Skip Bertman’s Grandson To Pitch For Rougarou Saturday In BR After Bertman Book Signing

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

It will be Skip Bertman Night at Pete Goldsby Field in downtown Baton Rouge Saturday night as the Baton Rouge Rougarou college baseball summer team hosts the Victoria (Texas) Generals at 7 p.m.

Bertman will be signing copies of his book, “Everything Matters In Baseball: The Skip Bertman Story,” before the game, beginning at 6 p.m. That book can be purchased via www.acadianhouse.com by clicking here. It can also be purchased at Barnes & Noble outlets in Baton Rouge.

Fans can bring a book they already have or purchase one at the game.

Don’t miss a chance to get Skip Bertman to sign a copy of my book on him – Saturday at 6 pm at Pete Goldsby Field in Baton Rouge before BR Rougarou game. And Skip’s grandson, Ezra Pate, will be starting pitcher for Rougarou, a college summer team. pic.twitter.com/rWR7P03oTw

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) July 24, 2025

Then Bertman will watch his grandson, sophomore right-handed pitcher Ezra Pate (6-foot-2, 200 pounds) of Division III Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, start on the mound for the Rougarou against the Victoria Generals in a Texas College League game. Pate has been living this summer with Bertman and pitching for the Rougarou team, which is owned by former LSU pitcher and Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame CEO Ronnie Rantz.

Pate was a freshman last season at Bates, but missed the season with an injury. He went to high school at The Phelps School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, where he was captain of the baseball team and second team All-Pennsylvania after reaching the 2022 state playoffs. He also played n the basketball team that reached the 2023 state playoff quarterfinals. He also went to Bridgton Academy in North Bridgton, Maine.

The grandson of @LSUbaseball icon Skip Bertman is a pitcher for the @BRRougarou this season. Ezra Pate is the son of Bertman's late daughter Dr. Lisa Jo Pate. #LSU pic.twitter.com/08T61HssCx

— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) June 3, 2025

Ezra is the son of Bertman’s daughter, Dr. Lisa Jo Pate, who died in 2012 at the age of 44 from cancer, and Dr. Drew Pate. Lisa Jo Pate was a clinical psychologist on the faculty at Harvard’s OCD Institute in Belmont, Massachusetts, and previously at Tulane’s Medical School (2001-2004). She graduated from Tulane’s Newcomb College in 1989 and earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from LSU in 1999.

In the Bates College baseball media guide, Ezra Pate lists Bertman as “the most influential person he knows” and Bertman’s biography as his “favorite book.” Asked to name a place he visited that made a lasting impression, he wrote, “baseball field.”