Jonathan Lucroy remembers well his first collegiate at-bat.
A Saturday afternoon, second game of last season, Louisiana Tech in the other Moore Field dugout and Louisiana comfortably ahead 8-1 in the seventh inning. Lucroy came up to pinch hit.
"They (Tech) had a soft-throwing lefthander in there, which I love," said Lucroy, who had been projected as one of the squad's new offensive forces. "As soon as I get in the (on-deck) circle, here comes a submarining right-hander."
His first contact as a collegiate hitter nubbed off the bat and went about four feet, with the catcher throwing him out to end the inning.
"It was a little tough at the time," he said, "but it didn't bother me that much. I got my chances again."
And how. Lucroy became the Ragin' Cajuns' regular designated hitter less than one-third of the way into the season, turned into UL's most consistent hitter and finished his freshman season on Louisville Slugger's Freshman All-America team.
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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com