2013 LSU Baseball Preview: Part 2; Paul Mainieri
As part of our week long preview of the 2013 LSU Baseball season, head coach Paul Mainieri shared his thoughts on the tigers.
LSU Baseball will begin their 2013 season this Friday February 15th at Alex Box Stadium against the ACC's Maryland Terrapins. Coach Paul Mainieri has been vocally optimistic when speaking with various media outlets about what the season has in store for tiger fans.
"I feel great about our team we are right where we want to be." Coach Mainieri said. Coach Paul Mainieri was on Sports Today Radio show with Jimmy Ott, Charles Hanagriff and Derek Ponamsky on 104.5 ESPN. He feels the team has a great blend of veterans and young players, as well as a great blend of power and speed.
While breaking down the tiger offense coach Mainieri said "Chris Sciambria could've been the difference in LSU getting to Omaha last year." Last season was one where the center field position was a real problem for the team. Sciambria can work the count and make pitchers throw a lot of pitches and that makes him a great choice at lead-off for Coach Mainieri. We will see some young talent in the lineup early this season in freshman outfielder Mark Laird and freshman infielder Alex Bregman. Laird has a lot of speed, he can bunt as well as slap the ball around the infield, and he has great bat control. Mainieri has publicly promoted Alex Bregman several times and likes what he sees out of this young kid. He has been on Team USA the last two years and Mainieri described him as "not your typical freshman".
Certainly our pitching staff will miss Kevin Gausman and Nick Goody but Coach Mainieri believes that Nola and Eades will give us a solid one, two punch. He will send out Aaron Nola as the Friday starter and Ryan Eades on Saturday's. Mainieri will try and save Cotton as a hybrid starter this weekend with Nick Rumbelow missing some time with a strained oblique. Coach Mainieri obviously would like to have Cotton available for nights when the Tigers have a one or two run lead going into the ninth inning based on how well he excelled in that role last season. Coach Mainieri is starting his seventh season as the Tigers head coach and feels that "This year has the making to be a really good year".
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