It isn’t easy being almost perfect.
Rougarou pitcher J.D. Rodriguez is finding that out this week as he contemplates what almost happened Saturday night in Youngsville.
The 6-foot-5, 235-pound senior from Tulane, by way of California and Hawaii, took a perfect game into the sixth inning against the Acadiana Cane Cutters and had a no-hitter until the eighth inning. His final line that night included two hits, one walk and seven strikeouts, earning him Texas Collegiate League Pitcher of the Week honors for the second time.
Rodriguez has been relishing the experience ever since, but trying not to second guess himself.
“It’s been really cool to look back on,” he said. “I could easily nitpick and go ‘I wish I had done this on the first base hit of the game’ or when I lost the perfect game in the sixth inning when I walked the guy. You can’t always look too hard on the negatives because when you do it’s hard to enjoy all the good that came with it.”
It reminds him of a movie he watched as a kid (Fences).
“There’s a saying, ‘You’ve got to take the crooked with the straight,’ he said. “Whether it’s a good outing or a bad outing, you’ve got to take the crooked with the straights. In that game there were a lot of straights.”
Rodriguez’s path to the Baton Rouge Rougarou hasn’t been straight and it hasn’t been easy. A double major in finance and legal studies, he is still attending in-person classes twice a week at Tulane while joining the team as often as he can.
“It can get a little pricey on the gas tank,” he said. “And it can be hard to get there after class.”
At Orange Lutheran High School, one of the top baseball programs in the country, Rodriguez didn’t get a lot of attention in until almost his senior year, but he ended up as a commitment to USC. Then, a sudden coaching change detoured him to Hawaii for a semester.
“It was a good time,” he said, but he was disillusioned when the baseball coaches told him his work would be limited to a handful of innings. He transferred to Golden West College, where he pitched 69 innings and compiled a 4.96 earned run average with 72 strikeouts. He also made the Dean’s List.
Thanks to a pitching coach connection and a solid outing at a junior college showcase in California, Rodriguez landed on Tulane’s radar and came for a visit.
“It had everything I could possibly look for and I felt like the coaches rolled out the red carpet for me,” Rodriguez said. “I thought it was just a really good fit for what I was seeking. We connected on a baseball and personal level. Personal level was there and felt like the coaching level was absolutely there. After seeing everything, the facilities, the coaches, plus academics, it was a little bit of a no brainer. It was a perfect fit.”
In 2025 Rodriguez threw 26.1 innings, with a 6.84 ERA and 21 strikeouts. Initially, he wasn’t going to play summer ball, but he really wasn’t satisfied with the way the season went.
“The season didn’t go like I’d hoped and the expectations weren’t met,” he said. “The season this year it was really good and then I sucked, then I was really good and then bad again. It was like a roller coaster. I wanted to work on my consistency.”
But because of school, he had to find a team that was close and willing to work with him. The Rougarou fit the bill.
Team owner Ronnie Rantz said the team worked with Rodriguez to accommodate his hefty school schedule.
“It’s risk/reward,” Rantz said. “I’m not a big fan of having pitchers just show up a couple of times a week. There’s got to be a lot of trust that they’re doing what they need to be doing in between starts and appearances. When you’re not there to oversee them, sometimes that doesn’t happen. But in his case, he’s been very mature about his free time and he’s handled his business on and off the field and prepared himself for each and every start. He has his own training regimen.”
Saturday’s performance certainly demonstrated Rodriguez’s commitment.
“That’s pretty good, I don’t care what level of baseball you’re at,” Rantz said.
“I didn’t get down on myself when I lost the perfect game, when I walked the guy,” Rodriguez said. “I mean, it’s one guy. Each pitch is a brand new game. You can’t hold on to that. I have a very perfectionist mindset which can be good at times but also can be bad.”
Rodriguez said this summer’s Rougarou experience has done him a lot of good.
“In pitching, if you have a very good mental side of the game you’re going to perform much better,” he said. “I thought in the springtime I was trying to do too much rather than just be who I am. I think when I came out this summer my goal was just be you, don’t try to be too much, just go out with what you’ve got.”
"He's a special pitcher," Rougarou coach Stephen Klein said. "He competes his tail off and he pounds the zone and you know what you're going to get out of him every time."
A faithful believer that everything happens for a reason, he believes he is on the path meant for him. Of course he hopes that path leads him to the draft someday, then the major leagues and, eventually, law school.
I think that the Lord has a path for me and the path has led me here,” he said. “No matter what happens I’m going to be good.”
By Lori Lyons, Rougarou Writer
Photo by Carla Walker