Baseball: Robichaux proves one hitter too late

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • June 8, 2010

AUSTIN, Texas — Justin Robichaux stood patiently in the on-deck circle, hoping and praying for another at-bat to spark a late rally that would extend UL’s season.

Robichaux never made it to the plate.

With two outs in the ninth inning Sunday, Rice right-hander Mike Ojala struck out Brian Bowman to wrap up a 9-1 win over the Ragin’ Cajuns in an elimination game Sunday at the NCAA Austin Regional.

Rice lived to play another game — the 17th-ranked Owls suffered a 4-1 loss to No. 2 national seed Texas in the regional championship game on Sunday night — while UL saw its season come to an end.

Robichaux showed little emotion when he walked off the field after the final out and during the post-game press conference. The senior first baseman and team captain later reflected on the painful loss in a brief one-on-one interview with The Daily Advertiser.

"It hit me as soon as Bowman struck out, that it was over," Robichaux said, his words slowing as his eyes started to water. "I’ve been playing this game for so long and the worst part is knowing that I might not ever play again."

Sunday’s game was the last in a Cajun uniform for Robichaux and fellow seniors Kyle Bostick, Zach Osborne, Chad Keefer and Kyle Olasin — all of whom played important roles for UL (38-22) in 2010.

Bostick was hurt for a portion of the year after starting at second base as a junior. He returned to the lineup in mid-May and came up big in the regular season finale series against UL Monroe as the Cajuns won a share of their first Sun Belt Conference title since 2007.

While various injuries limited him to only six pitching appearances, Robichaux eventually became the starting first baseman and hit .279 with only one error in 41 games. He was named to the regional all-tournament team after logging a .400 batting average (4-for-10), with three of those hits against Texas All-America pitcher Cole Green on Saturday.

Robichaux, the only Cajun on the post-season roster with previous regional experience, leaves in a tie for the most career saves (12) in school history after playing for his father, UL coach Tony Robichaux.

Osborne earned first team all-conference honors, going 9-4 with a 2.37 ERA. The team co-captain threw five complete games and struck out 112 batters in 121.2 innings. The Houston native joined Robichaux on the regional all-tournament team after firing a five-hit shutout in a 1-0 win over Rice on Friday.

Keefer was a second team all-conference catcher, leading the team in home runs (15) and RBIs (58) and finishing second in hitting (.325). He also threw out 20 base-stealers and helped the Cajuns post the nation’s sixth-best team ERA.

Olasin led the club with 15 sacrifice hits, was second with 19 stolen bases and made only two errors in center field as the leadoff hitter.

After UL was 14-14 at midseason, the seniors sparked a 23-4 run in the second half of the regular season. That included a 17-1 showing in conference play to help the Cajuns finish as league co-champions.

Despite a two-and-done showing in the conference tournament, UL earned its first regional berth since 2007 and upset second-seeded Rice on the first day in Austin before falling to third-ranked Texas and the Owls.

"The first thing that I appreciate with these seniors is that we were 14-14 and they helped us pull things together and got us back to a regional," coach Robichaux said. "For them to be able to pull everything together and get us here was really incredible."

Jim Callis, executive editor of Baseball America, expects for Osborne, Justin Robichaux and Keefer to get picked in this week’s Major League Baseball first-year player draft.

Even if his baseball career is over, Justin Robichaux will forever remember getting a chance to be a Cajun and play for his father.

"Everybody has always told me that it flies by, but you don’t really know it until you’re in it," he said. "It’s been four great years."

Coach Robichaux agreed.

"At the end of the day, I thank God that I got a chance to get back some time with my son for the past four years," he said. "We were very fortunate to get that opportunity."