LSU’s Paul Mainieri is usually an even-keeled, soft-spoken baseball coach.But throw out a topic like steroids, and his answer – especially his tone of voice – is unusually terse.”I’m disgusted by it all,” the third-year coach said.Alex Rodriguez’s recent admission to using steroids once again rocked Major League Baseball. But closer to home, the issue of steroids elicits a variety of opinions and brings up the question of how prominent steroid usage is in the college game.”I know for a fact some of the kids I’ve coached against at other schools have used steroids,” said Mainieri, who has coached college baseball since 1983.At LSU, the athletic department’s substance abuse policy prohibits “the use, sale, or distribution of any and all illegal substances by its athletes and staff.” Steroids is the last item on the list of banned substances.The policy’s goal, it says, is to drug test players twice a year. Players can also be drug tested at any time – announced or unannounced.LSU outfielder Jared Mitchell, said he has been tested “at least two to three times a year” between football and baseball. Mitchell said he doesn’t think steroids are a major problem in college baseball, but he said he’s not oblivious to reality.”I can remember seeing guys and saying, ‘That’s not all natural,'” he said.LSU All-American outfielder Blake Dean played summer baseball in the Cape Cod League and said no one there talked about steroids. Dean guessed steroids are more prevalent in junior college baseball.”I think ju-cos are more lenient with their testing,” he said.Mainieri said he has heard of players encountering steroids during summer baseball.”You know what happens is your players come back from summer leagues where they’re playing with players from other teams, and they’re sitting around, and they’re talking, and a guy will confess,” he said. “Then that player comes back to me or tells me what this player told him.”Even with the pressure of playing for a nationally prominent program, many LSU players say they haven’t been tempted to use steroids to gain an edge.”Me personally, I wouldn’t even know where to get them first of all,” Mitchell said.LSU second baseman Ryan Schimpf said he has never played with anyone who has used steroids.”I don’t think it’s an excuse – there’s pressure everywhere you go,” he said.Even though Dean and Mitchell don’t defend steroid use, they both agree players like Rodriguez and Barry Bonds deserve shots at the Hall of Fame.”Personally I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” Dean said. “I don’t think that it’s going to help you hit a 97-mile-per-hour fastball or hit 51 home runs. You might hit a few more home runs because you’ve gotten a little bit stronger.”Said Mitchell: “If I get a vote, I think they both get in.”Their coach couldn’t disagree more.”I wish they would strike every player from the record book that was involved in cheating,” Mainieri said.Mainieri, who was known more for his gritty work ethic than physical size when he played college baseball, doesn’t buy Rodriguez’s apology or the excuse that the pressure was too much.”[Baseball] is supposed to be watching runners score from first base with a triple in the gap and hit-and-run plays and bunt plays and tremendous defense,” he said. “Instead, it’s being played by guys who look like they should be playing in the NFL instead of baseball.”—-Contact Kyle Whitfield at [email protected]