Dubois: On one hand, win; on the other ...

• By CARL DUBOIS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Apr 1, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Paul Mainieri wants to win every game. He wants to develop all his pitchers.

He’s finding out it’s a bear to try to do both at the same time.

Mainieri’s second LSU baseball team (16-10) is 3-6 in the SEC as the season’s midpoint approaches. His first team finished 29-26-1 overall, 12-17-1 in conference play.

Jared Bradford won or saved 10 of those 12 SEC victories. A No. 1-ranked recruiting class was supposed to take some pressure off him this season.

In some cases it has, but Bradford is still on call every time he’s in uniform. After briefly being the Friday night starter, he’s back to being a reliever here, a starter there, and the guy you call to fix that leaky pipe no matter the hour.

More than a year’s worth of quotes from Mainieri tell you he thinks Bradford gives LSU its best chance to win, but there is a downside to using him so often, and not just because of the risk of overuse.

The more Bradford throws, the less some of the younger pitchers have a chance to develop through game competition.

Midweek games — like the one tonight at Southern and Wednesday against Centenary — have typically been the time when pitchers gain experience in college baseball.

Skip Bertman thrived in testing their limits in February, March and April to find out if they could cut it in May and June.

You might lose a few games early, he reasoned, but you’d win more later if you developed an extra arm or two and knew what you had on your staff for the late season and the postseason.

When a pitcher came out of nowhere to thrive in an important game, Bertman would remind everybody of that Tuesday or Wednesday night when he put him through the paces, seemingly leaving out in the wind without rescue.

That’s one of the most meaningful ways a pitcher develops: He’s tested, and he tries to push the envelope. His coach finds out what kind of character and ability he has under duress, with fatigue setting in.