Ragin' Cajuns and pitcher Kevin Ardoin expect to turn the Tide
<blockquote><p align=justify>Two pitchers who started the season as their club's solid No. 1 hurler will square off Friday, but both will be looking to answer questions when Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns take on Alabama in the NCAA Regional Baseball Tournament.
The third-seeded Cajuns (47-17) will go with senior righthander Kevin Ardoin (10-4, 3.42) in Friday's first day of the double-elimination tournament against Alabama sophomore lefthander Wade LeBlanc (4-5, 3.76).
LeBlanc, a product of Lake Charles, was dominant early in the 2005 season. He lost a tough 4-1 decision to Hawai'i in the season opener, but came back in his next three starts to fan 13, 17 and 13 batters against Duquesne, hometown school McNeese State and Miami.
At the end of the second game of the early-March series against Miami, though, LeBlanc suffered a freak injury and missed four weeks with a bruised left shoulder.
"We had a dogpile at home plate and he was on the bottom," said Alabama coach Jim Wells. "It's amazing that we were still winning without our number one through the first half of the SEC season."
LeBlanc didn't get back into action until a three-inning mid-week start against Memphis on April 12, and he started the second game of four straight SEC series. He returned to his Friday night role the last two weeks against Arkansas and Auburn along with starting the SEC Tournament opener against Ole Miss. He had two losses and a no-decision in that time, mostly because the Tide scored a grand total of six runs in those three games.He had two losses and a no-decision, mostly because the Tide scored a grand total of six runs in those three games.
"He's pitched better of late," Wells said. "Scoring runs has a lot to do with it."
Ardoin's situation is different. He was the Cajuns' Friday starter in all eight Sun Belt Conference series and was 10-1 at one point before suffering losses against Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky to close the regular season and to Middle in the Sun Belt Tournament.
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Dan McDonald
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In his last four starts, he's allowed 33 hits and 21 earned runs in 16 1/3 innings. That's an ERA of 11.57.
But Ardoin, Cajun coach Tony Robichaux and every member of the Cajun squad that was questioned responded in the positive on the Eunice native getting the Friday start.
"We're backing him big-time," said senior catcher Justin Morgan. "We've let him know that we still have confidence in him. I know he's got his stuff. In the tournament, Middle had a lot of bloop hits that found holes, but his velocity was there.
"He's been behind us all year when the hitters were slumping, so now it's our turn."
"There's no question in our minds he's going to give us a great chance to win," said senior third baseman Dallas Morris. "We have to do our part with the bats."
"We never lost any confidence in Kevin, never a question," said freshman designated hitter Jonathan Lucroy, the team's top hitter (.375). "The only question is whether we can hit enough to support him."
"We won 47 games going out with Ardoin and (Austin) Faught," Robichaux said. "We think he's a good matchup with Alabama, and we think if we're fortunate enough to win and if Tulane gets by Southern, that Austin gives us a lefty against Tulane. If Tulane has a chink in its armor, it's been against lefthanded pitching this year.
"We're not coaching to win one game there. We're coaching to win a regional, and we think this is our best chance to do that."
Helping Robichaux's decision a great deal is Faught's physical status. The Sun Belt's Pitcher of the Year and holder of a perfect 12-0 record had elbow tenderness early in the week after working both sides of a mid-game rain delay against New Mexico State in the league tournament.
"We considered going with him first," Robichaux said, "but we thought it would be a lot smarter to give him the extra day of rest. He's still very much a question mark as to whether he can pitch game two for us."
Robichaux said that because of matchups, and Faught's tender elbow, that he would likely start freshman lefthander Hunter Moody (1-0) should the Cajuns face Southern in their second game. That would give Faught one extra day to recover.
"He was going to throw in the pen today," Robichaux said, "but we're going to wait until we get to New Orleans and let him throw tomorrow morning. We'll know a little better then what we'll do."
Alabama does have an advantage in the bullpen in freshman righthander David Robertson, who has a 7-5 record and a 2.57 ERA despite starting only three times in early-season games. Robertson has 102 strikeouts in 70 innings and opponents are hitting only .178 against him this season.
Ardoin and LeBlanc may have questions, but the offenses they'll face both carry some baggage, also. The Cajuns hit .330 to lead the Sun Belt and batted a league-high .342 in conference play, but were at .299 in the league tournament and had single-digit hits twice in four tourney games after getting twin-digit hits 40 times in the regular season.
Conversely, Alabama hit only .282 as a team this year (.260 in SEC play) and had only one regular - senior leftfielder and Lake Charles product Gabe Scott (.379) - hit over .310 this year.
"You see a lot of teams that struggle toward the end," Morris said. "It's a long season, and that's a big part of it. You just have to get hits at the right time."
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Re: Ragin' Cajuns and pitcher Kevin Ardoin expect to turn the Tide
.~. ..O.. ..O..
Go get em Kevin. We'll be watching you on the tube.
Re: Ragin' Cajuns and pitcher Kevin Ardoin expect to turn the Tide
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewsCopy
<blockquote><p align=justify>
LeBlanc, a product of Lake Charles, was dominant early in the 2005 season. He lost a tough 4-1 decision to Hawai'i in the season opener, but came back in his next three starts to fan 13, 17 and 13 batters against Duquesne, hometown school McNeese State and Miami.
At the end of the second game of the early-March series against Miami, though, LeBlanc suffered a freak injury and missed four weeks with a bruised left shoulder.
Note that the reference to Miami in this article is actually Miami-Ohio, not Miami, FL.
Brian
Re: Ragin' Cajuns and pitcher Kevin Ardoin expect to turn the Tide
The article also state that Tulane has struggled against lefties. I thought they hit lefties better?
