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Player Profile: Junior Mark Laird



LSUSports.net Profile - Mark Laird

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2014 Season:
Played in 59 games with 58 starts (53 in right field, five in left field) ... batted .291 (65-for-223) with 10 doubles, two triples, 27 RBI, 38 runs and 10 stolen bases ... hit .333 (12-for-36) in LSU's eight postseason games with one double, one triple, five RBI and nine runs scored ... named to the SEC All-Tournament team after hitting .471 (8-for-17) with one double, one triple, four RBI and six runs ... delivered his second game-winning, walk-off hit in less than two weeks in 8-7 win over Tennessee (April 25); Laird's two-out single with runners on first and second in the bottom of the ninth lifted LSU to the victory ... Laird also lined a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning on April 12 to give LSU a 5-4 win over Arkansas ... hit .412 (7-for-17) in the Tigers' four games during week of April 15-19 (vs. Southern Miss and Ole Miss) with one double, two RBI and three runs ... batted .462 (6-for-13) in the Tigers' four games from April 2-6 (vs. McNeese State and Mississippi State) with two doubles, one triple and five RBI ... 3-for-4 in April 6 win over Miss. State with two doubles, two runs and a career-best four RBI ... collected six hits in 14 at-bats in the Tigers' four games during the week of March 19-23 (vs. South Alabama and Georgia), batting .429 with one double, one RBI, two runs, three walks, one steal and a .529 on-base percentage.

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Mark is now well-known to Tiger fans having been the RF starter since his freshman year. His best tool is his speed and quickness being one of the fastest on the team from home to first. His outfield range is unmatched but his average arm keeps him in RF instead of CF. Mark is a contact hitter who has continued to improved year after year. He his almost .360 in the Cape this year even hitting a homerun. He'll likely be somewhere near the top of the lineup for LSU.

Player Profile: Junior Andrew Stevenson



LSUSports.net Profile - Mark Laird

quote:

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2014 Season:
Played in 61 games (59 starts in center field) and was LSU's leading hitter with a .335 (68-for-203) average) ... collected seven doubles, five triples, 32 RBI, 41 runs and nine stolen bases ... was named to the Watch List for Gregg Olson Award as the breakout player of the year ... finished No. 2 in the SEC in triples with five ... hit .429 (6-for-14) in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional with one double and one steal ... 3-for-4 in NCAA Regional win over Houston (May 31) with one double ... collected three RBI in win at Auburn (May 15), producing a double and scoring one run ... scored game-winning run in top of 10th inning at Texas A&M (May 2) - led off the inning with a double, moved to third on wild pitch and beat the throw home on a chopper back to the pitcher ... 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI in LSU win over Tennessee on April 25 ... career-best four hits, as he was 4-for-4 with one double, two RBI and one run scored vs. Southern Miss (April 15) ... compiled a 17-game hit streak, LSU's longest of the season, that ended after the second game of the doubleheader at Vanderbilt (March 15) ... provided the game-winning hit in the Game 1 victory at Vanderbilt (March 14), a two-out, two-run single in the top of the eighth inning that gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

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Andrew made a huge leap at the plate that year and expect him to continue the trend. He has also improved his arm strength getting him very close to a "5-tool player" (he lacks elite power). His biggest asset is by far his speed which he utilizes extremely well in CF and at the plate. And while he only stole 9 bases for LSU last year, Andrew picked up 21 bases in Cape Cod where he hit .327 and selected as an All-Star.