The Opponent: Simoneaux's Bulldogs progressing
<blockquote><p align=justify>Wade Simoneaux knew it would take time to revive Louisiana Tech's baseball program when he left the University of Louisiana in August of 2001.
But over the last three seasons, Simoneaux must have thought that time was standing still, or at best only creeping by.
The Bulldogs were 21-37, 18-34 and 20-38 in those three years - not exactly what Simoneaux hoped for when he took the Tech job after seven seasons as Tony Robichaux's top aide with the Ragin' Cajuns.
That's probably why even the low-key Simoneaux was still pumped up Wednesday, three days after Tech had swept a season-opening road series at McNeese State.
"We did a lot of things that we didn't do last year," Simoneaux said of his team's 3-1, 8-4, 9-1 broom-wielding against the Cowboys. "We had a lot of two-out hits, and we were fairly consistent on the mound with our starters.
"We don't have any superstars, but we've got 10 or 12 arms that we can put out there and we've got athletes who compete in the box."
The Gonzales native is hoping that competitiveness continues beginning Friday when he returns to Moore Field for the first time since taking the Tech post. The Bulldogs provide the opposition for the Cajuns' season-opening weekend that kicks off Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Fans behind the Cajun dugout who watched Simoneaux in the third-base coaching box during some of the best seasons in UL history will welcome him back ... a little.
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Dan McDonald
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"I might run to the wrong dugout a few times," Simoneaux said, "but it'll be exciting. It means a lot for me to come back there, and it'll be good for our players to have the experience of playing in front of that crowd. The people get on you, and that'll help us when we go to Fresno, Reno, Hawaii. Our guys need to learn how to play through that."
If the opening weekend is an indication, his team's learned a great deal since the end of the 2004 season when the Bulldogs only won nine of their last 31 games.
Against the Cowboys, Tech's pitching staff gave up only five earned runs in three games while walking only eight and striking out 27. McNeese hit only .233 and stole only one base all weekend.
"We know we're going to have to push their pitching staff more than they were last weekend," Robichaux said of the Cajuns. "Their pitchers threw strikes, and because they had success they're going to come in here feeling good about themselves."
Tech only hit .273 over the opening weekend, but Simoneaux said his squad got hits when it meant something.
"One of our five-run innings started with two out," he said. "That's something we couldn't do last year. We started five freshmen on Sunday to get them some experience ... I had to pull them after five innings when we were down 1-0, but it was good for them to get their feet wet."
The Bulldogs will likely use the same pitching rotation with senior righthanders Clayton Meyer and Mitch Tucker working the first two games of the weekend series and freshman lefty Andrew Lassere throwing Sunday. None of them worked over five innings last weekend.
"Our starters sometimes had to throw 130 pitches last year," Simoneaux said, "and by the end of the year they had nothing left in the tank. Now we can keep a closer eye on the pitch count. Some of these guys may not impress a lot of people, but they threw strikes this past week and that's something else we didn't do last year."
When he does walk to the mound this weekend to talk to his pitchers, his trips will start from the first-base dugout. But it'll feel at least a little bit like home.
"I know that I wouldn't have ever been head coach here if I hadn't been there," Simoneaux said. "I owe my chance to be the coach here to Tony and what he did for me, so it means a lot for me to come back there and play."
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