Cajun veterans of 2003 remember 2001

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Cajuns watched games, picked up trash in 2001.

LOUISIANA La. – Jordy Templet and Brad Saloom remember exactly what they were doing two years ago this week.

“I was bringing the umpires water between innings,” Templet said, “and watching all those other teams play on our field.”

“I was a ball boy,” said Saloom. “It wasn’t a lot of fun sitting on the side of the dugouts, chasing foul balls.”

And those were the good jobs. Most of Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajun baseball team spent their time during the 2001 Sun Belt Conference Tournament cleaning the stadium, dragging the field and generally making the tournament experience a good one for the eight teams participating.

That’s what happens when you finish ninth in the league standings, and the top eight teams qualify for the tournament.

“The coaches made us wear our Ragin’ Cajun shirts and stuff,” Saloom said. “It’s almost like they wanted people to mock us, and make sure that they knew who we were and that we weren’t playing.”

“We heard the stories about how bad it was,” said sophomore third baseman Dallas Morris, who didn’t join the squad until the following fall. “Coach is always reminding us that we didn’t want to be picking up cups this year.”

The Cajuns don’t have to worry about that this week when the Sun Belt meet returns to Moore Field for a four-day battle that will honor its winner with the league’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Cajuns are the third-seeded team and will face sixth-seeded Middle Tennessee in Wednesday’s finale game scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

It’s a far cry from two seasons ago when Louisiana was hosting the Sun Belt meet, and proceeded to struggle mightily down the stretch and found itself needing two wins at New Mexico State on the season’s final weekend just to make the tournament field.

That didn’t happen, with the Aggies rallying in the first and third games for wins that left the Cajuns as nothing more than a grounds crew for the tournament.

“Coach (Anthony) Babineaux made the statement when we got back from New Mexico State that we needed to remember the feeling of not going to any postseason play,” said Templet. “I remember that like it was yesterday. I think it helped us this year, because we kept battling.”

The Cajuns were walking that same tightrope this year when they were 7-20 at mid-season, but righted the ship and won 21 of their last 29 games. The squad, remarkably, still had a shot at winning the league’s regular-season title going into the final weekend, and had already locked up one of the top three seeds for the tournament.

“In the beginning, we were flat terrible,” said Saloom, who despite a painful torn ligament in his left hand has been the starting second baseman virtually all season. “Now, it’s fun to come to the ball park. It’s nice to go to the park and know you’re playing well, that you’re in the lineup and that you don’t have to worry about coming out if you make an error. Winning cures a lot of things.”

The Cajuns have been winning – 13 of their last 16 entering the tournament opener – but that’s no assurance of success in a situation where one loss puts you in trouble and two losses brings about elimination.

“We know we’ve got to answer the bell when it rings,” said Templet, who leads the mound corps regulars with a 3.72 ERA to go with a 6-4 record as a starter. “We’re prepared for that.”

At least this time, they’re prepared to play … and not prepared to pick up cups.

Dan McDonald