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LSU focused on not overlooking SDSU in NCAA opener

Posted at 6:02 PM, May 29, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-29 19:02:19-04

When the regional was announced, it was hard not to think of a potential rematch of the College World Series semifinals last year between LSU and Oregon State. But before the Tigers can get to a match-up with the Beavers, they have to take care of San Diego State Friday. The Aztecs are the Mountain West Conference champions, and the Tigers said Tuesday if they don’t take the regional game-by-game, their west coast trip could get off to a bad start.

"We know enough about them to lose some sleep over it,” said coach Paul Mainieri. “They got a lot of tough outs, guys that use the whole field. But they don’t have an inordinate amount of stolen bases. So I’m guessing they do a lot of hit and running and west coast style baseball."

"I think we did a really good job of that this week,” added junior outfielder Antoine Duplantis, a Lafayette High alumnus. “We just went into the week wanting to win the first game. We knew we had to beat Mississippi State. Once we won that one, we moved on to the next one and the next one. We have a little bit of experience in tournament style. So I think that will help moving on to this week."

When it comes to the pitching plan for the week, head coach Paul Mainieri did not budging at first on who he will go with on the mound in game one. But after being prompted, he did admit that you can probably guess on seeing Nick Bush or Zach Hess in game one against the Aztecs.