LSU fans give deserved respect to Air Force
If you’re an LSU fan, there are just a few schools whose names start with “A” that you absolutely can’t stand. A certain team to the east that wears crimson for some reason comes to mind.
Air Force isn’t one of those schools.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say there were two home teams in Alex Box Stadium on Friday night.
There were the Tigers, whose baseball program has built up a loyalty among the LSU faithful that ranks behind only football in these parts.
But love of country runs deep in the Deep South as well. And on that basis, there was hardly any surprise there weren’t the usual taunts pouring out of the grandstands directed at the opposition.
That would have been like spitting on the flag stitched to the sleeve of the Air Force players’ jerseys, and son, around here that just isn’t done.
Air Force coach Mike Kazlausky knows why.
“It may say ‘Air Force’ on our uniforms, but we’re really the United States,” he said.
LSU fans cheered, loudly, when Kazlausky was introduced before the game, the first between LSU and a service academy since the Tigers faced Army in the 2004 NCAA Tournament. Kazlausky played at Air Force for LSU coach Paul Mainieri, graduated there, and went on to serve in the Air Force for 20 years, many of those spent flying huge C-17 transports.
“I’m so proud of our fans for the ovation they gave him,” said Mainieri, who coached at Air Force from 1989-94.
Kazlausky returned the cheers with salutes to all corners of Alex Box. He calls his job an honor and a privilege, and one he doesn’t take lightly on any level.
“I get to work with the best of the best,” he said. “They’re going on to defend our flag and defend us in harm’s way. It’s a true honor to be around these kids.”
Most Air Force players won’t go on to be pilots like Kazlausky, but some will. Adam Hill, a senior from Charlotte, N.C., who played first base against LSU, graduates in May, then heads off to flight school, where he wants to learn to fly F-16 fighters. F-16s top out at Mach 2 (1,500 mph), just a tick faster than those Kevin Gausman fastballs Hill was facing Friday.
With a father who served in the Air Force and brothers who played college baseball, going to the academy was a natural fit for Hill.
“I didn’t think I would go into the military, but I love to fly and I love baseball,” Hill said. “To get to play baseball and serve my country is a dream come true.”
It would be another dream come true to fly down to Baton Rouge and knock off a top-10 team like LSU, but that isn’t Kazlausky’s main concern.
“We want to compete and battle and win, like everyone,” he said. “We work our tails off to be the best. But the thing to me is, 20 years from now, I’m not going to remember the score of the LSU game.”
Instead, he’ll remember one of his former players, somewhere serving their country.