Mainieri gets view from third
Head coach takes new approach
One change in the LSU lineup that wasn’t publicly expected before opening night was the insertion of head coach Paul Mainieri into the coach’s box at third base.
When the Tigers opened the season against Air Force on Friday night, Mainieri was in the box at third place instead of hitting coach Javi Sanchez.
“I’ve been sleeping on the idea,” Mainieri said. “It’s not a knock on Javi. We’ll be interchangeable. It just gives me a chance to work a little more closely with the baserunners.”
Mainieri said he used to coach third before coming to LSU, where he had to adjust to the home dugout being on the first-base side rather than the third-base side.
“It’s harder to communicate with the dugout when it’s on the first-base side,” Mainieri said.
Mainieri occupied the box for the first six innings Friday as LSU cruised to a 10-2 win. Sanchez took over for the final two innings. Saturday, Mainieri started the game there, and Sanchez took over in the fifth with LSU leading Alcorn State 11-0 en route to a 19-0 rout.
Mainieri said he’ll continue to coach third quite a bit, but if he has a time-consuming task such as talking with a pitcher or communicating a series of lineup changes he won’t hesitate to turn the job back to Sanchez.
Messy scorecard
Mainieri said he planned to look at a lot of players over the weekend, and the first two games gave him the ideal opportunity to do so.
Mainieri used 20 players, 16 position players and four pitchers Friday and did the same Saturday.
He made two changes to the starting lineup for Saturday’s game. Grant Dozar replaced Jordy Snikeris as the designated hitter, and Tyler Moore replaced Jackson Slaid in the lineup. Moore played first base as Mason Katz moved from first to right field and Raph Rhymes moved from right to left.
Injury update
So far so good for Rhymes as he played the outfield for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow.
Mainieri said Rhymes isn’t 100 percent yet, but Rhymes was able to play in the outfield in the first two games.
Infielder Alex Edward, who was a late scratch from the starting lineup Friday after straining a hamstring during batting practice, is expected to be sidelined for Sunday’s game against Air Force and Wednesday afternoon’s game against McNeese State in Alex Box Stadium.
Edward could return next weekend for the home series against Appalachian State.
Long time coming
The Tigers’ first home run of the season came from an unlikely source when infielder Beau Didier hit a solo homer to right in the bottom of the fifth Saturday night. It was the second homer of his career, the other coming in his only at-bat of the 2009 season. Didier had just 51 career at-bats coming into the season.
Fast start for Slaid
Outfielder Jackson Slaid had just six at-bats as a freshman last season, but he figures much more prominently in the Tigers’ plans this season. His two-run double in the first inning Friday enabled him to match his hit total from last season and gave him two more runs batted in than he had last season. He finished 1-for-3 and scored a run.
“I don’t know what it is about that kid,” Mainieri said, “but I’ve always had the feeling that he would come through for us.
“I just like the way he has always carried himself.”