Baseball: UL’s Robichaux suspended two games following ejection

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, Feb. 28, 2018

Athletic Network Footnote by Dr. Ed Dugas.
Click on the link below entitled "ULs Lahare had homer taken away" to view the video.

UL baseball coach Tony Robichaux has been suspended two games for his actions in the Ragin’ Cajuns’ loss last Sunday to Wright State.

Robichaux was ejected for during a lengthy argument with umpires, then — after getting tossed by crew chief Myron Miller — continued to complain while walking off of M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park.

The Cajuns coach was protesting a call reversal, after a two-run shot by UL outfielder Daniel Lahare in the seventh inning first was called was called a home run but later — incorrectly, as replay footage of the hit showed — was changed, holding Lahare at second base and teammate Marco Ramos at third in an eventual 4-3 loss.

Replay showed the ball bounced off a pine tree behind the wall at The Tigue; when the call was changed, it was wrongly ruled that it had struck the wall.

More: UL’s Lahare had homer taken away

Robichaux said Tuesday that he’s been suspended by the NCAA for UL’s home game Wednesday night against Nicholls and its game Friday against No. 21 Mississippi State, the first of three outings against SEC opponents for the Cajuns at the Shriners College Classic in Houston.

It’s an automatic two-game suspension — per the NCAA, not the Sun Belt Conference — when Rule 5-15.4 is broken: “No team personnel may continue to argue or to continue to excessively express themselves with prolonged actions or offensive language after an ejection.”

The last time UL played at the Shriners Classic in Houston, by the way, Robichaux was ejected from an extra-innings loss to Texas Tech by then-home plate umpire Miller.

So now UL must move on for a couple outings without its longtime head coach, something for which Robichaux suggests the Cajuns should be well-prepped.

“We already coach with no co-dependency,” he said, “so they don’t need me.”

Column: Cajuns coach Robichaux keeps going and going at UL

The 2-5 Cajuns, however, have dropped both of their non-conference weekend series so far this season — at then-No. 14 Texas, and against Wright State — and their lone midweek game to date, at Southeastern Louisiana.

It’s been a rough start for UL, for multiple reasons.

But Robichaux also doesn’t want to hear about any excuses, whether it’s wrong calls or injuries like the ones keeping would-be No. 1 pitcher Gunner Leger out for the season and starting catcher Handsome Monica out for at least a month.

More: Cajuns ace Leger explains decision to sit out the season

“As I told them when I came out after the ejection,” he said, “I can’t come out and tell them the umpires did anything.

“You have to have extreme ownership when you get into these situations, and you’ve got to own up to where you are, and you can’t start blaming anything.”

After the loss last Sunday, Robichaux also said multiple times that responsibility falls on him because he’s “the leader” and he has to do a better job coaching “my guys.”

“If I come out after that game and start blaming everything on the umpires,” he said Tuesday, “it gives them a way out.”

Lahare, for one, suggested it’s on Cajun players themselves — not Robichaux — to dig themselves out of their early season hole.

But it’s a tall task, especially with UL’s other two opponents this weekend in Houston — No. 12 Vanderbilt on Saturday and No. 7 Kentucky on Sunday — both also being nationally ranked.

“It’s a team effort,” Lahare said after Sunday’s game. “It’s not Coach Robe’s fault at all.

“We need to continue to play hard, and step up our game, have timely hitting, and just continue to do what we’re doing.”

HARRIS’ STATUS

Robichaux said Tuesday that the Cajuns will be “cautious” and would-be starting pitcher Hogan Harris “probably” will not throw this weekend in Houston.

The pro-prospect lefty has an oblique (stomach muscle) sustained in an opening-weekend game at Texas.

More: Without Leger, Cajun pitchers seek to ‘pick up the slack’

“He’s still not ready to go,” Robichaux said.

“So we’ll back him out this weekend, for safety’s sake. We don’t want that thing to turn into a tear.”

LAGNIAPPE

Lahare — hitting .250 this season with two doubles and four runs scored — returned to the lineup after missing time earlier this season with a concussion, Robichaux said Tuesday. … To celebrate the Sun Belt Conference regular-season title they won last Saturday, members of the 25-4 UL basketball team will throw out ceremonial first pitches before the Cajuns’ game against Nicholls. … At 2-5, UL has lost its No. 20 national ranking from Collegiate Baseball — the only poll among several in college baseball that had the Cajuns in its preseason Top 25. … Wednesday night’s game closes a four-game homestand for the Cajuns.

UL (2-5) vs. NICHOLLS (1-6)

WHEN: 6 p.m. Wednesday

WHERE: M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park

TV: None

ONLINE: RaginCajuns.com with Dan McDonald

RADIO: KPEL 1420 AM with Jay Walker

UL PITCHER: TBA