The Book 2007 Ragin' Cajun Baseball

[Clutch0364]

I will try. But in brief, yes ... good teams do experience hiccups. I have never seen that this is not the case.

In baseball, you are going to lose to all manner of teams that you would feel are somewhat inferior. This is not basketball or football. Maybe the best thing to do is to illustrate by example.

Perhaps the best teams the Cajuns have fielded (at least the best postseason accomplishments) are the 1999 and 2000 editions. The 1999 team was one game away from earning a CWS berth and played the entire postseason on the road, first winning the Houston regional knocking off Houston and Texas ... second losing 2/3 to Rice in the Super Regionals. During that regular season, the Cajuns had at least back-to-back losses on seven occasions, with the longest losing streak being four games. Some of the losses that season include @McNeese State (twice), @Lamar, Lamar, Iowa, @Northwestern State, and @Nicholls State. The Cajuns also did not win the conference tournament and finished second in the Sun Belt.

The 2000 season was the most successful season in Cajun history. Yet, the Cajuns had to work through slumps and bad losses that season as well. The Cajuns had at least back-to-back losses on three occasions, with the longest losing streak being six games. The Cajuns had a span where they lost 8 of 9 in the heart of the season. They also lost the Sun Belt title on the final weekend when they failed to win a single game at home against New Orleans (fans thought the world was ending). Some of the losses that season include @McNeese State, Lost 1/3 @SLU, and was swept by a weak UALR team on the road.

Let us also look at an extreme example ... last year's national champion Oregon State. The Beavers lost consecutive games only three times and did not lose more than two consecutive games all season. But they also had a few of what you would consider bad losses. Oregon State lost on the road to a poor UC Davis team that only won 18 games last season ... By the same 2-1 score as the other night I might add. They also lost on the road to a mediocre New Mexico state squad. In late April, Oregon State lost at home to a poor Portland squad that went 15-37 on the season and 3-18 in the Big West. They lost that game 20-13. And this was an Oregon State team that had solid pitching.

The bottom line is that it happens. And typically several times in a season. Even for the best clubs. They key is how they bounce back.

And BTW, Northwestern State is not a bad team. The Demons have played a difficult schedule thus far (more difficult than that of the Cajuns) and have now won three consecutive games (7-9 overall). On that schedule are single games against a good Louisville squad, @Southern Miss, @LSU, two vs. UL (home and home), and three road games against Houston (in which they won 2/3). Houston started well with a win over Baylor and a tough 3-2 loss to Texas A&M. They have struggled since and are 8-9, but they will be fine. The Cougars knocked off Lamar this week 7-1.

The bottom line is that I expect some losses this season against teams that are not quite the caliber of Northwestern State. Unless you have Greg Swindell and Roger Clemens in your starting rotation along with a few major leaguers, it is bound to happen.

Brian

Brian good stuff on Birds Eye View yesterday! College baseball is difficult to cover but you do it better than anybody. Thanks for the input on pagin.

Now to my question, what is the best record anyone has finished with?

[cjr3888]

How did Smoke run the program into the ground? He only had one bad year. As the head coach he accomplished:

2002: Regional Championship

2003: SEC Championship; Regional and Super Regional Champions; CWS

2004: Regional and Super Regional Champions; CWS

2005: SEC West Division Champs

2006: Bad year


Thats 1 SEC Championship and 2 trips to the CWS in 5 years. The fans didnt like him because he is not Skip Bertman. Unfortunately, the new coach will have the same problem because college sports has turned into a 'what have you done for me lately' business.

[CrazyCajun]

Laval ran the program into the ground quickly. LSU has not recruited the high caliber players it used to get. Also parity comes into to play. When LSU had its big streak, 89-00, it was the only game in town. Now the SEC and the rest of the state schools have made huge leaps and caught up to LSU in terms of recruiting and fan interest.

No one will see domination like that again.

Hopefully the new coach will improve the situation over the yr or two.

ok so it was alright to schedule us when lsu dominated the nation but as soon as smoke started to run the program into the ground his old biuddy skip decided to pull the plug. If that is not chicken _____ i don't know what is. Now if you can't see how that looks then you are not nearly as intelligent as you claim to be my friend!

[CajunAmos]

We probably want to drop LSU next year because of the RPI hit we'll take by playing them.

[Just1More]

We probably want to drop LSU next year because of the RPI hit we'll take by playing them.

Oh gee... like we didn't have enough to get ET all fired up again. Gotta admit, that is pretty funny.

[Dad04]

Oh gee... like we didn't have enough to get ET all fired up again. Gotta admit, that is pretty funny.

Playing them on the road won't tank our RPI too bad.

[IHateLaState]

Personally I'd rather just not play them at all.... We always have to suffer the "both team's fans are at fault".... "all schools have some bad apples"...

when those that would be honest know exactly what the case is... that you are expected to know your place and simply accept what is heaped upon you and be quiet...for after all you are fortunate just to be invited...

BS.... I love Tony but he should have simply left well enough alone... We don't need them.... they dont want us.... works for me.............

[NOCajun]

Kal claimed that LSU is afraid to play UL. I pointed out that LSU had crushed UL by 20 points the last time they played. In fact, LSU has beaten UL badly every time they have played in the last couple of years. SO my point was and is, why would LSU be afraid to play a school it crushes so easily? There is no logic in Kals claim, other than Kal made it up to make LSU look bad. HE LIED. simply put, he lied about LSU playing or not playing UL.

First of all, don't be an IDIOT. Da tiggas have NEVER beaten UL in baseball by 20 points. THIS WHOLE THING STEMS FROM THE FACT THAT THE CAJUNS HAD THE UNMITIGATED GAUL to BEAT lsuambr in that regional at the kat-box and had to come back and beat the CAJUNS twice, which they did. So YEAH, SKIP IS AFRAID TO PLAY US!!!

[GoneGolfin]

Brian good stuff on Birds Eye View yesterday! College baseball is difficult to cover but you do it better than anybody. Thanks for the input on pagin.

Thanks for the kind words Clutch.

BTW, Jay and I will be doing this on a weekly basis (with a few exceptions) in the Thursday 5:05 -> 5:3X time slot.

Now to my question, what is the best record anyone has finished with?

As far as winning % is concerned, Arizona State finished 64-6 in 1972 for the best winning % all-time. But they did not win the national championship. They entered the CWS with a 60-4 record and won the first four games (yielding a total of one run in those games). But Southern Cal beat them twice and won the NC. Arizona State yielded a total of five runs in six CWS games and did not win the NC that season.

Texas finished 59-6 in 1982 and also did not win the NC (Roger Clemens' sophomore season, Calvin Schiraldi was on this squad as well). They did not even make the CWS finals. Some may remember the 1989 Texas A&M team that had a long winning streak to begin the season and finished 58-7. But they lost their home regional to Ben McDonald and LSU.

Brian

[ulforlife]

As far as winning % is concerned, Arizona State finished 64-6 in 1972 for the best winning % all-time.

OH WOW!!!

[GoneGolfin]

I think in Tulane's case it was about needing the home games, and since their conference provides RPI they will not make road trips.

I don't think they need the home games. I think they just want them and are loading their schedule with them.

In 2007, Tulane does not play a single non-conference road game once the conference season begins. In fact, Tulane played its last non-conference road game of the season last month when they knocked off LSU in Baton Rouge. Tulane will play 27 of their 32 non-conference games at home this season.

If you are wondering, Louisiana plays 9 of their 26 non-conference games at home this season.

Brian

[NewsCopy]

UL's baseball squad found its hitting stroke at just the right time Friday night, and because of that the Ragin' Cajuns got off to a solid start in Sun Belt Conference play. The Cajuns had been limited to seven hits and one run over their last two games, road losses at Southern Mississippi and Northwestern State, but topped both of those totals against long-time rival South Alabama on the way to a 7-2 victory at Moore Field. UL (12-3, 1-0) put up three-spots in the second and sixth innings off USA starter Dan Goldberg, and posted a double-figure hit game for the first time since having its season-opening 10-game win streak snapped at USM last Friday. That was more than enough to support a fourth straight strong mound effort by Buddy Glass, who pitched into the eighth inning and allowed single runs in the second and seventh innings. "The thing about Buddy is he's an innings eater," said Cajun coach Tony Robichaux. "He pitches ahead in the count, and he goes out there and manages the game. He's been red hot for us." The teams meet in the middle game of the series at 2:05 p.m. today and wrap up the series at 1:05 p.m. Sunday. Lefthander John Zorich (3-0) is slated to pitch for the Cajuns against USA lefthander Brandon Sage (2-2). The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[Kal]

OH WOW!!!

Northwestern State always gives us a run for our money.

And if we would have won 2 out of 3 against USM, we would've won the mid week game. Losing a weekend series can have negative effects in midweek games. Cajuns just need to sweep this weekend (it will be tough to do even though USA is in a down year; they still have a great coach) and they'll be back on track.

[MiamiCajun32]

Thanks for the kind words Clutch.

BTW, Jay and I will be doing this on a weekly basis (with a few exceptions) in the Thursday 5:05 -> 5:3X time slot.


As far as winning % is concerned, Arizona State finished 64-6 in 1972 for the best winning % all-time. But they did not win the national championship. They entered the CWS with a 60-4 record and won the first four games (yielding a total of one run in those games). But Southern Cal beat them twice and won the NC. Arizona State yielded a total of five runs in six CWS games and did not win the NC that season.

Texas finished 59-6 in 1982 and also did not win the NC (Roger Clemens' sophomore season, Calvin Schiraldi was on this squad as well). They did not even make the CWS finals. Some may remember the 1989 Texas A&M team that had a long winning streak to begin the season and finished 58-7. But they lost their home regional to Ben McDonald and LSU.

Brian

Brian,

I know that it is way too early to predict with any accuracy, but I will ask anyways: Based on Cajuns' schedule and sunbelt conference this year, how many wins do you think it will take for you to feel comfortable that Cajuns will get at large bid? Also, do you think sunbelt can get 3 bids this year? Do you think it is critical for Cajuns to finish regular season in top 2 or top 3 in sunbelt? Thanks in advance for your answers. What I like about Cajuns baseball is that it all does not come down to only the season ending tourney (as usually is the case with basketball) and there is something big to play for during the regular season, goals that can lead to great chance of at-large bid.

[GoneGolfin]

Brian,

I know that it is way too early to predict with any accuracy, but I will ask anyways: Based on Cajuns' schedule and sunbelt conference this year, how many wins do you think it will take for you to feel comfortable that Cajuns will get at large bid? Also, do you think sunbelt can get 3 bids this year? Do you think it is critical for Cajuns to finish regular season in top 2 or top 3 in sunbelt? Thanks in advance for your answers. What I like about Cajuns baseball is that it all does not come down to only the season ending tourney (as usually is the case with basketball) and there is something big to play for during the regular season, goals that can lead to great chance of at-large bid.

Yes, it is early. But I like the start. The Cajuns are looking like they are the team to beat in the Sun Belt.

It is not so much the # of wins, but whether they are the right wins and how the Cajuns fare in conference play (very important). Yes, I do think it is critical that the Cajuns finish in the Top 3 of the Sun Belt this season. For example, I think it is important that the Cajuns win 2/4 against Tulane and Arizona State (all road games). This will help the RPI immensely. I think that if they do that and finish Top 2 in the SBC, provided they do not tank a bunch of games they should win, I think they will be in the postseason. If the Cajuns win the Sun Belt regular season title, they are in ... case closed.

Can the Sun Belt get three bids this season? Yes, they can. But I am not expecting it. Especially last season after the NCAA botched the selections at the end of the process. There was strong disagreement among the NCAA Selection Committee members concerning the final teams that made the field and the fact that the Cajuns were left home. I do not have a lot of confidence that things will change w/respect to the bigger conferences sucking up a vast majority of the at-large bids.

I think that for the Sun Belt to earn three bids, teams like UL and FAU will need to finish first and second in conference and earn at-large bids. That is, some other team will need to win the Sun Belt Tournament. Troy is falling off and is not as strong as they were last season. In the end, FAU will have played a not so impressive non-conference schedule. This may make an at-large bid challenging (as it did for the Cajuns last season). But still possible. FAU does have a single win over Oklahoma State and single losses to Rice and Nebraska.

Troy has the most difficult schedule in the conference. But they are not winning enough games. They can turn it around and earn an at-large bid (without a Sun Belt regular season title). But they need to get started soon.

South Alabama simply does not look strong enough for an at-large bid this season. They will need to win the automatic bid.

My bet at this early stage is that the Sun Belt sees two postseason bids with a chance at three.

Brian