This is going to be my guide to 2015 LSU Baseball. I am not trying to compete with anyone else. I love to read everyone’s threads on baseball including the season previews. I am simply adding something I have been working on for awhile now.

Preseason Polls

D1Baseball.com - 9th
Collegiate Baseball - 4th
PerfectGame.org -7th

New Faces, Pos., (Drafted, From)
Mike Papierski, C, (16th Round by Toronto Blue Jays, Lemont, Ill)
Greg Deichmann SS (New Orleans, LA)
Grayson Byrd SS (39th Round by Atlanta Braves, Milton, GA)
Austin Bain RHP (Geismar, LA)
Doug Norman RHP (Fort Mill, S.C.)
Beau Jordan OF (Lake Charles, LA)
Bryce Jordan INF (Lake Charles, LA)
Jake Godfrey RHP (21st Round by Atlanta Braves, New Lenox, Ill)
Alex Lange RHP (Lee’s Summit, MO)
Jesse Stallings RHP (Colfax, LA)
Ryan May RHP (Baton Rouge, LA)
Jake Latz LHP (11th Round by Toronto Blue Jays, Lemont, Ill)

JUCO Transfers
Collin Strall RHP (Suwanee, GA)

2015 MLB Draft Projections
Alex Bregman (1st Round)
Andrew Stevenson (3rd or 4th Round)
Mark Laird (4th to 6th Round)
Chris Chinea (7th to 10th Round)

Projected Starting Lineup
C – Kade Scivicque (It won’t be long before Mike Paperierski takes over)
1B - Connor Hale
2B - Kramer Robertson
SS - Alex Bregman
3B – Danny Zardon
LF - Jake Fraley
CF - Andrew Stevenson
RF - Mark Laird
DH – Chris Chinea

Paul Mainieri said during media day, “Christian Ibarra has become the standard-setter. He is the greatest third baseman I've ever coached. It would be like replacing Brooks Robinson with the Orioles. Everyone tries, but no one was ever quite like him. I don't think we will ever have someone like Christian Ibarra.”

3B is going to be the biggest issue for the defense to start the year. Who is going to play? I went with Zardon since he has already proven he can hit and has more experience than Greg Diechmann. But it could flip flop until one takes over.

Starting Rotation
Fri. – Jared Poche, LHP
Sat. – Alex Lange, RHP
Sun. – Jake Godfrey, RHP
Mid-Week – Kyle Bouman, LHP

Bullpen
RP – Zac Person, LHP
RP – Hunter Devall, LHP
RP – Russell Reynolds, RHP
RP – Parker Bugg, RHP
RP – Jesse Stallings, RHP
RP – Doug Norman, RHP
RP – Collin Strall, RHP
RP – Ryan May RHP
P - Jake Latz, LHP
Setup – Alden Cartwright, RHP
Closer – Brady Domangue, RHP or Austin Bain, RHP (Fr.)

CPM speaking about the pitching rotation, “What we plan to do is use the first three to four weeks of the non-conference schedule before we open up against Ole Miss in March and get the freshmen as many innings we possibly can. We may start them, and it is quite possible one of them may move into the last couple innings role of the game like a closer or key set-up guy.”

He continued, “That will be the main focus for us, figuring out who will be the closer for us.”

New Baseball this season has me thinking we are going to hi more home runs. If that is the case, the projecting lineups should adjust accordingly.

Coach PM said, “I'm happy to report, quite frankly, that it has proven to be true. During the course of fall practice, we hit 16 home runs. That's not an exorbitant number, but by comparison, we hit 10 the previous fall with pretty much the same hitters,”

“I think we hit about 40 home runs last year, if I am not mistaken. If I did predict, I would guess that we are going to probably hit about 60 to 70 home runs this year. It's not going to return to the 'Gorilla Ball' days, no question about that. But, I do think that there will be more home runs and consequently maybe some late inning rallies and that type of thing.”

Batting Lineup vs. RHP (EDIT: Updated Lineup)

1. M. Laird, RF
2. A. Bregman, SS
3. J. Fraley, LF
4. C. Hale, 1B
5. A. Stevenson, CF
6. K. Scivivque, C
7. D. Zardon, 3B
8. C. Chinea, DH
9. K. Robertson, 2B

Batting Lineup vs. LHP (EDIT: Updated Lineup)

1. M. Laird, RF
2. A. Bregman, SS
3. C. Chinea, DH
4. C. Hale, 1B
5. D. Zardon, 3B
6. A. Stevenson, CF
7. B. Jordan, LF - Why not?
8. M. Papierski, C
9. K. Robertson, 2B

2015 Schedule
56 Games (38 Home, 18 Away, 4 Neutral)

February (2014 Record, Final RPI)
Kansas (35-26, 91)
13th - W
14th - W
15th - W
Nicholls (31-26, 111)
18th - W
Boston College (22-33, 223)
20th - W
21st - W
22nd - W
Southeastern Louisiana (38-25, 71)
25th - W
Princeton (14-26, 252)
27th - W
28th - W

March
Princeton (14-26, 252)
1st - L
Stephen F. Austin (20-35, 244)
3rd - W
Grambling (17-31, 229)
4th - W

***Houston College Classic***
6th – #7 Houston (48-18, 8) - W
7th – Baylor (26-31, 174) - W
8th – Nebraska (41-21, 35) - L

McNeese St. (29-28, 134)
11th - W
#18 Ole Miss (48-21, 21)
13th - W
14th - L
15th - W
@ Southern (10-25, 281)
17th - W
@ #16 Arkansas (40-25, 61)
19th - L
20th - L
21st - W
@ Tulane (23-29, 191)
24th - W
Kentucky (37-25, 73)
27th - W
28th - W
29th - W

***Wally Pontiff Classic***
ULL (58-10, 1)
31st - L

April
@ #20 Alabama (37-24, 67)
2nd - W
3rd - L
4th - W
UNO (10-38, 298)
7th - W
Northwestern St. (32-36, 105)
8th - W
Auburn (28-28, 140)
10th - W
11th - W
12th - L
Lamar (31-25, 104)
15th - W
@ Georgia (26-29-1, 160)
17th - W
18th - L
19th - W
Tulane (23-29, 191)
21st - W
#17 Texas A&M (36-26, 85)
23rd - W
24th - W
25th - L
Alcorn St. (11-41, 295)
28th - W
@ #20 Mississippi St. (39-24, 58)
30th - L

May
@ #20 Mississippi St. (39-24, 58)
1st - W
2nd - L
Missouri (20-33, 240)
8th - W
9th - W
10th - W
@ UNO (10-38, 298)
12th - W
@ #5 South Carolina (44-18, 15)
14th - W
15th - L
16th - W

Projected 2015 Regular Season record, SEC Record
43-13, 20-10

Postseason
May 19-24 – SEC Tournament (Hoover, AL)
May 29-1 – NCAA Regionals
June 5-8 – NCAA Super Regionals
June 13-24 – College World Series (Omaha, NE)

More Projections...

National Top 8 Seeds (In no particular order)

TCU
Vanderbilt
LSU
Cal St Fullerton
UCLA
Houston
Virginia
Miami

Other 8 Regional Hosts

Florida
Nebraska
Oklahoma State
Oregon
North Carolina
South Carolina
Alabama
Texas

This post was edited on 1/27/15 at 7:09 pm