http://collegebaseball360.com/lsu-gets-mainieri-1000th-career-win/ http://collegebaseball360.com/lsu-gets-mainieri-1000th-career-win/#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 04:48:25 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=3764

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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)

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Can Oral Roberts Repeat…AGAIN?

ORU head coach Rob Walton

The Skinny: To say that Oral Roberts has dominated the Summit League would be an insult to the word understatement.  The Golden Eagles not only run roughshod through the postseason by winning 12 straight Summit (formerly the Mid-Continent) League titles, but they have also gone 246-27 (.901) in Summit League regular-season games since joining the conference in 1998.  ORU is 36-1 in those conference tournament games.  They’ve won 27 straight such games, with the lone loss coming to Southern Utah in 2000.

All that success begs the obvious question:  Can anyone even challenge Oral Roberts in 2010?

Centenary

2009 Season: (33-19, 16-10)

Mascot:  Gents

Head Coach: Ed McCann

Location:  Shreveport, LA

Vitals: .312 BA, 36 HR, .398 OBP, .959 Fld%…4.87 ERA, 10 SVs, 387 K, 167 BB, .296 Opp. BA

Giant Killer: The Gents posted wins over top-ranked Texas A&M and 18^th ranked Arkansas in 2009.

No Cupcakes: Centenary opens the 2010 schedule in Baton Rouge against defending national champion LSU.  They also play a two-game set at another ’09 CWS team, Arkansas, in March.

Big Losses: Centenary has to deal with the loss of All-Summit League performers Chris LaLonde (4-0, 6.35 ERA) and Ricky Imperiali (.325, 19 doubles).  Travis Leverson led the team with a .386 BA & led the Summit with 18 stolen bases.

Who’s Back:  Michael Tompkins (.348, 8 HR, 45 RBIs) & Tell Ross (.350, 7 HR, 49 RBIs) will pace the offense.

Ace Rising:  Justin Kraft (6-4, 4.08 ERA, 4 CG, 77 K in 81.2 IP should be one of the top pitchers in the conference.

Northern Exposure:  Reigning America East champion Binghamton leaves New York for a 4-game series in Shreveport March 27-29.

IPFW

2009 Season: (13-38, 6-21)

Mascot:  Mastadons

Head Coach: Bobby Pierce

Location:  Ft. Wayne, IN

Vitals: .261 BA, 28 HR, .360 OBP, .952 Fld%…8.10 ERA, 264 K, 268 BB, .328 opp. BA

Boiler Up: IPFW notched two of their 13 wins on the season against Big 10 foe Purdue, sweeping the season series.

Mr. Everything: The Mastodons must replace INF Chris Gottschall, who led the team in every offensive category, except triples and stolen bases.

North Dakota State

2009 Season: (16-28, 10-14)

Mascot:  Bison

Head Coach: Tod Brown

Location:  Fargo, ND

Vitals:  .296 BA, 16 HR, .373 OBP, .952 Fld%…6.71 ERA, 285 K, 184 BB, .315 opp. BA

Youth Movement: NDSU returns two second team All-Summit League selections in So. P John Straka and So. C Justin Kilne.  Straka led North Dakota State with a 4-3 record with a 3.49 ERA and 54 strikeouts.  Kline set a Bison freshman record and led the Summit League with a team-leading .432 batting average.

Road Warriors: NDSU plays its first 26 games on the road this season before finally opening the home schedule April 13^th against Dakota Wesleyan.

Oakland

2009 Season: (22-34, 10-18)

Mascot:  Golden Grizzlies

Head Coach: John Musachio

Location:  Rochester, MI

Vitals:  .299 BA, 49 HR, .380 OBP, .960 Fld%…8.00 ERA, 5 CG, 8 SV, 274 K, 273 BB, .336 opp. BA

Record Setter: The Golden Grizzlies must replace infielder Andrew Stafford who broke single-season school records by smacking 82 hits and posting a .381 batting average.

Strong Arms: Oakland returns all 10 pitchers who earned a win last season.

Tough Test: Oakland opens its season with a three-game series against Mississippi in Oxford.

Oral Roberts

2009 Season: (33-15, 16-2)

Mascot:  Golden Eagles

Head Coach: Rob Walton

Location:  Tulsa, OK

Vitals:  .303 BA, 80 HR, .403 OBP, .962 Fld%…3.76 ERA, 9 CG, 4 SV, 498 K, 193 BB, .242 opp. BA

Seth Furmanek

Key Departures: ORU faces the task of replacing Summit League Player of the Year Mark Serrano (9-1, 2.50 ERA), and San Diego Padres first round draft pick Jerry Sullivan (8-3, 3.12 ERA).

Key Returners: Senior C Seth Furmanek (.333, 17 HR) and senior INF Colby Price (.342, 10 doubles), lead a potent Golden Eagles offense.

Road Tests: Oral Roberts has trips this season to Baylor, UCLA, and Texas.

Home Cookin’: Since 1998 ORU’s J.L. Johnson Stadium has hosted either the Mid-Continent or Summit League postseason tournament 10 of 12 times.

South Dakota State

Jesse Sawyer

2009 Season: (26-30, 17-10)

Mascot:  Jackrabbits

Head Coach: Ritchie Price

Location:  Brookings, SD

Vitals:  .315 BA, 65 HR, .392 OBP, .963 Fld%…6.80 ERA, 4 CG, 6 SV, 322 K, 222 BB, .317 opp. BA

Country’s Best Eh: Junior third baseman Jesse Sawyer was named the top Canadian college baseball player according to CanadianBaseballNetwork.com after setting SDSU single season records for homeruns (19) and total bases (148).  Sawyer also led the team with 61 runs scored and 58 RBI.

Hot Streak: After starting the season 5-22, the Jackrabbits won 19 of their last 25 games while all nine regular starters finished the season hitting above .300

Southern Utah

2009 Season: (27-24, 15-7)

Mascot:  Thunderbirds

Head Coach: David Eldredge

Location:  Cedar City, UT

Vitals:  .318 BA, 52 HR, .396 OBP, .957 Fld%…5.85 ERA, 6 CG, 11 SV, 258 K, 237 BB, .313 opp. BA

Man on a Mission: Southern Utah third baseman Bo Cuthbertson earned Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America honors and was named to the PING!Baseball All-Freshman third-team after leading the team with a .393 average.  Cuthbertson, though, is taking the next two years off while serving on an LDS mission in Uruguay.

Thunderbird Hoosiers: SU returns just 15 players from last year’s roster.

Career Leader: Newly named assistant coach Keli’i Zablan finished his Thunderbird playing days first in career at-bats and total bases.

Western Illinois

2009 Season: (13-33, 8-16)

Mascot:  Leathernecks

Head Coach: Mike Villano

Location:  Macomb, IL

Vitals:  .297 BA, 37 HR, .956 Fld%…10.27 ERA, 235 K, 218 BB

Stan Hyman

Tragic Loss: Mike Villano was named Western Illinois head coach November 23^rd after Stan Hyman passed away at age 50 after battling leukemia.

Big Wins: The Leathernecks first victory last year was a 24-0 win over Medaille, with their second coming four days later over 12^th ranked Oklahoma State.

Major Opportunities: WIU faces some heavy hitters on this season’s schedule.  Included are trips to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

Predictions:

2010 Champion: Oral Roberts, while Centenary looks to be the closest challenger

2010 Player of the Year: North Dakota State’s Justin Kline

2010 Pitcher of the Year: North Dakota State’s John Straka