LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri said he told us so.

“I keep saying it every year that in opening games you never know what to expect, you never know what’s going to happen,” declared Mainieri, who probably didn’t fathom his No. 1 ranked Tigers would get pushed to the limit by Louisiana-Monroe before escaping with a 12-7 season opening victory Friday night.

Mainieri nor anyone else in the crowd of 12,404, the fourth largest in Alex Box Stadium history, could have predicted how LSU would win its 18th consecutive season opener.

They had no idea that just two Tigers – senior right fielder Antoine Duplantis and sophomore left fielder DanielCabrera – would account for all four LSU homers, 11 of the team’s 12 RBIs and five of the 10 hits.

No one imagined Tigers’ junior starting pitcher Zack Hess would struggle mightily in his first start of the year for the second straight season, allowing five runs on six hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Nobody knew for sure if redshirt sophomore pitcher Eric Walker could return to form after sitting out last season recovering from Tommy John surgery.

But in the course of this season’s first 3½ hours, there were positive glimpses of how the Tigers responded to adversity. The first instance happened after Hess, LSU’s most seasoned hurler, got knocked around like a batting practice chunker.

“We just seemed to fight until we got it,” said Duplantis, who had six RBI from his pair of homers that included a grand slam. “I never had a doubt we were going to lose this game.”

Maybe Duplantis and the rest of the team weren’t concerned. But the same thing happened with Hess last season in his first start of the year. Notre Dame tagged him for five hits and eight runs before he was mercifully pulled in the third inning after issuing the last of his eight walks.

So why the repeat on Friday when Hess gave up two homers?

“Zack was throwing hard, but he had just trouble throwing his slider,” said Mainieri, whose team plays Army at 2 p.m. today. “He was a one-pitch pitcher and UL-Monroe is a fastball hitting team. He’s going to have to develop that slider if he wants to be a quality starting pitcher, but he knows that and I’m not down on him.”

Hess acknowledged he didn’t have his stuff and credited the visiting Warhawks.

“They put some good swings on me,” Hess said. “But luckily we had Daniel Cabrera and Antoine Duplantis. They put the team on their backs and carried us to victory.”

With two home runs, five RBI and two dazzling plays in the field including turning a diving catch into a double play, Cabrera enjoyed one of the best season-opening performances in LSU history.

He started with an RBI single in the first inning. Then, he cracked a two-run homer in the bottom of third to cut the UL-Monroe lead to 5-4 and tied the game at 5-5 with a solo shot in the sixth.

But for all his handiwork at the plate going 3-for-4, his fielding stole the show, especially his sliding catch in the UL-Monroe eighth that started an inning-ending double play.

The Warhawks had already scored twice to take a 7-5 lead when UL-Monroe right fielder Trent Tingelstad hit a one-out sinking liner into left field. Cabrera made a grass-skimming diving catch, immediately popped to his feet and airmailed a laser beam throw to LSU first baseman Drew Bianco in doubling up Warhawks’ base runner Ryan Humeniuk.

“Threw on the fly,” admiring LSU shortstop Josh Smith said. “Drew didn’t even have to move his hands. It was a perfect throw.”

Mainieri, after watching all the extra work Cabrera has put in to become a better fielder, chalked up the clutch play to practice makes perfect.

“We know Daniel can hit,” Mainieri said, “but tonight with his defense he looked like a complete player. He looked like a big leaguer. That’s the standard we have for him.”

Cabrera said there was something magical about the season opener that inspired him.

“I felt good at the plate, I felt good in the field,” Cabrera said. “It was just a special opening night. The fans brought the energy for us.”

It was Duplantis, who Cabrera described as “my hitting buddy who has really improved my hitting,” who put the finishing touches on the victory.

Duplantis, who decided to return to LSU after being chosen in the 19th round of the MLB Draft by Cleveland last June, started Friday night 0-for-3 at the plate before launching a two-run homer in the seventh and a grand slam in the eighth.

“I told my friends I was going to let it rip this weekend and see what happens,” said Duplantis, whose two homers equaled his season totals of each of his first three Tigers’ seasons.

In between the Cabrera and Duplantis barrage of bombs, Walker’s economical relief work – one hit and no runs allowed with two strikeouts in 2.1 innings – settled the Tigers in the fifth and sixth innings and into the seventh.

“It felt really good, baseball is more fun than I remembered,” said Walker, who last played in a game on June 19, 2017 when he hurt his arm in the second inning in the College World Series against Oregon State. “I like to think I’m back to where I was. As far as mechanics and pitching, I felt like my old self.”

Three players making their LSU debuts – freshman Bianco and junior college transfers Saul Garza at designated hitter and catcher Brock Mathis – were a combined 1-of-8 at the plate.

Bianco redeemed himself with a leaping backhand stab of a fourth inning-ending rocket line drive off the bat UL-Monroe third baseman Chad Bell.

LSU freshman pitcher Landon Marceaux will be in today’s newbie spotlight as the starter vs. Army. Marceaux struck out 17 and allowed three hits in 13.1 innings of preseason intrasquad scrimmages.