Poche’s endurance kept Tigers viable

Published 6:21 am Wednesday, June 8, 2016

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">BATON ROUGE — LSU coach Paul Mainieri wanted it straight when Jared Poche came to the dugout after the eighth inning.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Mainieri: “How do you feel?”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Poche: “You want the truth?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Mainieri: “Yes.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Poche: “I’m done. I’m exhausted.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Poche was as blunt as he was effective.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Mainieri had already decided Poche wasn’t going back out for the ninth inning.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But LSU’s No. 2 starter’s honesty made it easier to sit him down after one of the epic makeshift relief jobs in the Tigers’ long postseason annals.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The only thing missing was a curtain call — and few Tigers ever deserved one more.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Gregory Deichmann’s monstrous, tape-measure home run will be on the highlights of yet another unlikely LSU postseason comeback to beat Rice 5-2 Tuesday afternoon to advance to the NCAA super regionals.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Shortstop Kramer Robertson will provide most of the quotes.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Since it was another rally ?— this one truly after playing dead for six innings — it will all somehow be connected to a silly Rally ’Possum in lore and legend.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But LSU is heading on in the NCAA tournament because of the tough, square-jawed, lefthanded Lutcher Bulldog.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Greg (Deichmann) is the MVP of the regional,” Robertson said in the afterglow. “Well-deserving. But we don’t win the regional today without Jared Poche.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“There’s not enough superlatives to describe what he did today,” added Robertson, who’s rarely at a loss for words. “I’m just amazed by it.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">You could even make a case for Robertson, who prevented a bigger deficit for Poche to inherit with an acrobatic catch with the bases loaded in the second inning and jump-started the Deichmann inning with a Houdini, hit-and-run single.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But none of it likely would have mattered if Poche, working on three days rest, had not shut down the Owls long enough to get LSU’s offense out of a strange, lethargic fog on the first clear day of the regional.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It was a Rice team that scored 25 runs on 29 hits in two victories Sunday, and looked to be picking up where it left off with more timely hits for single runs in the first and second innings Tuesday.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The way LSU’s offense was floundering early, it had a chance to be a smouldering mess for the Tigers by the time the game entered the stretch run.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Enter Poche to start the third.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And have a seat, Owls.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He sat down the first 16 Rice hitters he faced, one after another, inning after inning, eventually giving up one hit in six full innings before admitting he was done.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“That probably was about as well as he’s ever thrown,” Mainieri said — before remembering that Poche threw a shutout in the regional final last year.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“I don’t know if he’s ever had a more important one,” Mainieri said in the rethinking.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Mainieri was hoping to get three innings out of him — later in the game than when the desperate measures came up.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The original pitching plan, probably optimistic, was to get three innings out of inexperienced starter Jake Latz before piece-mealing the rest of the game trying to get to closer Hunter Newman.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“I was hoping to get through the fifth inning with Poche,” Mainieri said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But the Owls kept sitting down.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“I knew early that he was on,” Robertson said. “He looked good and I could tell he was feeling good.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“And he changed the game for us.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And more Owls took a seat.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Not only was he outstanding, but he was very efficient,” Mainieri said. “He only threw 69 pitches to get through six inings through the eighth.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And one Owl after another trotted back to the dugout.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“He kept throwing that curveball exactly where he wanted it,” said Rice’s Grayson Lewis.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Credit the rain that otherwise tortured this affair but allowed Poche to come back on three days’ rest after a leisurely six-inning outing in the Tigers’ 7-2 victory over Utah Valley way back on Friday ?— it only seemed like a month ago.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“I don’t know if I’ve ever pitched on three days rest,” Poche said. “But it’s my normal bullpen day to throw about 30 pitches. I felt great. Arm and body felt great.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Poche said Mainieri had already told him after Friday’s outing to maybe be ready for the presumed last, possible day on Monday.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Thanks the relentless stormy weather, that turned out to be Tuesday.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And an easy choice to make.</span>

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<p class="p1">Follow Scooter Hobbs on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/ScooterAmPress">twitter.com/ScooterAmPress</a>

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