Paul Mainieri brought junior first baseman Tyler Moore near the dugout with the tying run on second in LSU’s regional game against Southeastern Louisiana. Logic would tell Mainieri to take out his left-handed hitter when going up against left handed reliever Matt Pittari.
But Moore had defied that logic all afternoon, so Mainieri left the choice up to the hot hitter.
“[Mainieri] just came up and said, ‘Hey what you think?’ and I told him I wanted to hit,” Moore said. “There’s nothing better than that, down by one with a guy on second. I couldn’t pass that up.”
Moore delivered just like he has so many times in the Tigers’ nine-game winning streak, getting a game-tying single on a 0-2 count. LSU (45-14-1, 17-11-1 Southeastern Conference) would continue the hitting in the eighth, leading to an 8-4 comeback win against Southeastern (37-24 18-12 Southland Conference).
But Moore’s importance began far before the hit in the 7th. With LSU struggling to get clutch hits for the first two-thirds of the game, the Baton Rouge native was the main spark.
Moore led the 2nd inning off with a walk, ultimately scoring via a groundout and two wild pitches by Southeastern starter Andro Cutura. He then led the 4th inning with a single, nearly scoring before he was forced out at home on a fielder’s choice. He would add one more single in the 5th as well.
With most of the team struggling against Cutura, Moore knew reaching base any way they could would maintain a positive feeling in the dugout.
“It was frustrating, because we were hitting a few balls hard and we just were not finding holes,” Moore said. “You just have to keep your confidence up, try to get some hits and score some guys however we could.”
The game-tying hit in the 7th reminded Mainieri of Moore’s heroics two years earlier against Stony Brook in Game 1 of the 2012 Super Regional. Moore led off the 12th inning of the game with a bloop single, and ultimately scored the game-winning run.
Most impressed with more was senior outfielder Sean McMullen. The fellow left-handed hitter spoke volumes about not only Moore’s hitting, but the counts in which he’s been able to get the hits.
Moore’s performance is coming off a remarkable run in the SEC Tournament, where he was named Tournament MVP. In the Tigers’ four games, Moore batted .364 with six RBIs, four runs scored and two home runs.
In the nine-game winning streak, Moore has done even better, batting .444 with 19 RBIs.
But there’s no secret Moore has unlocked in the last few weeks that led to the outburst. The guy who came up clutch in the 7th is the same one who started the season, and that isn’t going to change.
“This is the Tyler Moore you’re going to get. I’m the same Tyler Moore I was three months ago. So I’m going to continue to be Tyler Moore.”