ROUX: Prep players big part of UL's rebuilding
LOUISIANA La. -- How can a Division I mid-major program sustain prominence and make frequent returns to the NCAA College World Series?
After getting his team there for the first time five seasons ago, University of Louisiana at Lafayette baseball coach Tony Robichaux said he's found the answer.
Robichaux's road map for a return to Omaha now includes rebuilding primarily with high school signees rather than junior college recruits.
If that's the plan, it seems to be working.
Robichaux's Cajuns (47-17) are the Sun Belt Conference regular-season champions and back in the NCAA regionals for the first time since 2002.
UL is scheduled to play Alabama at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Tulane's Turchin Stadium in a regional tournament that also includes Southern and the host Green Wave.
Since the World Series appearance in 2000, Robichaux said subsequent UL teams have been judged by that standard.
"Once you make it to Omaha as a mid-major, the harder it is to get back," Robichaux said. "Getting to Omaha isn't always going to be that difficult, but sustaining that level is. It's taken us awhile to do it, but it always takes more time to recover from something like that when you compete at our level."
Before this season's championship, the Cajuns finished ninth in the SBC (2001), and second the following season when they lost in a regional championship game to LSU.
After that UL managed third- and fourth-place SBC finishes with no NCAA postseason appearance.
Robichaux said the past four seasons have been spent adjusting to making another run at the CWS.
"One thing that happened after we made it in 2000 was we lost seven kids to the draft," he said. "These were not just great players; these were men. Losing so many players with as much sweat equity as they put into this program made it hard to stay successful."
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By BOBBY ARDOIN
Special to The Advocate
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