The No. 2 LSU baseball team took the practice field Monday in preparation for its midweek matchup against Stephen F. Austin tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Alex Box Stadium, its first of two straight midweek contests.
The Tigers’ (10-1) biggest concern four weeks into the season is their play at third base. Sophomore infielder Danny Zardon began the year as LSU’s third baseman, but after three weeks, he has committed the most errors on the team at three and is dead last for starters in fielding percentage at .857.
“I should have made a lot more plays defensively,” Zardon said. “The three errors I made should have been outs, or I should have made the plays.”
Zardon’s shaky play has given LSU coach Paul Mainieri fits over the past weekend after Zardon continued to struggle against Princeton last weekend. Mainieri decided to work out senior infielder Conner Hale and senior outfielder Jared Foster at third base before practice.
After the workout, which Zardon also attended, Mainieri decided to rotate both Hale and Zardon, slotting Hale at third base with Zardon taking over at first.
“Conner Hale can do a better job at third base than Danny,” Mainieri said. “Danny has talent and certain abilities that I think allow him to play third base well at times. Hale became a third baseman in junior college, and he played two summers in the Cape Cod League at third base, so I’ve always felt Conner had better feet, which allowed him more range and put himself in a better position with his hands.”
Mainieri said Zardon’s biggest struggle at the hot corner is his footwork, which causes him to commit more errors than necessary on routine plays.
“I’ve always had an issue with his feet,” Mainieri said. “I’ve
always felt that a person’s hands were directly related to his footwork, and when your feet are slow getting to position, then your hands don’t react the way they should react, and that has always been my concern with Danny.”
Although LSU has had some defensive issues, the Tigers’ offense has been on a roll lately. LSU is currently holding on to a seven-game win streak while outscoring its opponents 61-25 with 14 extra base hits in its last four games alone.
The streaking Tigers have been hard to tame during their seven-game streak, but with back-to-back midweek games on the horizon, the Tigers will have to closely manage their bullpen against the Lumberjacks (4-8).
The Tigers will trot out senior southpaw Kyle Bouman tonight for his first start of the season, with freshman pitcher Doug Norman to follow on Wednesday against Grambling.
“We’ll let Bouman go a little ways,” Mainieri said. “I’d like him to pitch four or five innings, and after that, we’ll use the bullpen. I’d like to see a lot of guys from the pen get in these next two games to stay sharp for the weekend. Bouman’s going to get a chance to establish himself as the fourth starter.”
Bouman gets the nod tonight after starting 11 of his 17 appearances for the Tigers in his junior season. Bouman finished with a 5-2 mark and 2.12 ERA in 2014, which was seventh in the Southeastern Conference.
Bouman said he’s excited for a shot at becoming the Tigers’ No. 4 guy in the rotation and is going to do the best he can to show the coaches what he has.
“I just got to show them the same things I would as a reliever,” Bouman said. “I just have to go out there and get people out, as simple as that. Any time you call my name, I’ll be ready to go out there and get people out.”
Norman has struggled so far in his midweek starting role, holding a 5.00 ERA while lasting a total of only nine innings in his two starts. Norman has given up the most runs (10) and hits (15) of any Tigers pitcher, and opposing batters have a .405 batting average against him, which is the second-worst on the team.
“I’m not really sure what we’re going to do with Doug Norman going forward,” Mainieri said. “He’s going to have to pitch a lot better than he has pitched in order to continue to be in the rotation, so Bouman has got a lot of experience, pitched some good games for us last year, and I just think the time right now is to let Bouman get a start and see how it looks.”
You can reach Jack Chascin on Twitter @Chascin_TDR.