LSU/UL NIT matchup

[IHateLaState]

You are correct. I was there. Aaron Hill threw the bat at the Cajuns dugout... intentionally. It all started when LSU hit a homerun and stared into the Cajun dugout. His next at bat, he was plunked for it. All normal baseball. But Aaron Hill gets up to bat and slings his bat... and don't let anyone tell you it wasn't intentional... I was there... and I replayed it to many LSU folks with a doubting mind... the footage wants to be hidden. Hill takes a step back to make sure he's in perfect position to toss the bat at the dugout... as he doesn't even take a good cut at the pitch... allows him to sling his bat at the Cajun dugout. That was the classless move of the game. Don't let anyone... including this RiverRanchRat character... distort the facts. Aaron has even laughed in the company of others that were praising him for the deed. Pitchers plunk hitters that celebrate. You DO NOT intentionally throw at bat at the dugout of the opposing team.

So I guess my brain cells have lessened over the years... Was it then Pontiff who hit the HR and mocked the Cajun bench as he rounded third??? All these years I've blamed Pontiff..lol

[CajunGrad16]

They were possibly a minute and a half away from losing so it could have happened and I wouldn’t have been upset one bit if Marlin had done that

[Million$Mullet]

So I guess my brain cells have lessened over the years... Was it then Pontiff who hit the HR and mocked the Cajun bench as he rounded third??? All these years I've blamed Pontiff..lol

It was Matt Heath that hit the home run. I remember that like it was yesterday. Pontiff and Justin Gabriel were talking trash before the game and I believe Gabriel told pontiff he was gonna wear one

[Just1More]

So I guess my brain cells have lessened over the years... Was it then Pontiff who hit the HR and mocked the Cajun bench as he rounded third??? All these years I've blamed Pontiff..lol

I don't recall Pontiff's role in any of it. Maybe he did something from 3rd base to taunt the Cajun dugout - but I don't remember it. It was Heath running around the pads celebrating, then squaring and staring into the Cajun dugout that got UL players to come out on the field. That is what got the fans all wound up. LSU tried to claim it was UL players that started the issues. It was definitely without question not.

I was disappointed with Skip Bertman. The game was out of reach. The stands were already rowdy. And he should have come out and told the crowd that any bad behavior by players or fans would end in ejections from the stadium. Instead, the players still wanted a piece of each other. Bair (I think was our pitcher) plunked Heath. He'd been warned... so he got tossed. That's when Hill... late in the game... threw the bat in the UL dugout. He was ejected by the home plate ump for intentionally throwing the bat at the Cajuns. Of course, after all was said and done... LSU tried to act like the Cajuns were at fault. BS. I was there. It was the grandstanding by LSU players that started the whole thing. They already had the game won. Hill should have been kicked off the team. I recall with perfect clarity that Skip missed an opportunity to manage things. It would have allowed us to keep scheduling... be baseball rivals... and let the play on the field speak for itself.

As LSU administration, you should not allow (much less encourage) LSU fans to behave like LSU did toward UL... or anyone else. But you have to realize what's at stake at LSU. The people making the jack in the athletics department are controlled so heavily by big boosters... their only fear is losing the insane fan base and having boosters demand they get fired. Fanning the fan flames... like Wade did... is seen as heroic. Wade will get LSU basketball back up. He's recruiting superstars. I just think that he or his superstars will get the program in trouble. I don't have any information on it. But I have a gut feeling. Wade is a man child... lacking in scruples... and LSU has some unscrupulous puppetmasters that want a Final 4 in the next 2-3 years.

[moorecajun]

I would definitely been upset if Coach Marlin had done the same thing, I felt it was a totally classless move. The only reason to call a time out at that point would be to get some seniors in the game.

[IHateLaState]

Well well well.... I'm gonna have to make amends to the Pontiff family...lol.... I too was there and would have sworn in was Pontiff that began it all..... and have blamed him over the years.... Nonetheless I agree and was correct with the basics of what happened if not the exact players....

I do know of one UL baseball fan who happens to be black.... I ran into him at a football game that fall and asked what he thought of all the stuff that happened in BR..

He said Mr. Bob.... I grew up in the 60's and 70's..... I ain't never been treated even back then like I was at that regional....

[Cajun90]

Wally Pontiff was a good kid but sometimes he spoke before he thought it through. During one press conference he said if fans didn't like the way they were playing they shouldn't bother coming to the ballpark.

For the regional in question it all got started when Wally made a comment to Gabriel and I think a few other UL players. It happened before the game somewhere back around the dressing rooms as I recall. One of our ball girls had gotten hit pretty hard by a foul ball in a prior game. Pontiff mouthed off and said something along the lines of we are going to hit you guys around like she got hit. Justin didn't take kindly to that statement and words were exchanged.

Apparently no one on either coaching staff was around at the time. So come game time everyone was a little hyped and it spiraled out of control after that. Pretty sure it took a while for the coaches to figure out what was going on and why.

[Just1More]

Wally Pontiff was a good kid but sometimes he spoke before he thought it through. During one press conference he said if fans didn't like the way they were playing they shouldn't bother coming to the ballpark.

For the regional in question it all got started when Wally made a comment to Gabriel and I think a few other UL players. It happened before the game somewhere back around the dressing rooms as I recall. One of our ball girls had gotten hit pretty hard by a foul ball in a prior game. Pontiff mouthed off and said something along the lines of we are going to hit you guys around like she got hit. Justin didn't take kindly to that statement and words were exchanged.

Apparently no one on either coaching staff was around at the time. So come game time everyone was a little hyped and it spiraled out of control after that. Pretty sure it took a while for the coaches to figure out what was going on and why.

I only remember this as a story that came out the week that followed... from your recalling of it. I still think back to strongly blaming Skip for not controlling that game and series better. He had the stroke with his players and fans to disallow poor sportsmanship and abhorrent fan behavior.

[Reality Check]

You’re not “our people”..

I graduated from UL. Can you say the same? By the way, have you written that fat check yet today to RCAF?

[jumboragncajun]

Aaron Hill was in the bigs for a LONG time. EVERY SINGLE TIME that I would hear his name on Sportscenter, I would get an immediate blood pressure spike.