LUTCHER — Most folks know him as an LSU Tiger, a standout pitcher on the baseball team who helped the team get to last weekend’s Super Regional.

Some may soon know him as a San Diego Padre after he was selected last week in the 14th round of the Major League Baseball draft.

Then there are River Parishes baseball fans who just know him as the boy from Lutcher who excelled as a Lutcher Bulldog before becoming all those things.

They know how to pronounce his name, they know he also was the star quarterback on the football team.

But only Damian Melancon knows that  Jared Poche really wanted to be a shortstop.

Melancon is another kid from St. James Parish who went on to bigger and better things as an athlete. But for one memorable summer, Melancon was the coach of the St. James Parish 7-8-year-old All Star baseball team. His roster included an 8-year-old Poche, who wasn’t quite a pitcher yet.

“He wanted to play shortstop,” Melancon said.

“I said, ‘Dude. You’re left-handed. You’ve got to be a pitcher.’”

Melancon said it didn’t take him long to realize Poche was clearly one of the best athletes on the field. Naturally, Melancon put him in center field.

“We knew they would be hitting a lot of balls out there,” Melancon said.

Whatever Melancon did that summer, it made an impact on the young Poche. When he was recently asked if any one person in the River Parishes had an impact on his love for baseball, Poche took only a moment to single out Melancon.

“He had a big impact on me growing up,” Poche said.

Melancon was stunned.

“That’s awesome,” Melancon said. “I really didn’t want to (coach that team), but I fell in love with all those little kids.”

They did have a few things in common.

Melancon, who hails from Hester, is a 2001 graduate of Riverside Academy. He too played quarterback for his school, earning All-State honors and twice reaching the Class 2A football finals (but never winning a championship).

He went on to play for Southern Arkansas University, redshirting as a freshman then biding his time to become the starter. Three games in to his senior season, he broke his arm.

“That was supposed to be my year,” he said.

He was granted a medical redshirt, giving him an extra year to play. He finished with 3,638 passing yards,  5,173 total yards and 33 touchdowns, still third on the school’s  all-time lists in all three categories.

After a few years in Shreveport, he came home to Riverside to be an assistant coach with the middle school baseball team.

Then he became the middle school athletic director, then an assistant on the high school football and baseball teams.

Last fall,  after six  seasons, Melancon, now married and the father of three, took a job at Occidental Chemical. He still plans to coach football.

Melancon said he still keeps in touch with Poche and his family, bumping into them at tailgating events and occasionally on Blind River.

He also has his memories of that summer and a team that included not just Poche, but future Tulane pitcher Corey Merrill and future UNO catcher Chase Caldarera. All three were members of the Lutcher Bulldogs team that won the state championship in 2013.

“I remember this one catch like it was yesterday,” Melancon said. “He ran back in center field and made the catch over his shoulder, like a football catch. He held up his glove so proud. I knew when they were 8 that they were all really good players and if they stuck together they’d win a state championship, and they did.”