LAFAYETTE — Tony Robichaux remains dedicated to his life’s work — turning boys into the men through the game of baseball.

The longtime University of Louisiana head baseball coach enters his 25th season at the helm of the Ragin’ Cajuns program, and his 33rd overall as Robichaux served eight seasons as the head coach at McNeese State. In his career on the diamond, Robichaux has coached in 1,881 games (winning 1145 of them), earned 14 berths into NCAA Regionals, advance to Super Regionals four times and led the Cajuns to the College World Series for the first time in 2000.

Yes, despite all those decades spent coming in and out of the dugout, the 57-year-old is still as passionate about coaching as he was all those years ago.

“There’s an old saying,” Robichaux said recently at Cajuns Media Day. “If you don’t want any critics then don’t do anything. In the front end you hope that you don’t leave and on the back end you hope you haven’t been there too long. Wins and losses brings the critics out. 

“Plan is to grow boys to men and that’ll never tire me out,” Robichaux added. “Teach them how to use the game and not let the game use them.”

Robichaux will be passing down that knowledge once again as UL opens the 2019 season at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park Friday with a three-game series against perennial national powerhouse University of Texas. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.

The Ragin’ Cajuns bring back plenty of experience as 16 letterwinners return from last year’s team that won the Sun Belt West Division title and went 34-25 overall. The Ragin’ Cajuns have been selected to win the West Division again.

Leading the way this season will be senior first baseman Daniel Lahare, sophomore shortstop Hayden Cantrelle, senior second baseman Hunter Kasuls, and senior outfielder Gavin Bourgeois. 

Lahare is coming off a season in which he led the team in batting average (.321), OPS (.858), runs scored (50), hits (69), triples (4), total bases (101) and slugging percentage (.470). Cantrelle started all 59 games a season ago as a true freshman as he batted .287 with 22 RBI, 4 home runs and 13 doubles. Like Cantrelle, Kasuls started all 59 games last season and hit .250 with 5 homers and 12 doubles, and Bourgeois hit .311 with 38 RBI.

As a team though, the Ragin’ Cajuns struggled offensively batting a mere .242 and hitting only 29 home runs. 

“We owe it to the pitching staff more than anything,” said Cantrelle of the team’s need to score more runs this season. “We don’t want to harp on it. It speaks for itself last year. But with a young pitching staff, we just have to go do what we need to do.”

The Cajuns lineup should also get a boost with the return of Handsome Monica. 

The redshirt senior catcher injured his knee if the team’s season-opening series at Texas last year and never suited up for Cajuns again in 2018 as he dealt with a knee injury and opted to have Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow — and ultimately took a medical redshirt. In 2017, Monica batted .215 with 4 homers and 19 RBI while starting 54 games behind the plate. 

Monica isn’t the only experience veteran that could give the Cajuns an edge this season.

Redshirt senior Gunner Leger appeared headed for the Major League Baseball Draft after his stellar 2017 season.

The Ragin’ Cajuns southpaw was a Golden Spikes semifinalist, the Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year and an All-America selection after he went 10-2 overall with a 1.97 ERA and six shutouts in 2017. But then Leger needed a partial Tommy John surgery on his elbow and then another surgery to have a clarified cyst removed from his femur. 

Leger would be sidelined for the entire 2018 season but he is now healthy and will be starting the season as the Cajun’s Friday Night starter. 

“You don’t forget how to pitch,” Robichaux said. “The older guys that go on DL they never forget how to pitch, but when they come back you have rust involved. He’s perfectionist, he’s preparation is always through the roof. The one thing he always gives you is he’s prepared, ready to give you the best he has, and at end of day that’s all you want from a player.” 

“It’s been 615 days since I’ve throw a pitch,” Leger said at media day. “It’s been a long time, ready to get out there and play.

“I felt like I have unfinished business here,” Leger added. “Last thing I have to accomplish as far as trophies is a national championship. I want to bring that here. We have a chance to be good, take it one step at a time, make a regional and see what we can do.”

The Ragin’ Cajuns do have some other experienced pitchers on the roster (Grant Cox, Jack Burk, Austin Perrin, Brock Batty and Caleb Armstrong) but Robichaux said the team will be counting on some fresh faces to take the mound.

Junior Brandon Young joins the team after two seasons at Howard Community College where he went 8-3 in 2017 and struck out 34 in 2018. Young has already been slotted as the team’s Saturday starter. Robichaux has yet to name a Sunday starter but did say how important the freshmen pitchers (Blake Schultz, Chance Stone and Connor Cooke) will be to this team’s success.

“The ultimate key to everything is if our freshman arms can build some depth with young arms — and not have just one or two to step up, but all the ones we’re counting on,” Robichaux said. “If we’re going to work into being a good ball club, it’s the freshman arms being able to grow up and being able to sustain what we need to sustain.”

Robichaux will get to see firsthand if his young pitchers can grow quickly this weekend as the Cajuns host a Longhorns squad that is ranked in the Top 25, won 42 games and advanced to the College World Series a year ago. 

“They’re very good team, well coached, got good athletes, lost a very good player at shortstop but will be very good,” Robichaux said. “Taking on somebody like that early in the season is not easy but it is good for us. It’ll weather us and our young pitchers. We’ll have challenges, especially with younger pitchers, but then number two is make sure you play baseball and not play against their history.”