Mainieri: Budget cuts having an impact on LSU baseball

The LSU baseball team lost out on a high-quality recruit because of concerns about how budget cuts will impact the university, Coach Paul Mainieri told the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge today. Josh Bell, an outfielder from Dallas, had committed to be part of the team’s 2012 recruiting class. Baseball America currently has Bell listed as the sixth-best high school baseball player in the country. But budget cuts forced LSU to take away the legacy scholarship they were going to give Bell that would have supplemented his partial athletic scholarship, Mainieri says. Bell’s mother was also concerned about how state budget cuts could affect LSU’s academic standing. Bell is now committed to play baseball for Texas. Mainieri says the college baseball landscape is much more competitive now because former LSU Coach Skip Bertman showed rival schools that a quality program could be a money maker for universities. “In the SEC, the 11 other teams are capable of winning national championships,” he says. While the Tigers are set to begin practice for the 2011 season this month, Mainieri didn’t talk specifically about the team to the Rotary audience. Instead, he talked broadly about the benefits of hard work and his aim to meet fan expectations of having a winning team. LSU opens the 2011 season Feb. 18 at home against Wake Forest. The Tigers, who captured the 2009 College World Series title, are seeking their third CWS appearance in the past four seasons. They’re ranked 15th in the preseason Collegiate Baseball poll, behind three other SEC schools: Florida, Vanderbilt and South Carolina. —Timothy Boone