BATON ROUGE — Several LSU baseball players are enjoying productive summers in leagues around the country, as the Tigers seek opportunities to develop their skills in preparation for the 2008 season.
“I’m very pleased that so many of our players are performing at a high level this summer,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “It’s important to the development of our program that our players succeed in a competitive environment, and the summer leagues give them that opportunity. We can’t wait to have our guys back on campus to start building our team for this season.”
Members of the ’08 squad are scheduled to report to the LSU campus next month, as fall semester classes begin on August 27. Fall practice will start on September 9 and continue through October 23. The Tigers open the 2008 season on Feb. 22 versus Indiana in Alex Box Stadium.
Catcher Sean Ochinko and outfielder Blake Dean, who will be sophomores at LSU this fall, are performing well this summer in the Cape Cod League, the prestigious wooden-bat league for collegiate players.
Ochinko, a 2007 Freshman all-Southeastern Conference selection, is the fifth-leading hitter this summer in the CCL, batting .349 (22-for-63) with six doubles, two homers and nine RBI in 20 games.
The Parkland, Fla. native is the top hitter for the Yarmouth-Dennis (Mass.) Red Sox, who are in first place in the CCL Eastern Division.
Dean, who plays for the Wareham (Mass.) Gatemen, is hitting .306 (22-for-72) with team-highs of three homers and 11 RBI.
Dean, a native of Crestview, Fla., was named to the 2007 Freshman all-SEC team, and he was also voted Freshman of the Year by the Louisiana Sportswriters Association.
Sophomore infielder Ryan Schimpf is the fourth-leading hitter in the Central Illinois Collegiate League, batting .330 (30-for-91) with seven doubles, one triple, two homers and 13 RBI in 25 games. Schimpf, a Covington, La. product, leads the CICL with a .470 on-base percentage.
Junior infielder Chris McGhee, an Alexandria, La. native, is batting .340 (35-for-103) in the New York Collegiate Baseball League. McGhee has recorded three doubles, eight RBI, 16 runs and 10 stolen bases.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Paul Bertuccini is 1-0 with a 1.15 ERA in four appearances in the New York Collegiate League. The product of Metairie, La. has recorded 18 strikeouts and four walks in 15.2 innings, and opponents are batting just .132 against him.
Three other LSU hurlers ? left-handers Kyle Beerbohm and Shane Ardoin, and right-hander Nolan Cain ? are pitching in the Valley Baseball League.
Beerbohm, a senior from Terrytown, La., has a 1.74 ERA in 10 relief appearances, and Ardoin, a sophomore from Ville Platte, La., has a 1.98 ERA in 10 relief appearances with 19 strikeouts in 13.2 innings.
Cain, a junior from Cantonment, Fla., is 1-1 with a 2.20 ERA in 10 appearances (two starts), and he has recorded 21 strikeouts in 16.1 innings.
Sophomore right-hander Matt Jackson of Haughton, La. is 2-1 with a 2.49 ERA and a .188 opponent batting average in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League. Senior infielder Jason Lewis of Crawfordville, Fla. has collected four homers and 19 RBI in the Coastal Plain League, and junior catcher Kevin Farnsworth of Baton Rouge is batting .296 (24-for-81) with eight doubles in the Southern Collegiate League.