At the end of Jonathan Lucroy's acceptance speech for getting his numbered retired, the former UL catcher looked at the dugout and challenged the current Ragin' Cajuns to meet the program's high standards established by his former coach Tony Robichaux.
Apparently, they listened.
The Cajuns promptly went out and demolished Georgia State 14-1 in seven inning in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at Russo Park.
It wasn't nearly as easy in the nightcap, but the Cajuns outlasted the Panthers 5-1 to claim the doubleheader sweep.
Lucroy's No. 21 is now on the wall in center field next to Ron Guidry's No. 3. Guidry joined the large group of family, friends and former teammates on the field for the pregame ceremony. The only other retired jersey number is Robichaux's No. 36.
"He's talked to our team a couple of times this year, and he's always so generous with this time," Deggs said of Lucroy. "He talked to the boys before the day ever started. He came out, he was on the cage for BPs, coaching - just one of the guys.
"What a class act, and what a humble man. You don't get to be around big league all stars every day, and to see that they're just normal, humble people, a lot of them. It's a pretty cool thing, and I know these kids look up to them."
With the two wins, UL improved to 29-18 overall and 11-12 in Sun Belt play, while the visiting Panthers dropped to 23-24 and 10-13.
"We just got three great pitching performances and a lot of good defense today," Deggs said. "We just had a lot of grinder ABs, man. โฉOur hitters have really come on to where they're punishing mistakes and they're hard to put away."
The Cajuns scored three runs in the second, seven more in the third and then another three in the fourth to take full control of the game.
Colt Brown got it started with a solo homer to leftcenter to lead off the third.
Blaze Rodriguez scored on the back half of a double steal and Drew Markle added a sacrifice fly for the 3-0 lead.
The seven-run third featured three walks, two hit batsman and a balk. In addition to the help UL's offense received, it also got a double from Rigoberto Hernandez and an RBI double from Drew Markle.
In the fourth, Donovan LaSalle extended the lead to 13-0 with a long three-run home run.
The Cajuns were playing a doubleheader because Friday's opener was postponed by rain. Consequently, bullpens are always a big concern on doubleheader days.
Starting pitcher Andrew Herrmann was able to throw a seven-inning complete, only giving up a solo home run in the top of the seventh to Wesley Bass.
In the seven innings, the senior southpaw yielded five hits, walked one and struck out six in 88 pitches.
Of course, Herrmann was ready to pitch the second game before the first one was even over.
"This kid, and this is classic Herm," Deggs said. "After the third, he came up to me and goes, 'Hey, coach, how long in between games? โฉBecause I think I can pitch both of them.' I said, Herm, It's a third inning, man."
The Panthers, meanwhile, used four different pitchers - all allowing either three or four runs in the game.
In the nightcap, UL starter Cody Brasch came one dropped fly ball away from matching Herrmann's seven innings.
The right-hander allowed no runs over 6.2 innings, giving up two hits with no walks and three strikeouts in 79 pitches.
"How about Brash's start, right there? " Deggs said. "He was a little high. He came out and he shot that load pretty quick. By the second or third, he said, 'I think I'm gassed.' โฉI said, 'Well, you're just gonna have to pitch.'
"I think he was up to 99 in the first or second. But it's good for him, you know? โฉHe's learning how to pitch, and where I'm so impressed with, Brasch is, he just pounced the strikes on."
UL scored two runs in the third. Markle singled and Lewis doubled him home. Lee Amedee's RBI single made it 2-0.
The Cajuns got the benefit of a bases-loaded walk in the seventh for an insurance run to make it 3-0.
Austin Killingsworth, who left the game with a concussion after running into the wall and then was allowed to return to the game under new league rules, walked and scored on a Brandon Davis ground out in the eighth to narrow UL's lead to 3-1.
Collins quickly got that run back with an RBI single to left in the bottom of the eighth, followed by Lewis getting another home on a swinging bunt RBI single extended the lead to four.
Tyler Papenbrock pitched the final 2.1 innings to record the save.
"Then Pappy looked, you know, you might have found the guy right there," Deggs said. "Yeah, he's that's what he did last week, too. Except I want to say it's a little bit longer routing at Arkansas State, but kind of the same thing, all fastballs, just he's hard to get on top of. are hard to get under."