Mainieri clarifies comments about Tennessee heading into Super Regional

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Knoxville Super Regional has an extra bit of juice this weekend because of past comments made by LSU head coach Paul Mainieri after the Tigers were swept by Tennessee in late March.

Mainieri said that some fans were nasty toward freshman Tre’ Morgan and “the other team was not handling things with a lot of class.” Friday, the Tigers skipper apologized and poured some cold water on whatever heat may have developed.

“I really think it got blown out o

f proportion. I really did not mean to criticize anybody from the city or state or anything like that. They were just rooting for their team,” Mainieri said. “You go to any ballpark in the SEC, including Alex Box Stadium and you’re going to hear fans saying things to the other team to try and distract them away from their game and our players had to learn to handle that.

“There’s nothing said differently here that you’d find at Alex Box Stadium, Ole Miss, Texas A&M or any other ballpark in our league and it’s what makes it fun.”

Senior righty Ma’Khail Hilliard is getting the start Saturday evening against the Vols and while he says he doesn’t let the crowd get to him, Hilliard embraces the environment of road venues in the SEC.

“It’s gonna be great to go out there and take the ball first pitch and start the team off on a good track because I believe in everybody on the team and their abilities and whatever happens, happens, but I know that we’re going to lay it on the line tomorrow,” Hilliard says.

LSU won their first road regional since 1989 when they clipped the Oregon Ducks in the regional finale and also captured their first regional ever after losing the first game. Sports information director Bill Franques relayed that to Mainieri in Eugene, but he also had another fact for the head coach.

“I was blown away. He also told me LSU has never won a Super Regional on the road. I wish he would have waited until after the series to tell me that this year before this weekend, but we can make history this weekend, too,” Mainieri adds with a laugh.

The schedule of games for the Super Regional are below:

Game 1 – Saturday, June 12 @ 6 p.m. CT (ESPN2)

Game 2 – Sunday, June 13 @ 11 a.m. or 2 p.m. CT (ESPN2 or ESPNU)

Game 3 – Monday, June 14 (if necessary) @ 3 or 6 p.m. CT (ESPN2 or ESPNU)

This article originally ran on ktbs.com.