins over Florida International last weekend.
Junior pitcher Matt Fox led UCF to the season-opening 6-2 victory, striking out 10 batters and giving up two runs in five innings of work. He did not issue a walk.
As for LSU, the pitching staff remains a mystery.
Once thought to be a solid rotation, the weekend staff was dealt a blow last week when LSU Head Coach Smoke Laval found out staff ace Nate Bumstead suffered a shoulder injury. The severity of the injury is not known and Bumstead will not pitch against UCF.
Starting tonight and facing Fox is sophomore Justin Meier, who as a freshman went 8-3 with a 2.83 ERA.
Lane Mestepey will make his long-awaited return Saturday when he faces Jaime Douglas in the second game of the series. Mestepey sat out all of 2003 with a shoulder injury. Before that, he was named First Team All-Southeastern Conference two years straight after posting a 22-8 overall record.
Replacing Bumstead Sunday is redshirt freshman Clay Dirks, who missed 2003 with an elbow injury. Dirks was going to come out of the bullpen, but will be thrown into the fire on Sunday in his collegiate debut.
“It may be too early and too soon,” Laval said of Dirks’ start. “I don’t like to throw a young freshman on the road first. And that is going to be his first outing in uniform. So we’ll see what he is made out of.”
Mestepey is just anxious to get back on the field after being forced to watch all of last year from the bench.
“I’m just going to try to go out there and try to get my focus on the game,” Mestepey said. “I feel like I’m letting it go and I actually have gotten my arm stronger (in rehab).”
In the field, Tigers fans will see some familiar faces, as seven starters return from last year’s College World Series team.
The new face that may jump out at people is Stavinoha, who is being counted on for power.
Laval said it is obvious he would like to win this weekend, but he said he really wants to see how the team reacts to certain situations and how it responds to adversity. He said last year’s two-and-out trip to Omaha should teach the Tigers some lessons.
“We’re always trying to win ballgames,” Laval said. “But we’ll miss some focus that we missed in Omaha. So when we go down there and visit Mickey Mouse and all the boys and girls and parents and everybody, we’ll let our kids have that enjoyment. We’ll see if they can regroup and perform over a weekend. Just what happened to us in Omaha. Everybody was satisfied with getting there and the focus wasn’t quite there. So this is going to be a test.”