BATON ROUGE — The 2010 LSU baseball team returned to campus Tuesday for the first day of spring semester classes. The defending NCAA champions will engage in individual workouts in Alex Box Stadium over the next two weeks, and LSU will conduct its first full-squad preseason practice session on Friday, January 29.
The 2010 season begins on February 19, when the Tigers play host to Centenary in Alex Box Stadium. LSU is ranked No. 2 in the 2010 Collegiate Baseball newspaper preseason poll.
“I have all the confidence in the world that we’ve got the pieces in place to be able to have another outstanding club,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri, the 2009 National Coach of the Year. “We’re very excited to begin preseason workouts and start the season in just a few weeks.”
LSU welcomes back 15 players that made significant contributions to the 2009 national championship drive, including seven position players with starting experience and eight pitchers that recorded innings last season.
Senior all-America first baseman Blake Dean leads a core of veterans that includes junior outfielder Leon Landry, junior catcher Micah Gibbs, sophomore outfielder Mikie Mahtook, sophomore infielder Tyler Hanover, sophomore shortstop Austin Nola and sophomore infielder Grant Dozar.
Two players that had part-time starting roles during the 2008 season – senior infielder Matt Gaudet and sophomore outfielder Johnny Dishon. – are back on the Tigers’ active roster in 2010.
The pitching staff is led by junior all-America right-hander Anthony Ranaudo, who finished third in the nation last season with 159 strikeouts and was the winning pitcher in the deciding game of the CWS Finals.
Also returning is sophomore right-hander Matty Ott, the 2009 SEC Co-Freshman of the Year who established the LSU single-season record for saves last season with 16.
Ranaudo and Ott are joined by a talented group of hurlers that includes senior right-hander Paul Bertuccini, junior right-handers Austin Ross, Daniel Bradshaw and Ben Alsup, sophomore left-hander Chris Matulis and sophomore right-hander Shane Riedie.
The LSU veterans are complemented by a talented class of 13 newcomers, including five players that have been selected in the Major League Draft.