BATON ROUGE — When the NCAA baseball tournament selection show was complete, LSU coach Paul Mainieri rushed straight his computer.

“I went and Googled ‘Lehigh,’” he said.

No, the search did not come back with “Lee Who?”

But it hasn’t been an easy task getting information about the Tigers’ opening-round opponent in the Baton Rouge regional.

The Mountain Hawks did once play a Southeastern Conference team, but that was Alabama — a mere 108 years ago.

“I got as much information as I could through social media, the Internet,” Mainieri said. “I have a few friends up in the Northeast as well that are somewhat familiar with the program and they shared some input.”

The school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was founded by a philanthropic railroad baron in 1860, and is best known for its highly respected School of Engineering.

But that’s not important now for Mainieri.

He might have just called Lehigh coach Sean Leary for the lowdown.

“We believe in sprinting on and off the field and we bring a lot of energy,” Leary said Thursday by way of a self-scouting report on his Mountain Hawks. “In general, if we’re throwing strikes and catching the ball we’re competitive. On the offensive side, we run a little bit.”

The basics are that the Tigers (48-10), the No. 2 national seed, will be playing the only team in the 64-team field with a losing record (25-29), a team making its second NCAA tournament appearance and looking for its first victory.

The Tigers will open the regional followed by the nightcap between No. 2 seed North Carolina-Wilmington (39-16) against No. 3 Tulane (34-23).

The two losers play an elimination game at 3 p.m. Saturday with the winners meeting at 8 p.m.

“We have nothing to lose,” Leary said. “It’s a little different environment than we’re used to. We’re using every minute to get accustomed to the size of the place and the stage that we will be on.”

“This is sort of the Duke (basketball) of college baseball; you know you’re going to have a challenge, it might as well be an awesome environment where people appreciate the game and there will be a full stands.

“We know that comes with tremendous talent on the other side. But our guys are excited. This is where we want to be.”

LSU is in more familiar territory — and not just the famed postseason environment of The Box.

Mainieri makes sure of that.

“I try to make the regional as normal as possible,” he said.

That’s why he spends the entire season, he said, putting as much pressure on his team as possible, “trying to make them do everything perfect” whether it’s a big Southeastern Conference series or a midweek yawner.

“I do it so that when we get to the postseason and the regional they don’t have to try harder or do anything out of the ordinary.

“It’s still the game of baseball.”

On paper it looks like a mismatch.

But recently these No. 1 seed vs. No. 4 seed games haven’t been the walkovers most LSU fans are probably expecting.

In last year’s regional opener the Tigers scored six runs in their final two at-bats to beat Southeastern Louisiana 8-4. A year earlier it was an 11-7 victory over Jackson State. In 2012 LSU needed three seventh-inning runs to beat Louisiana-Monroe 4-1.

And, of course, there’s Stony Brook.

But before Stony Brook shocked LSU in the super regional three years ago, the Cinderellas were a No. 4 seed that went the road to beat Miami in its own regional.

“Our guys should come out loose, and that’s our intention,” Leary said. “Play your game and maybe get a break or two you find yourself in a ballgame that maybe you can sneak away with.

“We want to see their closer. That means we’re in the game late.”

(MGNonline)