Baton Rouge Rougarou pitcher Larson Fabre will tell you he is a student of the game of baseball. Actually, he says he is a baseball “junkie.”
But, not surprisingly, he’s also a teacher.
Fabre, the son of a teacher, spends his one off-day from the Rougarou’s grueling summer schedule giving pitching lessons to a handful of middle school youngsters.
And the other six days a week the Denham Springs High School graduate who is a redshirt senior at Southeastern, has taken it upon himself to help lead a young Rougarou team going through some growing pains this summer. In the first half of the season, he was one of only a handful of returning Rougarou from last year’s championship season.
“He definitely took some of those guys under his wing and showed them the Rougarou way,” said Rougarou coach Mike Forbes. “He was definitely the veteran of that team in the first half.”
The Rougarou finished the first half of the Texas Collegiate League season with a record of 10-12, putting them six games behind the league-leading Victoria Generals, who are 17-7.
Fabre, who threw a no-hitter against Scotlandville as a junior in high school, is 2-1 with four starts and 15 1/3 innings pitched. He has given up 11 hits, nine earned runs, walked eight and struck out nine.
“He’s a true ace,” Forbes said. “He does what he’s supposed to do on the mound and guys look up to him. He’s going to throw strikes and make every guy earn everything they get from us.”
Still, this summer has been a tough drop for the team that won it all last summer.
“I’m not going to lie that was my favorite team I’ve ever been a part of,” said Fabre, who was the starter for the championship game against Victoria, giving up one run in five innings. “After we won the championship, in the locker room, that was genuinely the most fun hour I’ve ever had in my life. Day one we all just meshed together as a unit. A lot of time, in summer ball, a lot of guys are just there to get (at-bats). We were like, ‘All right. We’re there to win.’ We had a bunch of great players. It was almost like we made each other better because we aways wanted to top the other person.”
This season is a little different.
“We’re definitely younger,” Fabre said. “Last summer I felt like I was kind of the median age of the team and I was 21. This year we have a lot of younger guys. You have to look at the growth you had over the summer. I’m getting better. I can see it. Last year I was throwing around 87 and the Rougarou actually got me to 89 or 90. It just gives you a chance to learn what’s wrong with your baseball within yourself. It’s a good time to figure out where the issue is rather than just throwing meaningless bullpens throughout the summer. You’re playing against really good competition.”
Fabre did not miss a single game last summer, travelling with the team even when he wasn’t scheduled to pitch. And he wouldn’t think of asking to skip a trip this summer.
“I just love being in the dugout,” he said.
And that’s where Fabre The Mentor comes in.
“At first I was little intimidated by it,” he said. “I always kind of find myself in a leadership position. Even at Southeastern we have a handful of 18-and 19-year-olds. So coming into this team with a whole bunch of 19-year-olds, I was kind of intimidated by it, but once I met them I was like, ‘OK. These dudes are cool. They’re going to listen.’ I’m not the type of guy who says, ‘Oh I’m 22 years old you can’t help me.’ They help me just as much as I help them.”
Fabre, who is an honor student at SLU, said fans should not count the Rougarou out just yet.
“I’m not worried about us in the second half,” he said. “I believe we’ll make the playoffs. We have the talent. I think it’s just a matter of giving some of the younger players time to adjust and, once they adjust, I think we’re going to steamroll.”
By Lori Lyons, Rougarou Writer