The Sun Belt Conference hosted a family night on the eve of the league’s baseball championship. The event took place at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field on the campus of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, the site of this year’s baseball championship and student-athletes, coaches, and fans had the chance to enjoy the experience.

Highlighting the evening’s festivities was a media and student-athlete homerun derby.

Each media participant had ten outs to hit as many homeruns as they could over temporary fencing in the outfield. Fox News Lafayette sports anchor Cole Wright won the media portion of the homerun derby with a total of 11 homers.

Participants in the media homerun derby were:
George Faust (KLFY-TV 10) – 7 homeruns
Jeff Horchak (KLFY-TV 10) – 0 homeruns
Hugh Keeton (KATC-TV 3) – 0 homeruns
Matt Deaville (KATC-TV 3) – 4 homeruns
Chris Yandle (Cajuns Sports Information) – 0 homeruns
Cole Wright (Fox News Lafayette/WVLA) – 11 homeruns
Jude Walker (Planet Radio 96.5 FM) – 4 homeruns
Dan McDonald (McD Media/formerly of The Advertiser) – 0 homeruns

Each school had one participant in the student-athlete homerun derby and the athletes were separated into teams (East and West).

West – 10 total homeruns:
Louisiana-Monroe – Kyle Suire – 0 first round/0 second round
Louisiana-Lafayette – Scott Hawkins – 2 first round/5 second round
New Orleans – Alan Harris – 2 first round/1 second round
South Alabama – Ryne Jernigan - 0 first round/0 second round

East – 13 total homeruns:
Florida Atlantic – Mike McKenna - 6 first round/1 second round
Troy – Charlie Williams - 0 first round/1 second round
WKU – Chad Cregar - 0 first round/2 second round
Middle Tennessee – Bryce Brentz - 2 first round/1 second round

The league’s family night concluded with a fireworks show and autograph session.

“We wanted to do something special for our student-athletes and fans,” said Sun Belt Conference Associate Commissioner Rick Mello. “This event provided everyone an opportunity to relax and enjoy each others company before the championship begins on Wednesday. We hope to make this an annual part of our championship.”