BATON ROUGE, La. — Coach Paul Mainieri announced on Monday the 17-man class of baseball recruits enrolling at LSU next month.
The new group of Tigers includes 10 pitchers and seven position players. The 17 newcomers start classes at LSU on August 26 and will join the returning players for conditioning drills and individual workouts.
“Putting together a new team every year is what we do in athletics,” Mainieri said. “I feel as if I’ve been handed a big pile of clay, and as the sculptor of that clay, it’s up to me to try to make something beautiful out of it. There’s a lot of work to do, but we feel like we’ve recruited an outstanding class of players, and we’re excited to begin working with them and form a team that can hopefully return to the College World Series, and this time come home with the big trophy.”
The Tigers begin their six-week, full-squad fall practice session on Sunday, September 29. The 2014 season starts on February 14 when the Tigers play host to the University of New Orleans in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
Mainieri led the 2013 Tigers to the College World Series for the third time in the past six seasons. The Tigers tied the SEC record for single-season victories with a 57-11 overall mark, and LSU established a school record with 23 regular-season conference wins.
LSU also captured the 2013 SEC Western Division and SEC Tournament titles, and the Tigers were the No. 4 National Seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Mainieri, who has directed LSU to four Top 10 finishes in his seven seasons at the helm of the program, said the Tigers are focused upon returning to Omaha, Neb., for the 2014 CWS.
“The goal here every year is to win the national championship, and that’s what we’re going to try to do,” Mainieri said. “We have a strong core of players back from last year’s team combined with an excellent class of new recruits, and there’s going to be great competition during fall practice at every position.
“Our No. 1 priority with this recruiting class is to rebuild our pitching staff, as seven of our top 11 pitchers from last season are not returning. Rebuilding the staff is a big project, but I feel like we’ve recruited the guys to get the job done. (LSU pitching coach) Alan Dunn and I are looking forward to working both with our returning pitchers and the new recruits to form a staff that will be very effective on the mound.”
2013 LSU Baseball Newcomers
| No. | Name | Pos. | B-T | Ht. | Wt. | Cl. | Exp. | Hometown (High School/Previous School) |
| 28 | Kyle Bouman | LHP | L-L | 5-11 | 200 | Jr. | JC | Ferguson, Mo. (DeSmet Jesuit HS/Jefferson County CC) |
| 46 | Parker Bugg | RHP | R-R | 6-6 | 200 | Fr. | HS | San Diego, Calif. (Rancho Bernardo HS) |
| 32 | Alden Cartwright | RHP | R-R | 6-0 | 180 | Fr. | HS | Baton Rouge, La. (Runnels HS) |
| 18 | Dakota Dean | INF | L-R | 6-1 | 195 | Fr. | HS | Crestview, Fla. (Crestview HS) |
| 25 | Jarret DeHart | OF | L-R | 6-2 | 205 | Fr. | HS | Medford, N.J. (Shawnee HS) |
| 13 | Brady Domangue | RHP | R-R | 6-0 | 160 | Jr. | JC | Houma, La. (Vandebilt Catholic HS/LSU-Eunice) |
| 23 | Jake Fraley | OF | L-L | 6-0 | 195 | Fr. | HS | Middletown, Del. (Caravel Academy) |
| 20 | Conner Hale | INF | R-R | 6-2 | 185 | Jr. | JC | New Port Richey, Fla. (Mitchell HS/State College of Fla.) |
| 41 | Andrew Mitchell | LHP | L-L | 6-0 | 175 | Fr. | HS | New Orleans, La. (Jesuit HS) |
| 58 | Christian Pelaez | LHP | L-L | 6-0 | 175 | Fr. | HS | Miami, Fla. (Florida Christian HS) |
| 49 | Zac Person | LHP | L-L | 6-1 | 190 | Jr. | JC | Eunice, La. (Eunice HS/LSU-Eunice) |
| 16 | Jared Poche | LHP | R-L | 6-1 | 195 | Fr. | HS | Lutcher, La. (Lutcher HS) |
| 3 | Kramer Robertson | INF | R-R | 5-10 | 170 | Fr. | HS | McGregor, Texas (Midway HS) |
| 37 | Jesse Stallings | RHP | R-R | 6-2 | 205 | Fr. | HS | Colfax, La. (Grant HS) |
| 4 | Cade Stone | OF | L-R | 5-10 | 180 | Fr. | HS | West Monroe, La. (West Monroe HS) |
| 36 | Dylan Williams | RHP | R-R | 6-4 | 195 | Fr. | HS | Cartersville, Ga. (Cass HS) |
| 27 | Danny Zardon | INF | R-R | 6-1 | 185 | Fr. | HS | Pembroke Pines, Fla. (American Heritage HS) |