Right-hander Zack Hess watched the first pitch from the bullpen, waiting for his turn to bring the heat as the closer, a new role for the freshman who had been moved around from mid-week starter to the bullpen throughout the 2017 season.
Hess emerged as the Tigers’ closer late in the season, bringing emotion with the release of each pitch, pacing the mound like a raging bull after recording a strikeout with a focused look slashed in his eyes.
This, of course, prompted the “Wild Thing” nickname that he embodied in Omaha, specifically in the Tigers’ first game against Florida State, where he earned his first of three saves.
The 6-foot-6 freshman was all business from the beginning of the season, but it truly became apparent in the College World Series when he appeared in five of the seven games and became a bullpen force, totaling 11 strikeouts in seven innings of emotion-fueled work.
He ended his freshman season dubbed “Wild Thing” after a team-high 30 appearances on the mound, 24 of them coming from the bullpen, and held a 3.12 ERA in 60.2 innings of work, holding opponents to a .182 batting average while recording 83 strikeouts and only 30 walks.
However, the Forest, Va., native did not come to LSU to enter from the bullpen. He wanted to prove that he had the ability to start and make an impact in the weekend rotation. After making it a point to pitch in the Cape Cod Baseball League and gain a few starts to his repertoire, he reported back to LSU this fall ready for an opportunity to etch his name in the rotation, a rotation that was going to be brand new for the 2018 season.
Alex Lange and Jared Poche’ finished their careers in Purple and Gold in the 2017 season, and sophomore Eric Walker is out for this season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Hess proved himself in the fall, and head coach Paul Mainieri gave him the shot to harness his emotion through multiple chances at the lineup on a Friday night.
Now, as 10,000-plus fans pack The Box on a Friday night, Hess has the opportunity to watch the sea of Tiger fans grow as he makes his way to the mound to start the game for LSU.
“Coming out the bullpen you can use a lot of emotion and adrenaline in your favor, but as starting pitcher you have to keep it more bottled up and condensed,” Hess said. The “Wild Thing” look in his eye hasn’t left, but the pitcher has learned to channel it accordingly with his new role.
LSU pitching coach Alan Dunn never wants to see the rage in Hess fade and preaches that his emotion is what makes him the effective pitcher that he is today.
“I want these guys to pitch off their strengths, they have to know themselves better than anybody and portray that on the mound,” Dunn explained. “Everything he does, he does with a purpose and intensity.”
Along with harnessing the emotion that Hess has been so well known for, he is adjusting from the mindset of working on the fly as a reliever to keeping a pace through the duration of the game as a starter.
“You can succeed or learn, but you never fail,” said Hess. “The biggest thing for me was, don’t repeat failure, take the things you did wrong and use them to do it better in the future.”
The words speak true of the performances that followed for the Tigers’ Friday starter. Following the loss against Notre Dame, Hess has been a force on the mound with back-to-back career highs in strikeouts.
In the series against Texas, he earned 10 strikeouts over six innings. The following Friday, Hess raised his career-high to 13 strikeouts in the 8-1 win over Toledo. Hess now adheres to a set schedule as a starting pitcher. He thrives on the structure and has added some personal traditions to his weekly routine. He even attends a weekly dinner with LSU teammates Matthew Beck and Clay Moffitt at Walk-On’s before the start of each series. Some may call it superstition, but it is the routine that Hess longs for in his weeks.
The focus that Hess displays during a game is same reason he enjoys playing at LSU.“I like how serious everyone takes baseball here and how into it the fans are,” Hess said. He is known for his versatility in roles as a teammate and friend. He’s known around the team for his appreciation of yoga. Hess referred to himself as a yogi and has even got some of his teammates started on it.
“When he’s off the field he’s laughing, having a great time, and being a great friend,” Beck explained. “On the field, he is a different competitor but still a great teammate.”
While the sophomore settles into his new role on the team he cannot help but remember the feeling of victory against Mississippi State in last season’s super regionals that sent the Tigers to Omaha. The passion the crowd had during the game is something that sticks with him, using it as a part of his fuel to get the Tigers to the College World Series for the 19th time in school history.
Hess’ role may have changed in the pitching rotation but his level-headed perspective on the game remains the same.
“You can’t get too high when things are going well, you can’t get too low when things are going bad,” Hess said. “Once you make the adjustment, baseball becomes easier.”