UL looking to Maintain Recent Success vs McNeese
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• STAYING IN STATE: Tuesday’s game is McNeese State’s 12th in a series of 13 consecutive contests against a Louisiana opponent. The string of in-state opponents ends Wednesday night when the Cowboys travel to LSU. McNeese State has already faced Louisiana Tech, Northwestern State, Tulane, ULM and Southeastern Louisiana after opening the season against two out-of state opponents in Houston-Baptist and UALR.
• ALL-TIME SERIES: The Cajuns and Cowboys take the field for the 141st time Tuesday. It’s the 53rd meeting in Lake Charles since 1972 (when the Cajuns moved to Division I), with McNeese holding a 31-21 edge in their home facility. The two programs have played every season since 1988. In fact, 1973, 1985 and 1987 are the only three seasons that programs didn’t meet since 1972 (span of 38 seasons). The Ragin’ Cajuns hold a slim 17-14 lead during the Tony Robichaux Era. UL has won five straight meetings and seven of the last eight, overall. The Ragin’ Cajuns won the last two meetings at Cowboy Diamond, with McNeese’s last win in Lake Charles coming on March 15, 2006, at Cowboy Diamond (5-4). The schools were Southland Conference foes from 1973 through 1982, and Louisiana posted a 23-19 series record during that time frame. Louisiana’s current five-game win streak over the Cowboys is the longest for either program in the Robichaux Era and the longest overall for UL since taking six straight from April 14, 1983 to March 14, 1984.
• LAST SEASON VERSUS McNEESE STATE: Louisiana took both meetings of the home-and-home series. Jordan Poirrier was the spark in the first meeting on April 9, 2008, in Lake Charles, providing a pinch-hit, three-run home run to give UL the lead for good, and kicking off a seven-run eighth inning for the Cajuns to erase an 8-6 Cowboys lead. UL’s 14 runs were the most against the Cowboys since April 27, 2004. Greg Harmon picked up the win and Todd Fontenot took the loss for McNeese. In the return game on May 7, Brian Bowman’s bases-loaded RBI single in the 10th gave UL a 5-4 come-from-behind victory. Louisiana forced extra innings when Bowman led off the bottom of the ninth with a double and later scored on a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Matt Goulas, one of five McNeese errors in the game. Brent Solich retried one batter and later became the beneficiary of the Cajuns’ 10th-inning run to earn the victory. Justin LeBleu suffered the loss for the Cowboys, surrendering two runs over 1 2/3 innings. The win gave the Cajuns the season sweep of McNeese for the first time since 2002.
<center>UL Press
