BB G1 Final : Louisiana 8, James Madison 10

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The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Baseball team returns to Sun Belt Conference action beginning Friday when it opens a three-game series against league newcomer James Madison at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park.

The series starts on Friday in a 5 p.m. CT start before resuming on Saturday at 3 p.m. The final game of the series is scheduled for Sunday at noon CT. All three games will be streamed live on ESPN+ with fans able to listen in the Lafayette area on KPEL-FM (96.5) and worldwide on the Varsity Network app.

Live results will be available at CajunStats.com.

Louisiana (26-12, 10-5 SBC), which is one game behind SBC leader Coastal Carolina in the league standings, closes out a four-game road trip with its first-ever meeting with JMU (20-16, 5-8 SBC) on the diamond. The Ragin' Cajuns opened their four-game trip with an 8-5 win at No. 1-ranked LSU on Tuesday.

Cooper Rawls (8-0, 2.11 ERA) will earn his second start of the season for Louisiana in Friday's opener with right-hander Jackson Nezuh (5-2, 7.09) ERA scheduled to start on Saturday. Redshirt freshman Blake McGehee (1-0, 0.93 ERA) will start in Sunday's finale.

Heath Hood, fourth in the SBC in hitting and second in stolen bases, leads Louisiana with a .379 average. The outfielder swiped his 25th base of the season against LSU and gave Louisiana the lead for good with a two-run homer to left in the third inning.

Julian Brock (.351-8-42), Carson Roccaforte (.311-2-26) and John Taylor (.317-5-26) are next in hitting for the Ragin' Cajuns. Five players – Hood, Roccaforte (17), Will Veillon (15), Max Marusak (12) and Kyle DeBarge (11) – have stolen 10 or more bases for Louisiana, which is fourth nationally with 106 on the season.

JMU returns home after a four-game road trip where it was swept at Southern Miss before dropping a 19-12 slugfest on Wednesday at Maryland. The Dukes claimed a SBC-series win at home against Georgia State (April 6-8) and are 13-7 at home.

Fenwick Trimble (.343-9-43), Kyle Novak (.333-2-29) and Coleman Calabrese (.301-1-19) led JMU at the plate with Jack Cone leading the team with 10 stolen bases.

Right-hander Ryan Ertlschweiger (2-1, 2.00 ERA) will start in Friday's opener for JMU with Todd Mozoki (0-3, 2.78 ERA) and Ryan Murphy (3-3, 4.64 ERA) closing out the series.

Single-game tickets are available by visiting the Louisiana Athletics Box Office at the Cajundome or purchasing by visiting Account Manager. For more information call the Louisiana Athletics Box Office at the Cajundome at (337) 265-2104.

Fans are encouraged to stay engaged with the Ragin' Cajuns by downloading the #GeauxCajuns app. Click here for iOS/Apple platforms and here for Android platforms.

For the latest updates on Ragin' Cajuns baseball, follow on Facebook (RaginCajunsBaseball), Twitter (@RaginCajunsBSB) and Instagram (@RaginCajunsBSB) or check RaginCajuns.com.

GAMES 39-41 PREVIEW
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (26-12, 10-5 SBC) at James Madison Dukes (20-16, 5-8 SEC)

DATE/TIMES (dates and times are subject to change)
Friday, April 21 – 5 p.m. CT / 6 p.m. ET
Saturday, April 22 – 3 p.m. CT / 4 p.m. ET
Sunday, April 23 – 12 p.m. CT / 1 p.m. ET

LOCATION/SITE
Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park (1,200) | Harrisonburg, Va.

PITCHING MATCHUPS
FRIDAY – 6 p.m. ET
LOUISIANA | RH Cooper Rawls (6-1, 200, Sr., Kilgore, Texas)
'23 Stats: 8-0, 2.11 ERA, 1 Sv., 38.1 IP, 22 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 11 BB, 29 K, .163 OppBA

JAMES MADISON | RH Ryan Ertlschweiger (6-1, 205, Fr., Reston, Va.)
'23 Stats: 2-1, 2.00 ERA, 18.0 IP, 16 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 13 BB, 16 K, .235 OppBA

SATURDAY – 4 p.m. ET
LOUISIANA | RH Jackson Nezuh (6-1, 180, Jr., St. Cloud, Fla.)
'23 Stats: 5-2, 7.09 ERA, 47.0 IP, 52 H, 38 R, 37 ER, 15 BB, 55 K, .283 OppBA

JAMES MADISON | RH Todd Mozoki (6-1, 205, So., Cockeysville, Md.)
'23 Stats: 0-3, 2.78 ERA, 35.2 IP, 29 H, 18 R, 11 ER, 20 BB, 28 K, .221 OppBA

SUNDAY – 1 p.m. ET
LOUISIANA | RH Blake McGehee (5-11, 190, r-Fr., Tioga, La.)
'23 Stats: 1-0, 0.93 ERA, 19.1 IP, 15 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 10 BB, 9 K, .217 OppBA

JAMES MADISON | RH Ryan Murphy (6-4, 195, Jr., Vienna, Va.)
'23 Stats: 3-3, 4.64 ERA, 42.2 IP, 41 H, 26 R, 22 ER, 14 BB, 29 K, .252 OppBA

RANKINGS (RPI)
Louisiana (64) – Receiving Votes (USA Today Coaches' Poll; NCBWA)
James Madison (155) – Not ranked

Louisiana Athletics
RaginCajuns.com
PRESS RELEASE

A nice stat that Robe would've been pleased with:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Which <a href="https://twitter.com/d1baseball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@d1baseball</a> teams are the best at preventing big innings by their opponents?<a href="https://twitter.com/ECUBaseball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ECUBaseball</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/BeaverBaseball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BeaverBaseball</a> lead the way, with just over 3% of Innings Pitched being Big Innings! <br><br>Big Inning: % of innings where a team has allowed 3 or more runs in a single inning <a href="https://t.co/CYhFKMGt3j">pic.twitter.com/CYhFKMGt3j</a></p>&mdash; 6–4–3 Charts (@643charts) <a href="https://twitter.com/643charts/status/1649437586811748352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Speaks well of the pitching staff.

Go Cajuns

We really are spoiled by our home espn+ broadcast.

Waste of a golden opportunity there in the first

We are getting “Deggs balled”

Good grief man. That was gonna be an easy out at the plate.

Flat

LSU hangover?

Wake up damn it

Is it just me or does this PBP guy sound like Shultz somewhat?

CJ must have some incriminating pictures to stay in the lineup as much as he does.

Maybe the coaches were onto something with the stats on the scoreboard. We win a midweek game against LSU and think we’re too good? Anything other than a sweep this weekend is a failure. Cannot have another Q4 loss.

Friday night blues, again. The boys don't even look like they want to be out there. No energy.

Lol. It’s the 2nd inning

Terrible start

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sportsfanatic21

Lol. It’s the 2nd inning

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I’ve seen enough of this team this year to know these type of starts could mean we’re in for a long night.

Top of 3
Losing 2-0

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MountainDew

Maybe the coaches were onto something with the stats on the scoreboard. We win a midweek game against LSU and think we’re too good? Anything other than a sweep this weekend is a failure. Cannot have another Q4 loss.

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Umm....not sure if serious? Rawls getting nickeled and pennied with cheapo hits.

Yeah AB said that could have easily been a DP with the one hit up the middle, just got by them.

LA 00
JM 02

Not quite sure what our hitters are looking at.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MountainDew

Not quite sure what our hitters are looking at.

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We have taken some pitches down the middle. Hopefully adjustments will be made.

Bleeders and 76 hoppers for singles is frustrating