Baseball: It’s hard to beat Cajuns baseball fans

Kristin Askelson, The Advertiser, February 18, 2016

 

Nathan Fuentes, 10, leaps in front of UL baseball fans who call themselves "Section A" as they sing "Sweet Caroline" during the 7th inning stretch while watching the NCAA Regional game between UL and Rice on the scoreboard screen at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field Monday, June 1, 2015, in Lafayette, La.(Photo: Advertiser file photo)

 

"It may start in Section A, but it transcends the whole ballpark"

 

 

When Lance Harvell walks into M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field to open the college baseball season Friday, it will be a homecoming of sorts.

There will be handshakes and a few hugs, but the Sam Houston State assistant baseball coach knows there will be an equal amount of teasing and taunting.

Harvell spent two years as a volunteer assistant baseball coach for the Cajuns before moving to SHSU in 2014, and he knows well how Cajuns baseball fans can rattle visiting players and coaches.

"They’ve already been hitting me up on Twitter," Harvell laughed Thursday as he prepared to board the team bus for Lafayette. "It’ll be good seeing a bunch of our old friends, but I don’t expect anything but for them to give me a hard time."

The fans create a home-field advantage for the Cajuns at The Tigue that is extraordinary, Harvell said.

"Sometimes when you’d go on the road, you’d realize just how good we had it at home," he said. "They’re smart baseball fans; they pay attention."

But what really sets The Tigue apart, Harvell said, is the unconditional support of the fan base.

"In other venues, when the team isn’t playing well, the fans can get frustrated and get quiet," Harvell said. "They’re just the opposite. They get louder. They let you know they’re gonna be right there with you."

Longtime Cajuns fan Garland "Chico" Rodriguez puts it this way: "We’re in it every pitch, Every call. Every at bat. We feel like we’re part of the team…The players know we have their backs, no matter what."

Yep, there’s something special happening at The Tigue, and the rest of the college baseball world is taking notice.

In its annual rankings, website stadiumjourney.com put the UL baseball stadium among the Top 20 NCAA baseball experiences in 2015.

"When it comes to college baseball, it’s hard to beat the overall fan experience for a Ragin’ Cajuns game," the website says. "The Tigue features a passionate fan base that regularly ranks near the top of Division I in attendance."

In 2014, when the Cajuns hosted an NCAA Super Regional Tournament, ESPN announcers said they had never seen a better atmosphere for college baseball.  "Nobody in Super Regionals has a better home-field advantage than Louisiana-Lafayette. … Ole Miss is taking on a whole city."

"The nation fell in love with the Cajuns in 2014," Harvell said. "It was because of that atmosphere."

‘We can make a difference in a game’

Rodriguez was a student manager for the Cajuns while he attended UL from 2000 to 2004. He remembers the excitement of going to the College World Series in 2000.

In 2008, when he returned to Lafayette after a brief post-graduation stint out of town, he bought his first season tickets.

"I talked a buddy into buying season tickets, and that first year we sat together over on the third base side," Rodriguez said. "His brother had some friends over on the first base side, in Section A, and they said, ‘Hey, come over and sit with us.’

"We started sitting with them and heckling the players a little bit. Then other teams started engaging with us. Each game we would come up with some sort of crazy saying."

Rodriguez recalled a 2008 game against Arkansas State.

"They had a centerfielder named Michael Faulkner — their best player — who was, like 5-foot-2," he said. UL fans were teasing Faulkner that Friday night — about his height, his attire, anything to rattle him.

Just as Faulkner was coming up to bat, a fan noticed the Arkansas State bus driver had walked up into the stands to watch the game.

"We yelled at the driver, ‘Make sure Faulkner has his car seat ready!’ After that, every time Faulkner came up to bat, we chanted, ‘car seat!’," Rodriguez said. By the end of the game, players on both sides of the field were grinning when they heard the refrain.

A couple UL players later told Rodriguez how much they loved hearing the fans get into the game.

"It loosened our guys up and they played better," Rodriguez said. "I let everyone else know, ‘The dugout is hearing us.We can make a difference in a game.’"

Rodriguez didn’t know it at the time, but that was the beginning of something that would come to define the atmosphere at "Tigue" Moore Field.

Section A

The fan base has grown — this year, for the first time, baseball season tickets are completely sold out — and that group of die-hards in Section A has taken on a life of its own.

"People see how much fun we have and they want to come join us," said Brandon “Bam” Williams, 29, who was been there with Rodriguez since 2008.

A close-knit core group of 30 to 40 stay in touch year-round. When it’s not baseball season, they might get together for a Cajuns basketball or football game. They tailgate most weekends during baseball season.

"This is one of the few places in the country where you actually have tailgating for baseball," Rodriguez said. "We’re having a fish fry this weekend to start the season off."

They call themselves Section A. There’s a Facebook group and a Twitter account. Nick Domingue, who announces Cajuns baseball games, refers to them as the Couillion Corner.

You’ll recognize them by their matching T-shirts and the way they tap their hats together each time the Cajuns score, as well as their banter with players and coaches and their trademark chants.

Visiting pitchers and coaches are among the favorite targets, according to fan Mark Harrison Herpin, 28.

"Their attire, where they stand, their interaction with players, it’s all fair game," Herpin said of the unwitting coaches who spend the game directly in front of Section A.

"We’re known for getting into visiting pitchers’ heads," he said. "Once it gets to ball three, with one or fewer strikes, we’ll start."

Within seconds, the entire stadium is echoing "Ball Four!"

"It may start in Section A, but it transcends the whole ballpark," Harvell said.

Section A fans are known for hilarious banter aimed at each other, too.

"Just like one big family," Williams said.

‘It’s a good feeling’

As fun as it is to tease opposing teams, these Cajuns fans are also known for good sportsmanship and unwavering support for those who wear the fleur-de-lis.

"After every game, we try to go down on the field," Williams said. "Win or lose, we congratulate the other team".

In 2013, the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament was held at The Tigue. During a late-night elimination game between Florida Atlantic and South Alabama, the Cajuns fans in Section A were nearly alone in the stadium.

"We cheered Florida Atlantic that whole game," Rodriguez said. "We cheered so loud because South Alabama was our rival. FAU lost; on that day, South Alabama was the better team. But after the game, the FAU coach came up to us and thanked us. He told us what a difference we’d made for them."

Nick Thurman, the Cajuns senior catcher, loves the fan support and the home-field advantage.

"They’re always into the game, paying attention," Thurman said. "They’re always going to be rooting for us and against the other team.

"It’s a good feeling. When my walk-up song comes on and they all scream ‘Tequila!’ it just gets me going for that at-bat."

Stefan Trosclair, a junior infielder describes Section A fans like this: "They’re a bunch of loud, rowdy Cajuns getting into the other team’s head."

You can always hear them, he said. "They’ll make you crack a smile in the dugout. They bring energy for us and they get in the other team’s head a little bit."

That’s what it’s all about, Rodriguez said.

"It’s not about us," he said. "It’s about the 36 players and six coaches. We do it to help them.

"We want The Tigue to be hardest place to play in America."

SEE FOR YOURSELF

Season tickets are sold out, but individual tickets may go on sale 90 minutes before the game at the Tigue box office and ticketmaster.com.

The Cajuns season opener is this weekend at home against Sam Houston State. Game times are 6 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

The Cajuns softball team also has its home opener this weekend at Lamson Park, hosting the Louisiana Classics tournament. They have games at 2 and 4 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

For more UL sports news, go to theadvertiser.com.