Baseball – Robichaux: Team has “it” factor

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • May 6, 2010

From 1997-2007, UL’s baseball program enjoyed tremendous success under coach Tony Robichaux.

Over that 11-year stretch, the Ragin’ Cajuns won 436 games — an average of nearly 40 per season. They also won three regular season Sun Belt titles and one league tournament championship to go with seven Regional berths, two Super Regional appearances and one trip to the College World Series.

UL slumped during the next two seasons, going 30-29 in 2008 and 27-30-1 in 2009 and placing fifth in the Sun Belt both years.

After splitting the first 28 games this season, the Cajuns (28-15, 13-8 Sun Belt) have bounced back with a vengeance. They have won 14 of the past 16 games — including nine straight in conference play — to grab sole possession of third place in the league standings.

According to Robichaux, there’s been one major difference in this year’s team compared to last season.

"These guys care," said Robichaux, whose club travels this weekend in conference play to take on last-place New Orleans (11-31, 2-20). "We had a lot of stuff in our clubhouse last year that we had to get rid of, and we did. The thing about this team is that they care."

That much Robichaux expected going into the season.

What happened after an 11-4 loss at Southeastern Louisiana in early March backed up his opinion.

"Last year we got killed by Southeastern and everybody just wanted to leave the clubhouse and go home," Robichaux said. "When that happened to us this year, they held their own team meeting. That’s the difference. They didn’t just go home. They cared enough to stay there and try to work it out."

The turnaround has been a work in progress.

UL opened the season 5-1 before falling at Southeastern Louisiana, beginning a 9-13 stretch. The Cajuns played through that slide and rebounded with a 10-game winning streak to start the second half of the season.

That hot streak has played the Cajuns into contention for the conference championship and a potential Regional appearance with three weeks left in the regular season.

"We could have been played this way from opening day," Robichaux said. "I just think that we had to go through a process to get to this point. I don’t think we’ve peaked too early or too late. I think we’ve gone through the process that it takes to become a champion."

Robichaux pointed out that UL’s 2000 team that played in the College World Series endured a six-game losing streak and lost eight of nine at midseason before getting on track and advancing to Omaha.

In another example, defending national champion LSU lost seven straight — its longest losing streak since 1982 — before knocking off Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday night.

"Everybody has to go through a process to reach greatness," Robichaux said. "Nobody wins the race wire-to-wire. It’s not ‘One Shining Moment.’ They’ve gone through the process of team meetings, some early morning runs where they had to talk to each other and they’ve gone through the process to get where they want to be.

"Sometimes the process can be cruel and not fun, but you have to be willing to go through it. I don’t think last year’s team was willing to go through it, and this year’s team has been willing to go through it. And that’s the biggest difference."

Now the Cajuns are serious contenders to earn the program’s first regular season league title and Regional berth since 2007.

"That’s our main goal, to win the conference championship and get to a Regional and play for something bigger," said second baseman Jordan Poirrier. "We’ve struggled for the last couple of years. Now we know that it’s there, and we’re playing to get there.