Baseball: Answering the call – Hometown hero Conrad adjusts quickly to position change

Lafayette native Jace Conrad has played a key role for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns offensively and defensively this season. / Leslie Westbrook/lwestbrook@theadvertiser.com

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, May 30, 2013

Not in college, where he started at second base as a true freshman last season and for much of this season as well.

Not at Lafayette High, where he was a shortstop.

Not even in Williamsport, where Conrad pitched and played short for Lafayette’s entry in the 2005 Little League World Series.

“I thought Coach Deggs was joking,” Conrad said.

But it was no Who’s on First routine. Deggs was dead-serious.

And before Conrad knew it?

“I was asking him a million questions,” he said.

Just more than a month later, the queries are on the decline as UL prepares to face Sam Houston State on Friday night in its first game at the four-team, double-elimination NCAA Regional hosted by LSU in Baton Rouge.

“It came easy to me,” Conrad said.

That’s partly because it’s typically smoother going from the inside of the diamond to the corners.

But it’s also largely because Conrad already was accustomed to balls hit to the second-base side of the infield.

“He’s seeing the ball come to him thataway, so that’s a help,” Cajuns coach Tony Robichaux said. “Sometimes it’s tougher when you take a guy from the right side and move him to the left side or (vice versa), because the ball is coming at a difference angle.

“His baseball IQ is good, and his athleticism is good,” Robichaux added, “so I think he picked up on it pretty good just simply because (of that).”

Conrad made the switch from second late in an April 19-21 home series against Florid a Atlantic, when regular first-baseman Chase Compton — currently hitting .267, down from .328 overall in 2012 and from .352 in 2012 Sun Belt play — was struggling at the plate.

The sophomore made 15 straight starts there until Compton was put back in the opening lineup for UL’s final regular season game at UL Monroe, one outing after the junior from Slidell broke open a 4-4 game in the eighth with a grand slam against the Warhawks.

Compton hit two triples in the regular-season finale, earned a start in UL’s Sun Belt Conference Tournament-opening win over Florida International and now joins Conrad among nine Cajuns with at least 30 RBIs this season.

He and Conrad wound up swapping starts at first in four SBC tourney games, with Conrad opening at second when Conrad was on the bag.

Conrad, whose three-run, walk-off home run beat FIU last week, wound up making the all-Sun Belt tourney team.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Conrad, who is hitting .292 with 12 doubles, 30 RBIs, four homers and 48 runs scored, said of going back-and-forth lately. “I can play either one – second or first, whatever helps the team, whatever helps us win.”

But being at first did take some getting used to.

Heck, he doesn’t even have his own first-base glove – and typically grab one belonging to either Compton or reserve Logan Preston, whichever he sees first.

“The biggest thing is remembering to get to the bag when there is a ground ball hit,” Conrad said. “Because usually, when I’m at second, if a ground ball is not hit to me, I can just stand there, or back up first.

“So remembering that the ball is actually coming to you is the hardest part. And remembering to stay on the bag – I get a little too pumped up sometimes.”

But that’s not all.

Whether it’s fielding bunts and flipping a grounder to the pitcher, so much is so different compared to playing second.

“Slow rollers – usually at second base I’ll charge them, but at first base you don’t have to,” Conrad said. “You let them come to you.

“It’s just little things like that; nothing too big that’s too confusing. They come automatic now. For a little while I had to always think every pitch – ‘cover first base, cover first base’ – but now when the ball is hit I’ll just automatically get there.”

Perhaps the transition was made easier because Conrad also had to learn how to play to second after arriving at UL from Lafayette High.

It took him only a few weeks to get used to that, and he ended up with just four errors in 239 chances during all of 2012.

This year, Conrad – with 34 starts at second and 17 at first – has a .988 fielding percentage with only four errors in 339 chances.

“He’s done a great job,” Robichaux said, “of coming in, picking it all up, and picking it up on the fly and really helping us and buying time for Compton to come back.”

With Conrad at first, there is room in UL’s starting lineup for all-Sun Belt utilityman Ryan Leonards at second.

Dylan Butler remains in left and Cajuns home runs-leader Caleb Adams continues as designated hitter without any interruption trying to find a spot for Leonards.

Left-handed hitting Compton has frequently entered games after a pitching change, with Conrad usually going back to second when that happens and Leonards either to left or to the bench.

“It gives the coaches a lot of options,” Conrad sad, “depending on whether they (opponents) have a lefty in still or a righty still, and whether you want to minimize the lefties in the lineup.”

“It’s really helped us, because we really took off from that point,” added Robichaux, whose 41-18 club is 15-5 since the FAU in which Conrad initially started playing at first. “With Compton cold … it let in an extra player. It kept Leno (Leonards) in the game, it kept the DH (Adams) at DH and it kept the left-fielder (Butler) in left-field.”

So who’s on first Friday? Who’s on first throughout the Regional? What about beyond that, and even looking ahead to 2014?

It’s still too early to know all that.

But suffice it to say that before his days at UL are done, Conrad might just wind up breaking in his own first-base glove, instead of having to reach for someone else’s.

“You never know,” Robichaux said. “He’s played a good first base, and that’s definitely a viable option for us from here on in.”