So 2017 C.E. Byrd High graduate Jonathan Fincher had an interesting Tuesday afternoon, hanging around in north Mississippi, minding his own beeswax — 'til stuff started happening.
 
His Louisiana Tech baseball teammates had just broken a frustrating 17-innings scoreless streak with five runs in the top of the 5th to take a 5-4 lead over the No. 4-ranked Ole Miss Rebels in the young 2023 season's first road trip. Tech pitching had given up single runs in each of the first four innings, avoiding disaster, and now wouldn't it be nice if they could shut Ole Miss down in the bottom half of the inning?
 
What to do, what to do, what to do …? 
 
Fincher, who'd most recently pitched in his start and win over Nicholls State Friday, was enjoying Tuesday as his "bullpen" practice day, which it was — right up until the moment it wasn't.
 
"Surprised to see me out there tonight?" Fincher said afterward. "I wanted to get in the game pretty bad. On the road against the defending national champions. Team that's hit 18 home runs in just seven games. You want to see what you're made of, see how you stack up. Instead of watching, I might as well get out there and see if I can help."
 
So essentially, he subbed out bullpen practice for a shutdown inning against Ole Miss, allowing two baserunners before a two-out punchout on three pitches got his buddies back to the plate again.
 
Reliever Landon Tompkins gave up one run in the next three innings to get his second victory of the season after Tech scored in the seventh for a 6-5 lead, which proved to be the final score. Junior Ethan Bates pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save as a Bulldog.
 
A starter since his sophomore season, an All-CUSA pitcher, the league's preseason Pitcher of the Year and an Academic Medalist (and one of my future medical doctors), Fincher this season is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA, 11 strikeouts and three walks in just 12 February innings. And he's no stranger to coming in from the pen: did it five times last year as Tech went to its second straight NCAA Regional. And on his way to an All-CUSA Freshman season in 2019, he was Tech's top bullpen option.
 
In Tuesday's appearance, he got a flyout and strikeout before walking Peyton Chatagnier, the nine-hole hitter, on a 3-2 pitch. Mad?
 
"Little bit," he said. "I think one of those (called balls) was a strike, but that's just me talking. You know I don't like walking people," (and he rarely does; last year when he was 8-2, his strikeout-to-walk ratio was a salty 73-9 over 80 innings).
 
Then Rebel leadoff hitter Jacob Gonzalez got a hit (he had four Tuesday ) on a curve away that the Ole Miss shortstop was able to get his bat on. Mad again? Livid? Bereft, at least?
 
Fincher shrugged. "Maybe I attacked the next guy a little more," he said, "locked in a little more."
 
Three pitches to centerfielder Ethan Groff (.357, 10 hits, 13 RBI in seven games) and three empty swings ended the inning, and suddenly, it was like old times. A fist bump party in the dugout. Back slaps. High fives.
 
"It's fun coming out of the pen," Fincher said, who's proven that's the case even when the stakes are high, maybe especially when the stakes are high. "You feel more a part of the game."
 
Fincher felt Tuesday's game was a good indicator of the personality of this year's Bulldogs, grinders on the mound, grinders at the plate … it's become a Tech Baseball theme the past few seasons.
 
"Down 4-0, 10,000 fans, playing a championship team like that, it would have been easy to cash in and say, 'Oh well, we'll get after 'em tomorrow,'" he said. "But we stayed in there. Didn't give up.
 
"I think we've got a deep and really talented team. One thing about us, we aren't gonna just go away. We're gonna be sticking around."