Baseball: Cajuns don�t let draft distract them from CWS

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, June 5, 2014

When a UL baseball team publicist asked Ragin’ Cajuns left fielder Caleb Adams and catcher Michael Strentz on Wednesday if they were excited about Thursday, the two looked at him as if they had no clue what he was talking about.

The two simply didn’t realize that Major League Baseball’s three-day First-Year Player Draft gets under way Thursday.

With the NCAA Tournament’s Lafayette Super Regional between UL and Ole Miss – a best-of-three series with a ticket to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., at stake – opening Saturday night at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field, it’s little wonder.

“That goes to show you where our focus is right now,” said Adams, the draft’s 190th-top prospect according to Baseball America.

“If we get drafted, so be it. It’s awesome, it’s great,” Strentz added. “But right now our main focus is to get to Omaha.”

The last and only time UL made it to the CWS in Omaha, six Cajuns were drafted from that team.

UL coach Tony Robichaux thinks it could be even more this year – which, must like then, would mean his program would face a big rebuilding project in the season that follows.

“It’s a tough task,” he said. “But it’s part of the game, and we respect it. And I think these guys know what the big picture is. These guys really want to get to Omaha.”

The two – CWS-worthy, plenty of draftees – frequently go hand-in-hand.

“Because it takes special people to get you to Omaha,” said Robichaux, whose 57-8 Cajuns – ranked No. 1 nationally and seeded sixth in the NCAA Tournament – advanced to the Super Regional with a Lafayette Regional win that ended with back-to-back victories over Mississippi State.

“When you say you’re one of eight (in the College World Series),” he added, “I think you’re gonna be full of draft choices. That’s what happened in 2000.”

Reliever Scott Dohmann went in the sixth round, and went on to pitch for the Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Rays from 2004-08.

Danny Massiatte also went in the sixth round, to Tampa Bay, while Nick Webb went in the ninth round (to Colorado), Nathan Nelson in the 10th (to Houston), Rick Haydel in the 11th (to Arizona) and Ryan Gill in the 17th (to the New York Yankees) – but none of those five made it to the majors.

This year, along with Adams, both starting pitcher Austin Robichaux (ranked No. 254 by Baseball America, and selected out of Notre Dame High by Cincinnati in the 50th round of the 2011 draft) and second baseman Jace Conrad have a chance to go somewhere in the first 10 rounds.

Other UL juniors with a shot include Strentz, starting pitcher Carson Baranik (drafted out of high school in the 41st round by Cincinnati) and centerfielder/pitcher Seth Harrison.

Robichaux hopes several seniors – including starting pitcher Cody Boutte, pitchers Ryan Wilson and Matt Plitt, and third baseman Ryan Leonards – are tapped too.

“We’re pulling for them with all our might, that every kid gets a chance,” the Cajun coach said.

“We want them to be drafted. I think it’s good for our program. I think it’s good for the recruits that are coming in, to see that there’s development and that they can come here and get better.

“We want this trouble,” Robichaux added. “I want to be clear: We want out players to play through us, and not to us. The only thing we don’t want to happen is for their athletic mission to undermine their academic mission.”

For so who may hear their name called, the dream is a recurring one. It’s one, however, they vow won’t interfere with this month’s bigger aim.

Rather, for the time being, Omaha is the only destination in their minds.

“The draft’s the draft,” Austin Robichaux said. “But our main goal is to get there, and we just push that aside. The only thing we’re working for right now is to get to Omaha.”

“There’s plenty of time to play baseball beyond this,” Adams said. “But we’ve only got three weeks to win the national championship.”

Tony Robichaux believes, and trusts, that what his players say is true.

One reason he does is that draft should be mostly, if not totally, complete by the time UL and Ole Miss begin play Saturday night.

Another is because so many Cajuns have been dealing with draft-related matters all season – and that hasn’t gotten in the way yet of a team with back-to-back losses all season long.

“One day we had eight different teams in our locker room,” Robichaux said.

“One was in Babs’ (assistant coach Anthony Babineaux’s) office, one was in Deggs’ (assistant coach Matt Deggs’) office, one was in my office. One was in the ticket booth. One was in where the coaches dress. Two were inside the locker room, in each corner. And one was in the equipment room.

“The kids,” he added, “were just going through for their meetings.”

With no more games between now and the draft, though, there’s little more they can do at this point beyond waiting and wondering.

“The hay’s in the barn,” Robichaux said. “The draft’s gonna be finished by the time we take the field, which is good.”