PITTSBURGH — Alex Presley is trying to buck a trend.

When he stepped into the batter’s box Thursday afternoon at PNC Park, the 26-year-old left fielder became the Pirates’ 10th different Opening Day leadoff hitter in 11 years.

Adrian Brown, Kenny Lofton, Tike Redman, Matt Lawton, Chris Duffy, Nate McLouth, Nyjer Morgan, Aki Iwamura and Jose Tabata have all preceded him in that role.

“I plan on being here for a while, though I know that’s out of my control,” Presley said. “I know I can do this.”

The Pirates need him to do it.

Promoted from Class AAA Indianapolis June 27 of last year, Presley produced 20 multi-hit games for the Pirates in 2011. The team won 14 of those.

He collected three hits in a game six times. The Pirates won all six of those.

“You need to get off to good starts in innings,” Pirate manager Clint Hurdle said. “Alex had a good at-bat (Thursday) against a guy (Roy Halladay) who knows how to miss the barrel.”

Presley opened the Pirates’ season Thursday by working the count against Halladay before lining a solid single to left-center field. Tabata followed with a dribbler down the third base line for the Bucs’ second — and final hit — of the day against Halladay.

“He adjusts to you as a hitter every at-bat,” Presley said. “With Halladay, no at-bat is like your previous at-bat. You’re going to see a totally different pattern.

“When he adjusts, you as a hitter have to adjust back. I know that’s what I need to do.”

The Pirates will face another ace hurler in Cliff Lee Saturday night before hitting the road to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Arizona, where they will face Cy Young winners Clayton Kershaw and Tim Lincecum, Arizona ace Ian Kennedy, among others.

Presley has no problem with it.

“That’s OK. That’s what we want,” he said. “We have to figure it out against good pitching if we’re going to be successful.”

In leading off Thursday, Presley was trying to jump-start a PNC Park record crowd of 39,585.

Igniting a ballgame is part of what a leadoff hitter wants to accomplish, he said.

“No doubt, there’s a different mindset to batting first in the lineup,” Presley admitted. “You can get things going right away, get the crowd into it, but you want to take a lot of pitches, let the other guys in the lineup see what the opposing starter has that day. That’s where being a team player comes in.

“Sure, you want to get on base, but it’s not that simple. The responsibility runs much deeper than that.”

Presley spent ample time in the leadoff spot in the minor leagues, hitting .333 at Indianapolis prior to his recall last year and .350 in 246 at-bats with Class AA Altoona in 2010.

“It can be difficult because sometimes you have to allow yourself to get down in the count,” Presley said. “But it pays off in the long run.”

And the Pirates’ long stretch of changing leadoff hitters doesn’t bother him, either.

“If I have success at the plate, I know I’m going to be here,” Presley said. “We have a lot of young guys in this lineup thinking that same way.”

Notes: Only two players from the Pirates’ 2010 Opening Day lineup — Garrett Jones and Andrew McCutchen — are even on the team anymore. The other seven starters that day were Iwamura, Ryan Doumit, Lastings Milledge, Jeff Clement, Andy LaRoche, Ronny Cedeno and Zach Duke. ... Pitcher Juan Cruz, who struck out the side in the ninth inning Thursday, is the only non-roster invitee to make the team. ... Matt Hague’s seven spring training home runs tied Freddie Freeman and Albert Pujols for the most in all of baseball.