In a letter in the UL archives, dated March 8, 1905, J. W. S. Lillibridge, manager of the SLII Base Ball Team guarantees the thirty bucks to Avit Gremillion, if he will bring the Marksville High School team to Lafayette for a two game series - without running in any ringers who weren't really high school students. Reading between the lines in some of the old correspondence, roster "additions" seemed to be a reasonably regular thing when clubs came to visit and nobody knew one player from another.
"We will be pleased to play you a series of games of base ball on Mar. 24th and Mar. 25th," the letter says. "In regard to expenses, we will offer you a cash guaranty of $30 and entertainment for eleven men while in Lafayette. This we feel sure will cover all necessary expenses. I would suggest that you make application for a special railroad rate. All of your players must of course be bone fide members of the High School.
"You can drive to Eola on Mar. 24th and take the train which leaves at 8:53 A.M. and arrives in Lafayette 11:00 A.M. Play one game that afternoon. Stay over night. Play another game the next forenoon. You can leave Lafayette at 2:25 P.M. and arrive in Eola at 4:35.
"We will expect to play in Marksville, under the same conditions, later in the season."
A handwritten ledger in the files of longtime basketball coach and athletic director J. C. (Dutch) Reinhardt shows that an SLII team played seven games in 1911, five of them against Louisiana College. These teams tied twice, 6‑6 in 12 innings on April 17, and 3‑3 on April 18. They played three times in May, with SLII winning two of the three games, 16‑6 and 5‑2, before losing the final game of the season 6‑4. The other two scheduled games were against either high schools or pickup teams from Milton and the Acadia Parish community of Ebenezer. SLII beat Milton 11‑2 and beat Ebenezer 15‑2.
The 1913 team boasted in a handbill advertising a two‑game series with Loyola of New Orleans, "We have one of the best college teams in Louisiana. This is the best team that ever represented SLII on the diamond."
At the time that flyer was printed, the team had lost twice to LSU (4‑3 and 8‑4), but had beaten Loyola once already (1‑0), jumped on Louisiana College (18‑2 and 12‑4), beat St. Charles College of Grand Coteau (5‑3), and beat Louisiana Normal (now Northeastern State) twice (8‑4 and 12‑1).
Some of the players from the 1913 team returned in 1914, and helped pull off the Institute's first‑ever athletic victory against LSU. The Vermilion newspaper of May 11, 1914 reported:
"Southwestern handed Louisiana State University a decisive defeat last Monday morning ... in a spirited game of baseball to the tune of 10‑0. Both teams had just returned from a week's trip and were somewhat fatigued from the work, but Southwestern limbered up and played the LSU boys to their feet, defeating them for the first time in the history of this Institution."
You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jhbradshaw@bellsouth.net or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.
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