Every kid fantasizes about standing on the pitcher’s mound in the ninth inning with the game on the line.
They imagine the bases loaded with two outs, a full count and a home run hitter at the plate. In those situations, the kid always gets the batter, ends the hypothetical threat and carries the team to victory.
In reality, only certain people can handle those situations. Most can’t, and LSU coach Paul Mainieri is still searching for the guy who can.
“[The final three outs] are the most difficult outs to get,” Mainieri said. “The thing that’s great about baseball is that the clock never runs out anybody. You have to earn all 27 outs. You have to have a pitcher out there that has a lot of composure, a lot of poise, a lot of confidence.”
Though LSU hasn’t entered the ninth inning in a save situation this season, Mainieri has primarily used three different pitchers to close out games — sophomore Nick Rumbelow, junior Nick Goody and freshman Aaron Nola.
Before the season, Mainieri focused on those three pitchers as the guys who would compete to be the team’s closer once Southeastern Conference play begins. Of the three, Mainieri singled out Rumbelow as the one most likely to take that duty.
But things haven’t gone according to plan for the Bullard, Texas, native. Rumbelow has a 9.82 ERA through 7.1 innings of work. He’s faced 34 batters, surrendering two home runs and six walks.
The low point for Rumbelow came when he allowed five earned runs against McNeese State on Feb. 29, a day after throwing a shutout inning against Grambling State. His last appearance was on March 3, when he surrendered a run in the seventh inning against Dartmouth.
“He told us after the game that his arm was a little bit sore,” Mainieri said. “We were trying desperately to get him going. We’ll give him a few days off, and hopefully his arm will feel better, and we’ll get him back out there soon.”
When Rumbelow does come back, Mainieri said his return likely won’t be to close out a game.
“At this point, I wouldn’t say so,” Mainieri said. “But it’s a long season and things will change. It’s hard for me to say exactly how we’re going to do it.”
Rumbelow’s absence will likely open the door for Goody and Nola.
Goody hasn’t allowed a run in six innings of work this season. The transfer from State College of Florida in Sarasota has struck out seven batters compared to zero walks. He threw a scoreless ninth inning in an 8-4 victory against Dartmouth.
Nola, who has also served as a mid-week starter, has allowed just one earned run in five innings of relief work this season. Nola has thrown 14 strikeouts with just one walk.
But Nola said there isn’t a competition between pitchers to become the closer.
“My relationship with the other guys is really good,” Nola said. “None of us are selfish. We push ourselves to get better.”
Mainieri said having multiple pitchers to rely on is a luxury, and he’s in no hurry to name one player as the closer.
“Hopefully you’ll have a chance to win each day over a three-day series,” Mainieri said. “The same pitcher can’t pitch at the end of the game all three times. There’s nothing wrong with having more than one guy you can count on. I’d love to have that situation.”
 
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Contact Hunter Paniagua at [email protected].