2021 Gumbo final - Book - Page 59
59
T
wo weeks before the start of his freshman season,
Will Hellmers was approached by Head Coach
Paul Mainieri about a possible position change.
Concerned with the defense on the left side of the infield,
Mainieri was willing to try anything to fix the issue, including
moving someone he recruited as a pitcher to play in the
infield.
Hellmers’ struggles at the hot corner were a dark cloud
that dangled over a rough opening weekend. LSU split a twogame series with Air Force, and Hellmers totaled four errors
and went hitless in six at-bats in the two games. It wasn’t
the debut Hellmers dreamed of, by any stretch. He never
thought he’d be playing third base or in the lineup.
“I thought I was just going to pitch,” he said.
The debut he did dream of first took shape when he was
just six years old. He and his family made the trip to Baton
Rouge for a weekend series against Auburn. He couldn’t
remember the exact score, but what he did remember
was the feeling he had watching players. From that point
forward, he knew he’d someday be in their shoes.
“It was the first time where I was really thinking hard that
this is what I want to do,” he said. “I want to be at LSU doing
what these guys are doing right now. That’s always been the
driving thought in my head after that series.”
From an even younger age, LSU and baseball constantly
surrounded him. He always had a baseball in his hand,
whether he was playing with it himself or throwing it at
people, and LSU was all anyone wanted to talk about in the
Hellmers’ household.
“LSU’s always been a part of my life,” he said. “Whether
it was baseball, football, basketball, LSU was always the talk
going around my house. I’ve loved LSU since I was a kid.”
Hellmers said he hadn’t played third base since his junior
year at Jesuit High School in New Orleans, and even then it
was rare. His junior year was when his number of innings on
the mound took off. It’s also when LSU, the school Hellmers
grew up dreaming of playing for, began to take notice of the
arm that was blossoming right in its own backyard.
LSU’s recruiting coordinator, Nolan Cain, made the trips to
New Orleans for the biannual matchups between Hellmers’
Jesuit and Brother Martin High School, one of the biggest
rivalries in the area. Another future Tiger played at Brother
Martin: Tre’ Morgan. Cain would go to the games between
the two New Orleans powerhouses to see Morgan at first,
but took notice to the opposing pitcher who often shut down
the Morgan-led Brother Martin offense.
Later in Hellmers’ junior year, LSU hosted a tournament at
Alex Box Stadium. Hellmers’ Jesuit team was invited.
“We want you to pitch,” Hellmers recalled Cain telling him
prior to the tournament.
In his future home and in front of his future coaches,
Hellmers pitched well. Well enough to catch the attention —
if he hadn’t already — of Cain and pitching coach Alan Dunn.
After his showing, Cain called Hellmers into his office with
Dunn.
“We want you,” Cain told Hellmers. “So that was the
unofficial offer at that point,” Hellmers said. “Things went
on that summer, and I came on an unofficial visit, and I
committed as soon as I got the official offer. My decision was
made.”
After the first two games of the season, Hellmers was
moved back to pitching full time. Looking back at the
third base experiment, he says it made him a stronger
person both physically and mentally as he prepared for the
transition back to the mound.
“I’ll always remember that as something that made me
a stronger person and a stronger player,” he said. “I was
confident in it, but things happen. Life’s a dance. You learn
as you go.”
He made his debut on the mound on Feb. 24, a
Wednesday night game in Lafayette against ULL just three
days after his last appearance at third base. He struck out
two batters and didn’t allow a single hitter to reach base
safely in two innings of work. He tossed another two innings
the following weekend against Youngstown State. He got
his first start the following Wednesday against Southern,
striking out six and allowing just two hits in five innings.
With another successful outing and many more since
then, Hellmers proved he belonged on that field that he
said he would play on one day when he was six. More
importantly, he reached his dream by overcoming the initial
adversity of a debut unlike any other. He always imagined his
first time taking the field as a Tiger would be on the mound,
not at third base or in the batter’s box, but he wouldn’t go
back and change it if he could.
“Baseball is a humbling sport,” Hellmers said. “You have
to fail to succeed. That’s always got to be in the back of your
head. You have to grind through it to succeed.”
louisiana’s own