Cajuns ready for raucous super regional crowd

They're braced for the atmosphere. They know how the crowd will be. They realize their red will be swallowed in a sea purple.

Yet the No. 16-ranked Ragin' Cajuns vow to not be intimidated when they walk into Alex Box Stadium for Game 1 of their 2015 NCAA Baton Rouge Super Regional at No. 1-ranked LSU, which is set for 7 p.m. (central) Saturday.

"It's just another game," said Wyatt Marks, a UL pitcher from St. Thomas More High School. "You've got to control what you can control."

"We know it's gonna be a good environment, it's gonna be crazy," fellow true-freshman pitcher Dylan Moore added, "and we just have to keep the game slow and not let it spin out of control."

Cajuns really will be out-numbered at the best-of-three Super Regional, which will produce a College World Series ticket for the winner.

UL was allotted only 600 tickets.

"Of course it's exciting. You're talking about 12,000 people yelling, 'Go Tigers,' " freshman pitcher Gunner Leger said Wednesday. "So, it's gonna be fun. Oh, man. I mean, this is the kind stuff you work for and the kind of stuff that is the reason you want to play baseball."

Good times really are what it's all about for Cajuns fifth-year senior Tyler Girouard, a Teurlings Catholic product.

"I don't think we're gonna get into it like the fans do, but it's fun for us," Girouard said. "It's good for Louisiana, really and truly. … It's gonna be a packed house. They're good; we're good.

"That's the only thing I think the players take out of it. It's not a we-hate-y'all, y'all-hate-us kind of thing. It's just a baseball thing, and we've just got to out there and embrace the surroundings and just have fun with it."

Playing LSU earlier this season in the Wally Pontiff Classic at Metairie should have help prep the Cajuns for what they're about to face, albeit it with much-ratcheted stakes.

The Tigers beat UL 8-6 in a late-March midweek game at Zephyr Field.

"We're still loose from … the Houston series," pitcher Gunner Leger said with reference to the NCAA Houston Regional, which UL won with one victory over host Houston squeezed between a pair of wins over Rice.

"Every win we had was a quality win, so we're just gonna keep playing baseball the way we had going into Baton Rouge. Nothing's changed.

"We kind of know what to expect, because we played LSU earlier this season," Guillory added. "I know we played them at Zephyr Field, but, still, there were 10,000 people there – so we're expecting the same kind of atmosphere this weekend."

The fact the opponent is LSU?

Guillory doesn't seem fazed.

"It's a Super Regional. It's just another baseball game," he said. "We're trying to get to Omaha, like everybody else. … The name across the jersey doesn't mean anything to us."

MOORE, LEGER HONORED

Both Moore, UL's closer, and Leger, UL's usual Friday-night starter, were named Louisville Slugger Freshman All-Americans by Collegiate Baseball on Wednesday.

Leger (6-4, 2.87 ERA) previously was named the Sun Belt Conference's Freshman of the Year, and he and Moore (3-3, 13 saves, 1.42 ERA) were second team All-Sun Belt picks.

"It's an honor," Leger said of the Freshman All-American tag. "There's gonna be names in there of some pretty impressive players, some pretty talented guys, so it's cool when you get an award like.

"But, really, all that means for me is I'm doing my job for the team. When you get that type of award, you're doing what you're supposed to do to help them win. That's all my goal is."

LSU's Alex Lange (11-0, 1.76) was named the Louisville Slugger National Freshman Pitcher of the year, and teammate Jesse Stallings (1-2, 12 saves, 2.23) also was named to the team.

Others honored include Houston pitcher Seth Romero, who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against UL before the Cougars eventually lost 2-1 to the Cajuns in last weekend's Regional.

Current Cajuns previously named Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-Americans: shortstop Blake Trahan and reliever Reagan Bazar. Trahan and UL second baseman Stefan Trosclair earlier this season were named third team Louisville Slugger All-Americans.

NO STARTERS

UL hasn't revealed its starting pitching plans yet.

"He hasn't told us anything," Guillory said of coach Tony Robichaux. "He's normally pretty last-minute about that kind of stuff."