MRI reveals “flared up” old stress fracture in O’Neal Lochridge’s back

No timetable set for return to lineup

By JAMES MORAN
Tiger Rag Associate Editor

An MRI revealed freshman third baseman O’Neal Lochridge has aggravated an old stress fracture in his back, Paul Mainieri told Tiger Rag in a phone interview after Wednesday’s 9-4 victory over UNO.

Lochridge missed his third consecutive game attributed to back stiffness. Mainieri isn’t sure when the Lafayette native will be able to return to the lineup.

“I don’t think they’re going to do surgery or anything like that,” Mainieri said. “It’s a matter of how he feels. It could be a week, could be three.”

Fellow freshman Chris Reid started his third consecutive game at the hot corner in Lochridge’s absence. He’s gone 3-for-10 with two walks, two runs scored, one RBI and, perhaps most importantly, no errors in the field.

“I think Chris has handled himself well,” Mainieri said. “He’s done a good job. He’s gotten a few hits and made most of the plays. So at least it’s not going to be devastating to us if Chris can play a pretty good brand of ball.”

Mainieri didn’t commit to Reid being the everyday third baseman while Lochridge is out, saying that he and another freshman, Trey Dawson, will both continue to work there moving forward.

“We’ll just make do with what our situation is,” Mainieri said. “It’s a tough situation for O’Neal because I felt like he was really coming on and now has this setback. But we’ll just have to take the next-man up mentality.”