After just three hits through eight innings, including none in the first five, LSU was one inning away from being shut out by Tennessee in its series opener. Miraculously, a fan’s expulsion sparked a six-run ninth inning and Jared Jones’ walk-off home run.
LSU trailed by three runs in the final inning of Game 1 against the Volunteers. A complete lack of offensive juice left them face to face with an opening loss in what was eventually the highest attended baseball weekend in LSU baseball history.
Despite the slow start, a packed student section kept its energy all game, eventually reaching a tipping point.
“It was still high the whole game, just because most people there were drunk,” senior finance major Jack Cryblskey said. “They were just heckling the right fielder the whole time.”
When a fan threw a ball on the field, feet away from the Vols outfielder, play was quickly stopped and security came looking for the culprit.
“He’s pointing up in the stands,” Cryblskey said. “I think the right fielder grabbed it and pointed it down to me. I was just like, ‘Me? What?’”
Security immediately moved to throw Cryblskey out, while being protested by the entire student section who saw he was not the one to do it.
Cryblskey obliges and exits the stadium. Naturally undeterred from experiencing the game’s outcome, he waits outside the student gate and has his friends relay him updates from nearby.
Immediately, fantastically, the hits start coming.
Dalton Beck singles to score two. Derek Curiel singles to tie it. The stands are pounding.
Then, Jones steps up to the plate and rips the fourth pitch 452 feet for a three-run walk-off home run. He pauses, watches his moonshot and slowly paces towards first.
“Honestly when he hit the home run, I thought he struck out because I could see the big jumbotron in center field and all I saw was him picking up his bat and walking,” Cryblskey said. “I didn’t realize he had just pimped a homer.”
Half a second later, as the stadium erupted, Cryblskey was quickly able to determine what had occurred.
“I was jumping up and down outside the gate, I probably looked like a lunatic.”
Heading home at 1 a.m., following a game he had only been able to attend because of its late start time, Cryblskey got a surprise on Twitter.
Mik’d Up dubbed him the rally student and LSU Barstool called for his entire tuition to be covered. Cryblskey drew comparisons to the famous rally possum, when a possum ran onto the field in 2016 and sparked an LSU comeback against Arkansas.
On the website Tiger Droppings, Cryblskey and his friend were credited with sparking the late-game rally. The two were nicknamed “rally tossem” and “double bird kid,” the latter of which was inspired by a certain enthusiastic hand gesture.
Cryblskey’s friend took advantage of his new fame and posted his Venmo on the site, eventually amassing a payout of $400.
Perhaps more rewarding, in an interview the next day, Cryblskey was informed that some of the players on the team credited his tossing as a spark to their comeback.
He returned to the stands for Game 2, this time giving plenty of handshakes, accepting drinks and blowing all $400 on beer at the game.
“We already burned it at the game Saturday,” he said. “The drinks at the game, you know how expensive they are.”
LSU went on to win the series, a pivotal outcome against a top contender like Tennessee. Cryblskey became one of few responsible for winning a college baseball game without holding the title of player, coach or umpire.
