Voice of the fan

• By DARLENE DENSTORFF
• Advocate Ascension section editor
• Published: May 6, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

It was the last game of a regional championship and the first LSU batter stepped up to the plate after a long rain delay.

South Alabama sent a freshman pitcher to the mound.

Superfan Chris Guillot knew just what to do.

“I had the folks dancing and screaming when that freshman stepped to the mound,” Guillot said. “He started shaking. It was so loud, he couldn’t event think straight.”

Guillot’s well-known ability to whip the crowd into a frenzy and get fans on their feet made a difference in the pitcher’s ability to get the ball over the plate.

As Guillot, whose powerful, megaphone-quality voice can be heard throughout the stadium, tells the story — “the family came together.”

After eight LSU batters successfully reached base, the South Alabama coaches sent the young pitcher back to the dugout and LSU won the game.

“He learned all about Alex Box that day,” Guillot said.

“Alex Box is a family, it’s not a building,” he said.

The 45-year-old Prairieville resident and Donaldsonville native has been attending games at Alex Box Stadium for more than 20 years and has developed friendships “that will last a lifetime.”

“It’s more than baseball, it’s family,” he said. “I’ve watched people grow up. I’ve watched a young boy grow into a doctor.”

Guillot, who sells chemicals for Sochem, proposed to his wife, Sherry, during an LSU baseball game in Alex Box.

“Where else do fans get together in the offseason because they miss each other,” Guillot said.