For about 15 minutes in the bottom of the second, it seemed as if the wheels were starting to fall off for LSU, and its season was about to come to a close.
A dearth of pitching options led LSU coach Paul Mainieri to hand the ball to his freshman lefty Jake Latz. With the Tigers already down 1-0, Latz walked a batter and hit another forcing Mainieri to pull his southpaw for junior pitcher Russell Reynolds.
Reynolds loaded the bases and nearly allowed more runs, but junior shortstop Kramer Robertson made a leaping grab in shallow left that saved at least one run.
Fresh off throwing 92 pitches on Friday, Mainieri turned to his veteran, junior pitcher Jared Poche’ to settle things down. It served as the turning point for LSU, Mainieri said.
“We would not be sitting here talking about winning the Regional if it was not for Jared Poche’s performance,” Mainieri said. “I’m glad Greg [Deichmann] got the MVP award, but really we couldn’t have won without Poche’. He shut them down and gave our team hope. Hope is a wonderful thing.”
Poche’ (9-4) labored through six innings, retiring 17 batters and striking out six to bring life to a deflated LSU team that had two hits through six frames. Mainieri said he only expected to pitch his southpaw for about three innings, but once he got into a groove it was hard to take him out.
“Coming in, I wasn’t sure how long I was going to go,” Poche’ said. “Obviously it was a win or go home game. I gave it everything I had. I knew those guys were going to click eventually.”
Poche’s shutdown performance was rewarded with three runs in the bottom of the seventh, set up by Robertson. Following a leadoff walk, Robertson said he knew he had to “find a way” to get on base to spark his team’s offense.
Robertson swung on a pitch that was about as high as his forehead to execute a textbook hit and run, moving Fraley to third base.
“Coach emphasizes the hit-and-run,” Roberston said. “It was a really big play; if you can execute it, it’s a game changer.”
After designated hitter Bryce Jordan hit a sacrifice fly to drive in the Tigers’ first run, sophomore Greg Deichmann finished the Tigers’ rally.
One swing and 417 feet later, Deichmann provided LSU with its first lead of the game with his two-run homer over the center field wall.
“I got up there aggresive looking for something to hit,” Deichmann said. “He left it up for me, and I was able to get my hands up to it and I just put a great swing on it. Big moment for us, it kind of added onto Poche’s outing.”
Robertson added: “He’s probably one of a handful of guys in college baseball that can hit the ball like that. Off the bat, I wasn’t thinking it was a home run … When I saw it go over the fence, as I do sometimes, I kind of lose where I am and black out and just start going crazy.”
LSU would add two more runs in the top of the eighth to make the score 5-2,put an end the Owls’ season and advancing to the Super Regionals.
The Tigers will host a Super Regional for the third straight season when Coastal Carolina comes to Alex Box Stadium on Saturday at 8 p.m.
“We’re going to have a team coming here that is not only very talented, but very confident,” Mainieri said.
