Before the bottom of the ninth inning, senior shortstop Kramer Robertson, senior second baseman Cole Freeman and junior outfielder Greg Deichmann walked off the field at Alex Box one last time while wearing an LSU jersey.
What they said to each other? “We did it.”
But just two years ago when the LSU baseball team earned a trip to Omaha, Robertson had a very different experience.
He drove home to Waco, Texas feeling like a failure.
“I was looking back at my first two years here and I just felt like I let people down,” he said.
On the drive home, Robertson considered his options, one of them being to transfer from the program and continue his career elsewhere.
His other option, stay and prove that he could be successful. You can probably guess which option he went with.
In his sophomore season, Robertson started 12 games at second base and batted just .232 while dealing with a shoulder injury.
Safe to say, his time as LSU had not been what he expected.
Robertson was cleared to play in the College World Series, but coach Paul Mainieri didn’t take him on the trip with the team due to travel restrictions.
In the 2016 season, Robertson returned with a vengeance and started in all 66 games at shortstop, becoming a proven leader of the LSU baseball team.
But he still didn’t make the trip to the College World Series, and he has never forgotten the moment that Coastal Carolina celebrated in Alex Box stadium.
For his own motivation, Robertson’s phone background was of him on the ground of the stadium following the loss.
He was finally able to change that, and said it would be done before he even went to bed.
Until Monday morning, at 1:36 a.m., Omaha was something Robertson was only able to dream about.
Before his final at-bat in Alex Box, Robertson tipped his hat off to a crowd of around 5,000, all standing as one chanting his name.
Robertson finished the night 3-for-5 at the plate and played a major role in the team’s 14-4 win.
In last year’s Major League Baseball draft, Robertson was the 962nd overall pick by the Cleveland Indians in the 32nd round.
On Tuesday, Robertson was picked up in the 4th round by the St. Louis Cardinals as the 124th overall pick.
Following the Super Regional loss to Coastal Carolina in 2016, Robertson, Deichmann, Freeman and Poche had to decide if they would come back to play in purple and gold one more time.
The decision for Deichmann was easy he said, considering it was just his sophomore season.
One could say that the decision for Robertson was easy as well. He said that he knew he had a lot more to give.
“One by one,” Deichmann said, “It fell into place. We all decided to come back and you call us the fab four or whatever, but there’s so many parts to this team. To have Kramer and Cole up the middle, Pap behind the plate and Poche back on the mound, it’s like I said, there’s so many parts to this.”
Poche was the last one to make his decision and essentially the last piece of the puzzle, according to Deichmann.
“Walking off the field at Alex Box,” Poche said, “It’s something that’s very hard to describe and it gives me chills every time.”
“For all of us to come back with one goal in mind and to accomplish that and do it in front of the greatest fans in college baseball,” Deichmann said, “It’s humbling.”
So, after four years, Robertson finally got the dog pile he was waiting for, and certainly won’t be left behind for this trip to Omaha.
