Last season, LSU junior shortstop Kramer Robertson sat at home and watched the Tigers play on his television in the last year’s NCAA Tournament.
Nursing an elbow injury from earlier in the 2015 season, Robertson said sitting in the stands or in the dugout would be too “brutal.” Fast forward to the 2016 season, Roberston, a Louisville Slugger second-team All-American, will get his chance to play when LSU takes on Utah Valley on Friday at 2 p.m. in Alex Box Stadium.
“I haven’t missed any sleep,” Robertson said. “I haven’t been tossing and turning. I think it might hit me tomorrow when I go out there. But, I’m excited. I’m just going to treat it just like any other game. I know it’s not, but I feel like after having 60 games under my belt, I’ll feel comfortable.”
Most of the players on this LSU team haven’t played in a NCAA tournament game, but they aren’t using that as an excuse.
After playing a tough conference schedule and advancing to the semifinal game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, many players feel prepared for what the postseason will bring.
“We’ve all played 40 something games,” said freshman right fielder Antoine Duplantis. “That’s almost two seasons for most high school teams. We’ve all got a bunch of games under our belt, a bunch of at-bats. There’s really no excuse for saying that we’re young anymore.”
It’s the fifth straight season LSU will host a NCAA Regional and the third time LSU junior pitcher Jared Poche’ will play in the NCAA Tournament. As a freshman, Poche’ made his NCAA Tournament debut in an 8-4 win against Southeastern Louisiana.
Having a veteran presence on the mound was one of the factors for LSU coach Paul Mainieri chose to start the Lutcher native, but he doesn’t want to overlook Utah Valley at all.
“Poche’ has been our No. 1 or No. 2 starter for his whole career here,” Mainieri said. “Clearly Alex Lange is the guy, if you’re fortunate to make it to the winners bracket you’d like to have him go. But we’re not playing a cupcake in this first game.”
Utah Valley is making its first trip to the NCAA Tournament, but has beaten a few quality opponents this season. The Wolverines (37-21) beat then-No. 5 Oregon State 12-9 and won three games against Pac-12 conference champion Utah.
The Wolverines also won a series against a common LSU opponent, Sacramento State earlier the Tigers also took defeated in a series. Utah Valley hasn’t made too many appearances on television, which makes life a little bit harder for Mainieri.
Mainieri and company had to scour through stats sheets and player profiles to find out any information on the Wolverines.
But the advantage of playing within the friendly confines of Alex Box Stadium has the Tigers more “loose” and relaxed going into this weekend.
“We’re practicing pretty loose and have the right amount of focus,” Robertson said. “It’s been a really good week for us and I think we’re ready to play.”
