LSU junior pitcher Jared Poche’ sat watching on the bullpen bench as his team fell down 2-0 in a crucial win or go home Regional Championship game.
Three days ago, he labored through a six inning 92-pitch, eight strikeout performance in the regional opener. Now he was being called upon to save the
Tigers’ hopes. He entered the game to bring balance to a sputtering LSU offense and to relax a young squad.
Accustomed to these pressure packed situations, Poche’, a veteran who’s pitched in the College World Series, delivered a six inning, one hit performance that added to the illustrious history of LSU baseball.
“I was just going out there and throwing up as many zeros as I can,” Poche, said tossing 69 pitches with 50 of them being strikes.
The clutch performance by the hurler has become a common occurrence for a squad that’s 16-3 since and 6-1 in one run game since May 6. It’s almost as if the team feeds off adversity.
These performances have become a “microcosm” of the ups and downs LSU has had this season.
“There’s been a lot of wonderful moments this year, and there’s been some pretty low valleys too,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said after defeating Rice to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals.
It feels as if every game a different player picks up the role of “Mr. Clutch.”
Recently it was sophomore first baseman Greg Deichmann, who belted a game-tying home run against Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. More recently, he hit a go-ahead home run versus Rice that was “mauled” out of Alex Box Stadium in the Regional Final.
This roster may not be littered with former All-Americans like Alex Bregman or Andrew Stevenson, but it does have one characteristic that can not be coached — toughness and grit.
Junior shortstop Kramer Robertson, who wasn’t on LSU’s postseason roster last season, is the epitome of the grit of this team. Some fans will name a marsupial as the key to the Tigers’ run of late, but it was Robertson who hit the game-winning single against Arkansas a few innings after he was pelted in the face by a relay throw.
His latest heroic effort was swinging on a pitch that was eye-level to execute a perfect hit and run, igniting LSU’s 5-2 come-from-behind win against Rice.
While it remains to be seen just how far LSU will go, it is close enough to be only two wins away from reaching the College World Series.
“We got two to go to get to Omaha,” Mainieri said. “That’s every young man’s dream. They come to LSU for three reasons, they want to get a degree, they want to Omaha and they want to prepare themselves to play in the major leagues … Omaha is sniffing distance away. It’s so close they can taste it.”
Joshua Thorton is a 21-year-old communication studies senior from Jacksonville, Florida.