BATON ROUGE — Defending national champion LSU began its five-week fall baseball practice session Tuesday in Alex Box Stadium with a productive workout that pleased fourth-year coach Paul Mainieri.
“This was the first time I’ve had the chance to put on a uniform in about four months, and it felt great,” said Mainieri, the 2009 National Coach of the Year who led the Tigers to the College World Series title in June. “The rain held us up for about 30 minutes, and we had to put the tarp on the field, but once we got started we had a very spirited workout.”
Mainieri said the Tigers enjoyed an energetic batting practice session, and the team worked on defensive fundamentals, including pop-fly communication.
Fall practice continues on Wednesday with the Tigers’ first scrimmage, a four-inning contest scheduled to begin at approximately 4:30 p.m. All scrimmages and workouts during the fall period, which concludes on November 20, are open to the public.
The 2010 Tigers return 17 players that contributed to the club’s drive to the ’09 NCAA title. The veterans are joined by a 13-man recruiting class that was ranked No. 3 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball magazine.
“Today was a good start to what I think will be a very successful season,” Mainieri said. “We had the chance to do some teaching, and we got a lot accomplished. We’re looking forward to continuing the process of building this team and preparing it to win games.”
LSU opens the 2010 season on February 19 versus Centenary in Alex Box Stadium.