You can trust Nick Zaunbrecher; he’s going to be a doctor. When it comes to diagnosing the Ragin’ Cajuns regional, Dr. Z has you covered.

This is going to be the last regional played at M.L. Tigue Moore Field, before it gets a name change and some serious upgrades. It will be Zaunbrecher’s third regional in front of Cajun Nation at “The Tigue,” and he will be taking on a couple of his former coaches.

Of course, the Cajuns start things off with Princeton on Friday, but the players and fans got excited when they saw Sam Houston State’s name pop up. Former Cajun coach Matt Deggs runs the ship over at SHSU now, and he has Lance Harvell, another former Cajun, with him.

Deggs and Harvell were here when Zaunbrecher won his first Sun Belt Championship as a Cajun, but this time they will be wearing different colors and defending a different conference championship (Southland) in the regional.

Zaunbrecher is one of the vocal leaders of the Ragin’ Cajuns, and his perspective from winning three conference championships helps the younger players.

“Going there four times in a row and winning it three, it’s pretty impressive,” Zaunbrecher said. He added, “I think it’s special for the university. It really kind of separates us out from everybody else.”

With all the success over the last few years, some fans think Tony Robichaux and the Ragin’ Cajuns should move to a bigger conference. Zaunbrecher added some veteran perspective to that thought as well, only days before the regional.

“What better streak could you ask for?” Zaunbrecher mused. “Everybody wants to talk about playing in the SEC, playing here, playing there, but we’ve played at one of the most elite programs in the country the last four years, and I think it says a lot and it makes me proud to be here in Louisiana playing for Lafayette. It’s just a great town, a great place, so it’s really special to me.”

Zaunbrecher said he and the rest of the seniors understand the opportunity in front of them. They get to close out an era at M.L. Tigue Moore Field, in front of one of the most passionate fan bases in the country.

Coach Robe talks about the team that made it all the way to Omaha often. It’s no surprise his team does too. Dr. Z is too smart to say the word “Omaha” aloud prematurely, but he alluded to it with surgical precision.

“We’ve been given a chance to do what most teams haven’t done before, only one team has done before, and I think that we need to make the most of our opportunity and not let it go to waste,” Zaunbrecher said.

Spoken like a leader. Not only did he have a message for his teammates, he had an indirect message to Cajun Nation.

When the season started, the expectations for Ragin’ Cajuns Baseball were sky high. The fans asked for postseason baseball at M.L. Tigue Moore Field, and after a long regular season full of twists and turns, their wish was granted.

“We get to give Lafayette what they wanted from the get-go.”

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