Opening night of the Texas Collegiate league was special on so many fronts. It marked the beginning of the TCL Season, the beginning of the Lake Charle Gumbo Gator era and the beginning of the 446Sports foray into Livestreaming across the State.

A couple of months ago we ran into Baton Rouge Rougarou owner and former LSU/Menard Star Ronnie Rantz and started talking livestreaming. It didn’t take long for us to strike up a friendship as baseball seems to open a lot of doors to a lot of interesting folks. Rantz was looking for some help with Livestreaming his Roug games and it seemed liked a natural fit for us to help out. We were able to help them get their streaming setup and set the table for his broadcast team of Jeff Palermo and Tommy Krysan to bring Rougarou fans and their opponents TCL Baseball all summer long.

Prior to the opening of the gates at 6pm, there was the hustle and bustle of making sure everything was perfectly set up for the arrival of the night’s fans. After all, it was Opening Day. And there is something about Opening Day. This is an opportunity for College Baseball players to get an opportunity to showcase their talents in front of numerous College coaches looking to add another piece to their puzzle. An opportunity for players like former LSU and Neville Tiger Zeb Ruddell to find a new home as he hit the Transfer Portal and is not with the Tigers as they prepare for their 2024 Regional in Chapel Hill.

Once the gates opened fans started to stream their way into Pete Goldsby Stadium. After all, as the signs state, All Seats Are General Admission. That meant for an $8 adult ticket or $6 Children’s ticket you get front row behind Home Plate if you were early enough to snag the seats. The crowd was filled with a couple of youth “Field of Dreams” teams waiting to take the field for the Anthem with their favorite Rougarou player.

There were plenty of games that you would expect to see at the ballpark as the Dizzy Bat Race, Clothes game, run the bases and many others took you through what was actually a pretty exciting (from a pitching standpoint) game. This opening night game was relatively short compared to a lot of summer baseball games. Pitchers dominated in this Wood Bat league as players make the adjustment from the “ting” of their normal composites. In fact, it was a 9th inning error, the game’s only, that led to the walk off celebration.

But for most fans, including Gumbo Gator owner Mike Moore, GM Sam Moore whom we met and visited with throughout the game, it was all about having a great time at the ol’ ballpark. The Moore’s are very passionate about their Lake Charles inaugural entry into the TCL. I’m not sure there is a group that had more fun at last night’s game than those folks from Southwest Louisiana.

Last night also saw ROUX, the Rougarou mascot entertain folks all evening.

For more info on last night’s game itself, check out this article from Rougarou writer Lori Lyons here:

https://www.brrougarou.com/rougarou-opens-season-with-walk-off-win/

And check out the BoxScore here https://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=605271