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Mainieri points to college baseball parity

After the first three days of the College World Series, the eight national seeds in the NCAA tournament have a grand total of zero victories.

First, five of the national seeds didn’t even reach Omaha – No. 2 Louisville, No. 4 Texas A&M, No. 6 Mississippi State, No. 7 Clemson and No. 8 LSU. Clemson didn’t get out of its regional.

No. 3 seed Miami was the first team eliminated after being defeated by Arizona and Cal Santa Barbara. No. 1 seed Florida and No. 5 seed Texas Tech, who lost their CWS openers Sunday, will play an elimination game Tuesday afternoon.

Welcome to college baseball at the present time.

Mainieri wants to finish his career at LSU
Mainieri wants to finish his career at LSU
Mike Theiler/Ap

LSU has been a national seed each of the past five years, yet it has reached the College World Series just twice – 2013 and 2015. Three times, the Tigers were eliminated at home – Stony Brook (2012 super-regional), Houston (2014 regional) and Coastal Carolina (2016 super-regional).

“What is happening in college baseball is all because the talent is spread across the country,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri, in a one-on-one interview with TigerBait.com. “The roster limits have made teams so more competitive. That’s why you see mid-majors step up and beat power conference teams.

“On any given team, you will have just 13 position players on scholarship. You can’t accumulate depth. Plus, you have a give at least 25 percent for a scholarship. Before, you could give someone just books, three percent. You can take a chance on a guy if you’re just giving him three percent.”

Current rules limit the roster to 35 players of whom no more than 27 can be on some type of baseball scholarship. An individual on scholarship must receive at least 25 percent. Mainieri said that he can no longer redshirt a player unless he is injured and unable to play.

“All of these teams are good teams,” Mainieri said. “I didn’t think that Coastal Carolina was as good as that Stony Brook team. We didn’t lose the games to Coastal Carolina. They beat us. It all comes down to what happens on a certain weekend. It’s who plays the best that day and that weekend.

“We didn’t choke. Sometimes, you don’t get beat by a better team. The difference between winning and losing a game is so minute. Sometimes, the breaks go for you and sometimes the breaks go against you. It’s the nature of our sport. It breaks your heart.”

Mainieri, who had discussions with Texas officials about its baseball job last week, had varying feelings about the recently completed season.

“Before the year, if you told me we would win 45 games, be a national seed and win a regional, I probably would have taken it with the so many questions we had,” Mainieri said. “But, then you get to the end and don’t win. It’s a tremendous disappointment.

“You watch the College World Series games and you think you could have or should have been there. The season is not satisfying until you win the last game of the year. Now, the dominant emotion we all have is great anticipation for next year. We expect to be in the thick of things.”

LSU will be in the opposite situation with its everyday lineup in 2017. This past season, Jake Fraley was the only returning starter. Next year, Fraley will be the only starter who will need to be replaced. However, don’t assume there will be no changes in the lineup.

“You always try to upgrade your team every year,” Mainieri said. “You owe it to your school, you fans and your players to always try to improve. The guys who played this year may not be the best guys next year. Some guys may change positions. Some guys may go to the bench. It will be an intense fall.”

The pitching staff will have a few more questions next season. Alex Lange will be back to be the No. 1 starter. Neither Jared Poche nor Jesse Stallings has made a final decision about returning to LSU after being drafted.

“Our bullpen will have to be better next year,” Mainieri said. “We had a lot of struggles early in the year. But, the guys hung in there and get better over the last 25 games. We would certainly be helped if (Jake) Latz can step into a big role.”

If Poche signs with San Diego, Latz and Caleb Gilbert will be the primary candidates for the No. 2 spot in the weekend rotation. Hunter Newman will be back as the closer. Freshmen Zachary Hess and Todd Peterson are two of the most promising newcomers on the mound.

Mainieri simply wants to continue having LSU among the premier teams in the country.

“It’s hard to win a national championship,” Mainieri said. “The more frequent you are in that position (to win a national championship), the better are your chances that things come together and the magic can happen.

“I never wanted to leave LSU. It was flattering to have (Texas) talk to me. There was no reason for me to leave. All the pieces are in place. I hope I can finish my career here.”

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