Cajuns looking to fan embers of baseball season

Published 7:30 am Friday, March 9, 2018

LAFAYETTE — Tony Robichaux spent the better part of Wednesday night signing autographs.

Louisiana-Lafayette’s longtime baseball coach took some time to pull out a Sharpie and sign a poster for a little girl, then a glove for a little boy and then later a ticket stub for a middle-age man who also wanted to talk shop about baseball or about the deals at the team store (the man had a large bag filled with Cajun apparel). 

Robichaux didn’t seem to mind at all as the Cajuns head coach gladly took time out to thank as many of the 5,499 fans that had packed into Russo Park for the mid-week game against rival LSU — a game that saw the Cajuns down the Tigers 4-3 in dramatic fashion. 

“We were glad we were able to get this done, especially with so many of our fans out there,” Robichaux said. “Hopefully it’ll build some momentum going into the weekend.”

The Cajuns entered Wednesday’s tilt with the Tigers in need of some momentum. 

The team started off the season ranked in the Top 25 but after a 2-1 series loss at Texas to start the season, the Cajuns then dropped a game at Southeastern Louisiana and then suffered its first non-conference home series loss since 2012 to Wright State.

The team started to get back on track last week with a win over Nicholls State but then had to play three games against ranked Southeastern Conference foes at the Shriners Classic in Houston. The Cajuns managed to pick up a win over Vanderbilt but were still struggling mightily at the plate. Before Wednesday’s game, the Cajuns had team batting average of .177 which ranked fourth to last in the nation, and the 2.5 runs per game average was 288th out of 297.

In Wednesday’s game, the Cajuns recorded a season-high 11 hits and scored four runs. It was only the fourth time the Cajuns have scored four runs or more in a game, and only the second win when doing that. The other time was a 6-3 win over Wright State. 

“It’s one baseball game,” Robichaux said. “But we pitched good, we played good defense. We have to get better with the bases loaded, we had the bases loaded and let that inning get away from us. Outside of that, everybody else did their job and we won a close one. Sometimes you can get a little momentum and fan the ember and try to get it to a bigger flame. Hopefully tonight will help us.”

For the better part of Wednesday game, the Cajuns’ bat were unproductive as the team had only four hits (none for extra bases) and zero runs in the first seven innings. But then the Cajuns got a spark with small ball in the bottom of the eighth. 

Gavin Bourgeois got things going with a bloop single into right field and then Daniel Lahare reached with a bunt single. Kennon Fontenot laid down the sacrifice bunt but beat out the throw to load the bases. 

Then came Hunter Kasuls’ suicide squeeze which scored not one but two runs. Another bloop single, this one by Hayden Cantrelle, extended the lead to 3-1.  

“It looked bleak but we were able to squeeze in those runs and change a little momentum,” Robichaux said. “We do it a lot (double squeeze) because we haven’t been scoring runs. You’ve got to get good at something. That’s a weapon we have right there, to be able to get the tie in and let it set up the double squeeze. You do what you’ve gotta do to win.”

That inning seemed to wake up the Cajun hitters.

After receiver Logan Stoelke surprisingly gave up the two-run lead in the top of ninth, the Cajuns went right back to work at the plate in the 10th. 

A leadoff single by Lahare was followed by a sac bunt by Zac LaFleur and then Hunter Kasuls was walked to put runners on first and second. LSU’s Austin Bain then struck out Monroe Moll but then walked Cantrelle to load the bases.

The winning run was 90 feet away and in stepped Jonathan Windham who was 0-for-4 on the night. Windham though didn’t hesitate and belted the first pitch thrown at him into shallow center field.

“I really needed that,” Windham said afterwards. “I was going 0-for-4 and I came up, Hayden was lucky enough to get on, I told myself as soon as I got to the plate, if you want greatness, you have to go and get it yourself. I knew a fast ball was coming, so I swung at it.

“I couldn’t even hear the crowd. I just kept telling myself just fall ball, fall, get down. Nobody said anything at all. Fastball right down the middle, right where I was looking for it.”

Now with a dramatic win over a ranked rival under their belt, the Cajuns (5-7) will look to get to .500 for the first time this season as rival South Alabama comes to town for a three-game weekend series. 

“We have a great ball club coming in,” Robichaux said. “They’re going to be mean, they’ve lost their last four or five. We’re going to have to be ready, Nick Lee on Friday night will have to get it going.”