Things are looking up at the Box:

I have to admit, I wasn't convinced back in the day that Paul Mainieri was the right man for the job. A great recruiting class probably means less in college baseball than any other major college sport, but it's certainly a step in the right direction. Kudos to Mainieri.

Wow, the last two weeks have pretty much been hell on the work front. I've barely had time to sit on my couch, much less put together anything substantive to post, so it will probably take me a few days to get back in the flow. I'm also moving right now, which definitely won't help things. On to more important things, like LSU sports.

It appears the baseball team actually does have a pulse. LSU has won back-to-back series against No. 13 Ole Miss (who can still Geaux to Hell) and No. 15 Mississippi State. Looking at the statistics and trying to figure out how this team is one game under .500 in conference play is a virtual impossibility: a .259 batting average compared to .298 for opponents, a 5.62 ERA against 3.87 for opponents, 33 errors to 20 for opponents. But somehow the team is getting it done.

As of right now, LSU would be the No. 7 seed in the SEC Tournament, which in the past has all but guaranteed an NCAA Tournament bid. At this point, any type of postseason would be a victory for the program (sad, isn't it).

I'm still not sold on coach Paul Mainieri, but I wasn't on Les Miles at this point in his LSU career either. Really only time will tell whether Mainieri has the chops to live up to LSU's rediculous expectations, or eve come close. But the fact he has the Tigers in the hunt for the SEC Tournament is pretty impressive for the first-year coach. Now, if he can just recruit.

If the season ended today, the LSU baseball team would miss the SEC and NCAA Tournament's for the second-straight season. How the mighty have fallen. Just a couple years removed from an SEC Championship, the baseball program is scraping the barrel in the conference and the future isn't looking terribly bright at the moment.

LSU has just one player hitting better than .300, Blake Dean, but nobody above the magic mark in SEC play. The days of "Gorilla Ball" are so far gone that no player on the current squad ever played with someone that could be considered a Gorilla Baller. Unless you count Nicholas Pontiff playing the back yard with Wally Jr., as a kid.

The pitching isn't much better. Only Jared Bradford has a sub-4.00 ERA among the four sometimes starters . When loooking at relievers with at least 10 innings pitched, LSU has as many hurlers with ERA's over five as under four.

If the season ended today the Tigers would unceremonially claim 10th place in the conference and have their Memorial Day weekend free to watch other teams battle it out for the SEC crown in Birmingham. Hopefully, Paul Mainieri can get the crew to pick it up a notch for the final six series.

The good news is that, as bad as LSU has been, they're only one game back of Kentucky for the eighth and final spot in the SEC Touranment. The bad news is that three of their first four SEC weekend's were against teams currently in places eight, nine and 12 in the conference standings. And they don't play No. 11 Georgia. Going only 4-7-1 against that kind of competition makes me cringe at the thought of how they'll fare against team's 1-7.

LSU's baseball team did as expected this weekend and dropped two of three to top-ranked oSouth Carolina. The Gamecocks have become the gold standard of the SEC over the past eight years or so, repeatedly having the most talent in the conference and often living up that promise. LSU (13-9) is a long way from where it was as a program in the 90s and one wonders whether they'll ever get back there. I don't know of anyone who ever expects to win five national titles in a 10-year span again, but it wouldn't hurt to see the Tigers threaten to go to Omaha every once in a while.

It's way too early to start piling on new head coach Paul Mainieri, but it's obvious this team doesn't have the talent to compete for a championship right now, especially in a league as tough as the SEC. It's not his fault as he just took over, but with an anemic .236 batting average, this team is clearly going to struggle the rest of the way. The pitching staff isn't doing much to pick up the slack with a 4.59 earned-run average. How has this team won 13 games? It's a miracle!