• Tuesday, Louisiana opens its most grueling stretch of the 2008 regular season as the Ragin’ Cajuns play 15 games during the next 20 days beginning Tuesday against Northwestern State.

• Since starting 6-12, the Cajuns have won eight of their last 11 games including a 5-1 road mark in Sun Belt play.

• The Cajuns and Demons duel for the second time in four series meetings this season. The two schools will play a home-and-home Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

• Louisiana is 3-1 against the Southland Conference this season. The Cajuns opened with a 5-2 loss at UTSA in February, but have since rattled off wins against Southeastern Louisiana, Northwestern State and Lamar. With the inclusion of Tuesday’s contest, the Cajuns still have seven contests remaining on the schedule against the Southland Conference.

• In the previous meeting this season, the Cajuns needed extra innings to dispose of the Demons 7-6 in Natchitoches. The Cajuns rallied from a 3-1 deficit to take a 6-3 lead, but the Demons tied the game in the eighth. Then, in the 11th, Tyler Benzel’s RBI single gave the Cajuns the winning run.

ALL ALONE: MOODY BECOMES WINNINGEST PITCHER IN SCHOOL HISTORY. Louisiana senior pitcher Hunter Moody would not be denied in his second crack at school history as the left-hander became the school’s career wins leader Saturday to help the Ragin’ Cajuns earn a doubleheader split at Reese Smith Field.

Moody (5-2) was victorious for the 27th time in his storied Cajuns career, passing Andy Gros and Scott Dohmann for the all-time lead. Moody made an attempt to become the first Cajuns pitcher this season to toss a complete game, however, the senior was shelled for a single on his first pitch of the ninth inning.

Moody allowed two runs on eight hits with five strikeouts in eight innings of work.

COOK BRILLIANT IN SUNDAY’S WIN. Louisiana jumped out to an early five-run lead, while using a solid pitching performance from freshman Michael Cook as the Ragin’ Cajuns defeated Middle Tennessee 8-4 in the series rubber match Sunday.

Cook tossed another spectacular outing, earning his fourth win of the season. Cook (4-2) went seven innings and was touched for three runs on six hits with three strikeouts.

HAWKINS, GISCLAIR BACK IN LINEUP. The Cajuns benefited greatly from the return of Scott Hawkins and Nolan Gisclair into the starting lineup at Middle Tennessee last weekend.

The power duo combined to go 8-for-21 (.381) with two home runs from Hawkins to lead the Cajuns to a series win.

BUDDY SAVES THE DAY.TWICE. Prior to last weekend’s series at Middle Tennessee, senior Buddy Glass had never recorded a save.

Glass, however, was called upon as the Cajuns closer after the injury to Justin Robichaux last weekend against Lamar. Glass came on, tossing 4 2/3 innings of hitless relief last week to earn back-to-back saves to close out the series for the Cajuns.

NORTHWESTERN STATE SCOUTING REPORT. Northwestern State (17-11) has won four of its last five since losing 7-6 in 11 innings to Louisiana back on March 26.Tuesday will be the second of four meetings between the schools. Two more games are on the docket for next week.

The Demons boast a 13-5 record at Brown-Stroud Field, but are just 4-6 away from home. NSU, however, has won its last two road games - a two-game SLC sweep at Stephen F. Austin.Northwestern State took two out of three at home from the Ragin’ Cajuns’ Wednesday night opponent, McNeese State last weekend.

Four different Demons are hitting better than .300 this season, including designated hitter Mike Jaworski who is hitting .327 with seven home runs and 23 RBI.

NORTHWESTERN STATE SERIES. Tuesday marks the second of four meetings between the Ragin’ Cajuns and Demons. It was slated to be Northwestern State’s second trip to Lafayette, but the March 18th meeting was postponed because of inclement weather.

The Cajuns lead the all-time series 70-45 and are 25-18 at home since 1972. UL, however, has lost three of the last four home games in the series.

McNEESE STATE SCOUTING REPORT. McNeese State (9-21) hasn’t had much success this season as the Cowboys are just 6-7 at home.The Cowboys started the season a dismal 1-11. MSU has lost seven of its last 10 games, including two of three to Northwestern State.

The Cowboys aren’t as much an offensive threat as the Demons. Shon Landry leads the Cowboys charge with a .339 average, five homers and 27 RBI. Taylor Freeman leads the team with 12 doubles and 28 RBI.

McNEESE STATE SERIES. Wednesday is the first of two meetings in the home-and-home series. The Cajuns lead the series 78-60, but are 20-31 in Lake Charles since 1972. Louisiana has won just three times in its last 10 trips to Lake Charles.

UP NEXT - ULM. Louisiana returns home this weekend to host the ULM Warhawks for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series at "The Tigue."

RaginCajuns.com

Chris Yandle