Tigers Still Missing Ace Ranaudo

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BATON ROUGE, LA–Could the weekend series against Kansas be a sign of things to come this Southeastern Conference season for LSU?

That might be the case until Tigers ace Anthony Ranaudo is back and healthy.

That was LSU coach Paul Mainieri’s assessment after the Jayhawks stunned top-ranked LSU for the second time in three days.

“We’re going to have a lot of series like this,” Mainieri said.

“We’re not as dominant on the mound as we were last year.”

Without Ranaudo for the third weekend in a row, the Tigers (13-2) got only one quality start in three games — Austin Ross’ no decision in a 4-2 LSU win Saturday.

Friday starter Joey Bourgeois couldn’t escape the second inning before allowing six runs, and Sunday starter Jordan Rittiner ran into trouble with a four-run fifth.

Kansas racked up 32 hits in 27 innings, anchored by a 13-hit assault Friday that was the most the Tigers have allowed this season. The Jayhawks had 12 hits Sunday.

Not that the LSU pitchers need to shoulder all the responsibility.

The Tigers squandered several chances at big innings throughout the weekend and got outscored 21-17. LSU scored more than two runs in an inning only once all weekend.

“We can’t expect to score four runs and win on a regular basis,” Mainieri said.

Ranaudo watch

Anthony Ranaudo

Mainieri said Ranaudo is scheduled to try to throw again today (Monday), and “if it goes well (LSU) will progress from there.”

Ranaudo has missed his last three starts with a stress reaction in his right elbow. He threw last Monday and still had discomfort, prompting a CAT scan that showed no structural damage to the tendon or ligament.

Should Ranaudo show positive signs today, he will throw again at least twice this week with the aim of getting him against Arkansas on Sunday.

Kansas coach Ritch Price said before the series his team was disappointed to not get a chance to see Ranaudo.

With Ranaudo on the shelf, the Jayhawks instead saw Bourgeois, Ross and Rittiner, who made his third consecutive Sunday start.

Rittiner was effective in his first two starts, allowing one run each time in six innings.

He was following a similar path Sunday — Kansas had one run in four frames — before the Jayhawks erupted for four runs in the fifth.

That didn’t keep Price from singing Rittiner’s praises.

“I really liked the freshman left-hander,” Price said. “Whether they use him as a starter or use him out of the bullpen, he’s really tough on left-handed hitters. Whether coach Mainieri keeps him in the bullpen or makes him a midweek starter, they’re going to be a lot better when they get their first-rounder back.”

LSU was also without sophomore left-hander Chris Matulis, who has had a sore forearm since his start against Pepperdine on March 4, a game he won 8-1.

Matulis could be the starter Wednesday against Nicholls State, but Mainieri said he wanted to sleep on it before making a decision.

Déjà vu all over again?

The series loss to KU comes at the exact same point of the 2009 season when the Tigers lost two of three games to Illinois before embarking on SEC play.

Between Illinois and this weekend, LSU lost just one other series: at home to Tennessee.

The Tigers start league play this weekend when Arkansas visits Alex Box Stadium in a showdown of 2009 College World Series teams.

Like the Jayhawks, the Illini handed LSU its first loss of the season.

“Everything is a learning experience,” Tigers senior Paul Bertuccini said. “It’s good to get tested like this before conference play. It was a tough weekend for us, but last year we did the same thing against Illinois and won the national championship. We can build off this.”

Or at the very least, the LSU players ought to learn something from the weekend.

“Whenever you lose two out of three, it needs to be a little bit of a wakeup call,” first baseman Blake Dean said.

Positive sign?

In the losses, the Tigers bullpen was up and down, with 13 hits and eight runs allowed in 111/3 innings.

Besides closer Matty Ott’s impressive four-batter, four-strikeout save Saturday, the other bright spot was junior Mitch Mormann.

In a pair of appearances, Mormann faced 15 hitters, allowed two singles and no runs to stretch his scoreless stretch to six innings over four outings.

Mormann has entered a game only once this season when LSU led.

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Blowout Win Gets Milestone For LSU Skipper

Paul Mainieri

BATON ROUGE — Led by a two-homer performance by designated hitter Matt Gaudet and a six-RBI evening by first baseman Blake Dean, second-ranked LSU exploded for 23 hits en route to 25-8 victory over Centenary, giving head coach Paul Mainieri his 1,000th career victory Saturday night in Alex Box Stadium.

The Tigers (2-0) scored the most runs of any LSU team since 1999 when they defeated Ohio 26-5. Centenary dropped to 0-2 with Saturday’s loss.

The series will conclude Sunday at 1 p.m. in Alex Box Stadium. LSU will start sophomore right-hander Joey Bourgeois, a transfer from LSU-Eunice making his first start as a Tiger. The Gents will counter with right-hander David Benson.

The LSU bats were on fire Saturday night, led by a 4-for-5 performance by Dean and 3-for-5 outing for Gaudet. The pair combined for 10 RBI, including six by Dean, which tied a career-high that he set against Alabama at the SEC Tournament in 2008.

The winning pitcher was LSU starter Austin Ross (1-0), who went 5.0 innings, allowing no runs on three hits while walking none and striking out five.

“I could tell in our pregame warm-ups that we were much more focused and ready to play than we were in our season opener,” Mainieri said. “I thought we swung the bats extremely well and Austin Ross gave us a superb performance.”

Of his milestone victory Mainieri said, “Of course it’s something I’m very proud of, but a lot of players and assistant coaches contributed to those 1,000 wins. I’ve been very fortunate to coach a lot of great kids at some great institutions.

Mainieri’s 28-year coaching career includes stops at St. Thomas University in Miami (1983-88), Air Force (1989-94), Notre Dame (1995-2006) and LSU (2007-present).

LSU got on the board in the first Saturday when Dean singled up the middle to score Watkins, giving the Tigers an early 1-0 advantage. Watkins led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on a hit-and-run, compliments of a Nola single.

The next batter, Hanover, reached first on a fielder’s choice, loading the bases. After a fly out by Micah Gibbs, Leon Landry reached safely when Gents shortstop Alex Todd mishandled a high fly ball in center field, allowing Nola to score from first. The Tigers led 2-0 at that point.

Mikie Mahtook followed with a deep liner in the right-center field gap that cleared the bases and gave the Tigers a 5-0 lead. Gaudet followed with a two-run homer to left to put LSU ahead 7-0.

The Tigers continued the scoring in the third when Mahtook singled, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Watkins to give LSU a 8-0 lead.

With the bases loaded two batters later, Dean laced a single up the middle that scored Delatte and Watkins to put the Tigers up 10-0.

LSU went ahead 12-0 when Landry ripped a two-out double to right-center, scoring Dean and Hanover.

Gaudet blasted his second homer to lead off the fourth inning against reliever Seth Lugo. The solo dinger made the score 13-0. Watkins was hit by a pitch two batters later, reached third on a single by Nola and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dean to give LSU a 14-0 advantage.

Dean ripped his fifth RBI of the evening in the fifth inning on a single up the middle, giving the Tigers a 16-0 lead.

Centenary first baseman Tell Ross put the Gents on the board in the sixth inning when he smashed a three-run homer off freshman right-hander Michael Reed. LSU led 16-3 at that point.

In the sixth inning, the Tigers erupted for six more runs, highlighted by RBI’s by Watkins and Hanover, to make the score 22-3.

Centenary added three runs in the eighth inning, highlighted by an RBI triple by second baseman Scott Pasket.

The Tigers made the score 25-7 in the eighth when center fielder Johnny Dishon ripped a two-run homer to left.

The loss was charged to Centenary starter Justin Kraft (0-1), who worked one inning and allowed seven runs on five hits.

(Release)

Yesterday was a day for mostly “big boys” with LSU, Fullerton, Arkansas, and Virginia all in action. Arkansas and Virginia have just three trips to the CWS between them in the last ten years (and obviously this is UVA’s first trip), but they’re still from power conferences.

Two well played games on day one of the 2009 College World Series. Arkansas downed Cal State Fullerton 10-6 in the opener, while LSU downed Virginia 9-5. A few thoughts/facts on the action from Rosenblatt Stadium.