Vandebilt needs to find the net in ’13
January 3, 2013
The Top 10 in Business in 2012
January 3, 2013
The start of the college baseball season is still 51 days away.
But LSU is already being heralded as one of the top teams in America.
The Tigers were ranked as the No. 4 team in the country in College Baseball Newspaper’s Pre-Season Top 40 poll.
The Tigers are one of five SEC teams in the Top 10 – a group paced by No. 1 Arkansas.
“The No. 4 ranking is certainly a compliment to our program,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “But we realize we can’t just pick up this season where last season ended. We have a lot of work to do to get where we need to be at the end of the season, (but) we feel like we have a talented ball club with a very experienced pitching staff.”
Mainieri mentioned pitching – that will arguably be the strong-suit of LSU’s 2013 club.
The Tigers will return eight pitchers who have significant experience as a Tiger – a group anchored by sophomore ace Aaron Nola and fellow weekend starter junior starter Ryan Eades.
The one-two punch combined to post a 12-7 record with 152 strikeouts last season as starters in the team’s rotation.
Also returning on LSU’s staff are junior relievers Kurt McCune and Nick Rumbelow and also senior hurlers Chris Cotton, Brent Bonvillain, Joey Bourgeois and Kevin Berry – all of whom played a role in the team’s 47-win season in 2012.
But the Tigers’ offense also figures to be improved this season because of the return of nine position players with starting experience.
The leader of that group is 2012 SEC Player of the Year Raph Rhymes, who returned to LSU for his senior year after hitting .431 as a junior.
Joining Rhymes in the middle of LSU’s batting order will be slugger Mason Katz and junior second baseman JaCoby Jones.
Also returning will be catcher Ty Ross, outfielders Alex Edward, Chris Sciambra and Jared Foster and infielders Tyler Moore and Casey Yocum.
Mainieri said he is optimistic about his team’s balance after seeing them go through a set of fall practices.
“I think the fall practice period demonstrated that we can be outstanding in all phases of the game – hitting, pitching and defense,” Mainieri said. “We had a very good fall, and I’m convinced we’ll be in the hunt for everything we’d like to accomplish this spring.”
LSU opens its season on Feb. 15 against Maryland.
